Papaya Lips and Electric Skies

Marcus adjusted his baseball cap, trying to look casual as he leaned against the dugout fence. Jordan was walking toward him, and his heart was doing that stupid flutter thing it always did whenever she was within a fifty-foot radius.

"Hey," she said, stopping way closer than necessary. Her eyes were fixed on his mouth. "What's that orange stuff on your lips?"

Marcus froze. His mom, in her infinite wisdom, had decided the family needed "more tropical fruit" in their lives and had packed him papaya for lunch. He'd thought he'd wiped it all off.

"Uh, nothing?"

Jordan laughed, and it sounded like actual bells. "It's papaya, isn't it? My grandma eats that stuff. Says it's good for your, like, gut biome or whatever."

"My mom's going through a phase," Marcus admitted, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "She thinks papaya's magical."

"It's not terrible," Jordan said, and then she did something completely unexpected — she reached out and traced her thumb along his jawline, where he'd apparently missed a spot. "You missed a bit."

Marcus forgot how to speak. The baseball game going on in the background might as well have been happening on another planet.

Then the sky opened up.

Everyone screamed as lightning cracked across the sky, bright purple against the rapidly darkening clouds. The umpire blew the whistle, and suddenly the entire team was scrambling toward the locker room, equipment bags flying.

"Come on!" Jordan grabbed Marcus's hand, and they sprinted through the suddenly pouring rain toward the school building. Her hand was warm and slightly calloused — probably from softball, he realized with a jolt.

They collapsed under the shelter of the school's overhang, both soaked to the bone, breathing hard. Jordan's mascara was running slightly down her cheeks, and Marcus knew his hair was absolutely wrecked.

"Well," she said, grinning. "That was dramatic."

"Yeah," Marcus managed. His baseball cap was dripping onto his nose. "Sorry about the papaya situation, by the way."

Jordan looked at him for a long moment. Then she leaned in close.

"Actually," she said, "I kind of like it. It's... unexpected. Like you."

Another flash of lightning illuminated everything, and this time Marcus saw it coming — Jordan closed the distance between them, and suddenly they were kissing, and he could taste rain and somehow she tasted like papaya too, and the whole world was electric.