Poolside Recon

The backyard was already lit up like a failed Instagram aesthetic when I arrived, fashionably late and sweating through my favorite vintage tee. Summer in Phoenix hits different — even at 8 PM, the air felt like breathing through warm cotton.

I spotted Marco by the pool immediately, of course. His hair was wet, droplets catching the fairy lights strung across the fence, and he was laughing at something Jenna said. My stomach did that stupid flip thing it always did when he was within fifty feet.

"You made it!" Taylor appeared at my elbow, shoving a red cup into my hand. "We were about to send a search party."

"Got held up," I lied smoothly. "My mom needed help with... stuff."

Taylor narrowed their eyes but didn't press. "Well, get in the **water**, everyone's doing laps. Or at least standing in the shallow end pretending to be cool."

I wasn't exactly a **pool** person. Not with the whole swimsuit situation and my signature move of accidentally inhaling chlorinated **water** through my nose. But Marco was there, so suddenly I was very committed to the concept of aquatic recreation.

Then I saw it — Marco's phone, sitting on a patio chair, unlocked and glowing with a notification that made my heart stop.

MIA (3): tmrw at the place. dont tell anyone.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I was moving. Not **running**, exactly, but definitely walking with purpose. I needed to see more. I needed to know who Mia was and what "the place" meant and why I'd never heard about her until three seconds ago when she was apparently meeting him tomorrow.

I felt like the world's worst **spy**, crouching beside his chair like I was tying my shoe while simultaneously snooping through someone's personal life. I'd barely touched the screen when —

"Yo, Lexi? You good down there?"

I jumped approximately three feet in the air. Marco was standing over me, dripping wet, looking equal parts confused and amused.

"I'm —" My brain short-circuited. "I dropped an earring."

"In my chair?"

"The physics are complicated, Marco, don't question them."

He laughed, and somehow that was worse than if he'd been mad. "You're weird, Lexi. I like that."

Then: "Hey, you want to hang out tomorrow? There's this place downtown —"

"The place?" I blurted.

He blinked. "Uh, yeah? This record store on 5th. My cousin Mia works there, said she'd give us the employee discount on — why are you looking at me like that?"

I stared at him. Then I started laughing. I couldn't help it.

"Nothing," I said, still giggling. "Just... long story. And yeah. Yeah, I'd love to."

Sometimes the only thing spying on people teaches you is that you should've just asked them to hang out in the first place.