Lightning on the Padel Court

Maya was running late. Again. Her iPhone pinged with the seventh text from Chloe: "where r u??? we need 4 for padel" and Maya could practically hear the eye-roll through the screen.

She skated into the rec center, breathless, just as thunder cracked overhead. The padel courts were empty—everyone else had bailed. Everyone except Liam.

"Thought you weren't coming." He leaned against the glass wall, flipping his phone between his fingers like he always did when he was nervous. Maya's stomach did that stupid flip-flop thing it'd been doing since October.

"Traffic," she lied. Her phone had died halfway there. She'd spent the entire bus ride overthinking whether she'd accidentally hearted his Instagram post from three weeks ago. She had. He definitely saw it. He hadn't mentioned it, which somehow made it worse.

Lightning flashed through the skylights. The air smelled like rain and something else—maybe possibility, maybe just the court's rubber floor.

"We could still play," Liam said. "2 on 2. Us versus... nobody." He grinned sideways, the one that made his left dimple show up.

Maya's phone buzzed in her pocket—a ghost vibration, probably. She'd left it charging in her bag anyway. For once, she wasn't checking it every three seconds.

"You're gonna bear with me if I miss every shot," she warned, grabbing a racquet. "I haven't played since freshman year."

"Same. That's why it'll be fun." He tossed her a ball. "Unless you're scared I'll destroy you."

"In your dreams, Evans."

They played for twenty minutes while rain hammered the roof. Maya missed half her serves and laughed so hard her abs hurt. Liam hit the ball into his own face twice. The score was something like 12-4 but neither was keeping track.

Then lightning struck close enough that the lights flickered.

"Okay, maybe we should stop," Maya said, breathless. Her hair stuck to her forehead. She felt ridiculous and amazing and like she'd been storing up this feeling for months.

"Yeah." Liam walked over, still holding his racquet. "Hey, Maya?"

"Yeah?" Her heart picked up speed, running a marathon against her ribs.

"I saw your Instagram like. On that post. From my birthday."

Maya froze. She wanted to dissolve into the padel court floor.

"And I was gonna say thanks," he continued, "but I didn't know how to make it not weird. So I didn't."

"That's—that's not weird at all," she lied.

"Cool. Cool." He nodded. Then, "Do you want to get food after this? Like, actual food, not the vending machine?"

Maya's phone could be dead for all she cared. Lightning flashed again, illuminating everything. "Yes. Absolutely yes."