Lightning in the Seventh Inning

The baseball diamond shimmered like something out of a dream, or maybe just a really well-filtered Instagram post. Marcus adjusted his cap for the fifteenth time, trying to look casual while simultaneously dying inside.

"Bro, you good?" Jasmine asked, not looking up from her phone. "You've been fidgeting like crazy."

"I'm chill," Marcus lied. His heart was doing jumping jacks because Riley—the actual Riley with the perfect smile and the leather jacket she wore even in July—was walking toward the bleachers right now.

His dog Buster had chosen that exact moment to escape his sister's grip and go full zoomies across the field. The golden retriever was now chasing butterflies near the pitcher's mound while everyone laughed. Marcus wanted to disappear into the earth like a fox in its den. Instead, he had to chase his dog in front of literally everyone.

"Buster! Come here, you traitor!" Marcus sprinted onto the grass. The cheerleaders were definitely filming this. His social life was over.

But then Riley was jogging over too, laughing so hard she could barely breathe. "Need help?"

"Please," Marcus groaned. Together they cornered Buster near home plate, where the dog finally collapsed, tongue out, looking ridiculously pleased with himself.

"He's got main character energy," Riley said, scratching Buster's ears. Her arm brushed against Marcus's, and he almost forgot his own name.

The PA announcer's voice boomed overhead: "That was BEAR—your school mascot, not an actual animal—reminding everyone that concession stand has half-priced slushies until the seventh inning!"

"Smooth announcement," Riley deadpanned. Then, before Marcus could overthink it: "Wanna split a blue raspberry one? My treat."

Lightning cracked across the sky as they walked back, dramatic and perfectly timed like some cosmic thumbs-up. The game didn't matter anymore. The dog fiasco didn't matter. All that existed was Riley's laugh and the electric feeling that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't completely invisible after all.

"Totally," Marcus said, finally exhaling. "But I'm paying next time."

She smiled. "There's gonna be a next time? Cool."