Poolside Pyramids

The heat wave had turned everything into a shimmering mess, but of course, my cousin Maya decided this was the perfect time for her 'end of summer' blowout. I stood by the **pool**, nursing a lukewarm soda while everyone else acted like this was the party of the century.

That's when I saw him—Ryan, from my AP Bio class, standing way too close to the snack table. I'd been lowkey crushing on him since September, and now here he was, looking stupidly good in his swim trunks. I was mentally rehearsing what to say when Tyler, my other cousin, came sprinting out of nowhere.

'YO! Who wants to see something INSANE?' Tyler yelled, gesturing to the **pyramid** of red Solo cups he'd spent twenty minutes constructing. 'I'm about to TOPPLE this bad boy in one shot.'

Before anyone could respond, he lunged at the cups with the grace of a drunk **bull** in a china shop. Cups went EVERYWHERE. Soda splashed all over Maya's new lounge chair. Ryan had to jump back to avoid getting soaked, and I swear I saw him give me this look like 'your family is unhinged.'

My face burned. I wanted to teleport to another dimension.

But then Ryan started cracking up. Not even mean laughing—like, genuinely losing it. 'That was actually legendary,' he said, wiping soda off his arm.

'Wanna help me clean up?' I asked, grabbing some napkins.

We spent the next twenty minutes picking up cups and Tyler failed attempts at being cool. Ryan kept making me laugh with his terrible impressions of our bio teacher. At one point, he found a slice of **papaya** from the fruit tray and tried to balance it on his nose.

'See?' he said, wobbling. 'I'm basically a circus performer.'

I laughed so hard I snorted. I didn't even care anymore that Tyler had embarrassed me, or that my hair was frizzy from the humidity, or that I was probably blushing the whole time Ryan looked at me.

Sometimes the best moments aren't the ones you plan. They're the ones where everything goes slightly wrong, but somehow that's exactly what makes it right.