More Than Goldfish Memories

Leo stood in front of the mirror, practicing his line. "Hey Emma, wanna—" No, that sounded dumb. "Emma, I was—" Ugh, worse.

His mom's voice cut through his door. "Leo! Come eat your spinach before practice!"

"Coming!" He groaned. Spinach. Really. Like eating leafy green slime was gonna help him ask Emma to homecoming. His mom had gone full health nut since his dad left — vitamin supplements, kale smoothies, the works. Leo felt like a walking pharmacy.

At school, Emma was at her locker, wearing that oversized flannel over her band tee. Same Emma who'd sat next to him in bio since freshman year. Same Emma who made jokes about goldfish having better memories than him because he always forgot his pencil.

"Hey Leo," she said, all casual-like his heart wasn't doing jumping jacks.

"Hey." Smooth. Real smooth.

"You coming to the fair this weekend?"

"Maybe." His voice cracked. Fantastic. "You?"

"Yeah, Tyler's doing the bull ride." Her face did that thing where she tried not to smile but totally failed.

Tyler. The Tyler who played varsity everything and had hair that defied gravity. The Tyler who was probably going to ride a mechanical bull like some kind of hero.

Leo's stomach did backflips. "Cool."

That night, he stared at his ceiling. What did Tyler have that he didn't? Besides abs. And confidence. And the ability to form complete sentences around Emma.

His phone buzzed. Emma.

"Tyler bailed. Wanna go to the fair with me instead?"

Leo sat up so fast he nearly fell off his bed.

"Yeah," he typed. Then deleted. Then: "Totally." Then deleted again.

Finally: "Yes. I mean, yeah, that sounds fun."

Her reply came immediately: "Perfect. Pick you up at seven?"

Leo's hands were literally shaking. He took one of his mom's vitamin gummies from the kitchen counter like it was some kind of courage pill.

Saturday night, Emma met him at her door in cutoffs and that same flannel.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Ready."

They won goldfish in plastic bags. They ate fried dough until their fingers were sticky. And when they passed the mechanical bull, Leo didn't even look at it.

"What?" Emma said, nudging him. "Not gonna show Tyler how it's done?"

Leo looked at her — really looked at her. "Nah. I've got better things to do."

She smiled. And for the first time, Leo didn't feel like the guy who forgot everything. He felt like the guy who remembered exactly what mattered.