Palm Shadows and Poolside Truths

My palms were literally sweating through my phone case. Again.

"You coming to Jax's pool party or what?" Maya texted, adding like ten skull emojis.

I stared at my ceiling fan spinning above me. Jax's party. The one everyone had been talking about all week. The one where Alex would definitely be.

My dog, Buster, nudged my hand with his wet nose, demanding attention. He was literally the only male in my life who didn't make me overthink everything.

"I don't know," I texted back. "Not feeling it."

"Lia, stop. You're overthinking. Just show up. Wear that cute hat you got last week. You look fire in it."

The hat. My white bucket hat. My armor. If I wore it, I could pretend to be chill, pretend I wasn't absolutely losing my mind.

Twenty minutes later, I stood at Jax's gate, heart hammering against my ribs. The pool area was already packed—people laughing, music bumping, fake confident laughter everywhere. I spotted Alex immediately, of course, sitting on the edge of the pool with his feet in the water, talking to Sarah. My stomach did that awful lurchy thing.

But then Jax spotted me and waved me over like we were best friends (we weren't) and suddenly I was being pulled into the chaos, my hat covering my hair but not my nerves.

"Lia! Finally!" someone shouted, and suddenly there was a splash, and Alex was laughing, shaking water from his hair like a dog, and he looked at me and actually smiled.

"Hey, Lia," he said. "You made it."

And just like that, I wasn't running anymore. I was just there. Pool water dripping down my arms, my hat slightly askew, palm leaves swaying overhead against the sky, and for the first time all week, I wasn't overthinking a single thing.