Orange Skies & Stolen Bases

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could practically fill a water bottle. Not ideal when you're about to embarrass yourself in front of everyone at Jordan's end-of-summer party.

"You're overthinking it again," said Kai, flicking the peak of his baseball cap. He'd been wearing it backwards since seventh grade, a signature move that somehow still worked. "Just be cool. You're always cool."

Easy for him to say. Kai didn't just spill his entire soul to someone via accidental text at 2 AM last night. The one time Maya let her guard down, of course her thumb had to slip and hit send instead of delete.

Now Jordan was literally five feet away, looking unfairly good in that orange sunset light filtering through the patio doors. The kind of orange that made everything feel cinematic and important, like this moment actually mattered.

"Hey," Jordan said, suddenly right there. "You okay? You look like you're about to throw up."

Smooth, Maya. Real smooth.

"I'm good!" she squeaked. "Just... thinking about baseball?"

Why. WHY did she say that. She didn't even like sports.

Jordan raised an eyebrow, half-amused. "Baseball? In October?"

"Metaphorical baseball," Kai interjected, appearing like the chaotic superhero he was. "Life's a game, right? Stealing bases, taking swings..."

Jordan laughed, and Maya felt her stomach do that annoying flutter thing. "Fair enough. Speaking of taking swings..." Jordan pulled out their phone. "About that text."

Maya's palms went into overdrive. This was it. The rejection moment. The I-don't-see-you-that-way speech she'd rehearsed in her mirror a thousand times.

"I was hoping you meant it," Jordan said, voice dropping. "Because I've been waiting forever for you to notice me."

The orange light caught Jordan's smile, and Maya realized she'd been playing it safe for way too long. Sometimes you had to swing for the fences even when your hands were shaking and you had no idea what you were doing.

"Yeah," she said, actually breathing again. "I meant it."

Kai mouthed "YOU'RE WELCOME" from behind Jordan's back, and Maya made a mental note to thank him later. Or kill him. Probably both.