Poolside Zombies
The cable guy was supposed to come between noon and three. It was already 2:47, and Maya's phone was dying at 8%.
"Whatever," said Jayden, already cannonballing into the pool. "We don't need wifi. We're living life."
Maya sat on the pool edge, dipping her feet in, watching the water ripple around her ankles. This was supposed to be the party of the summer — her parents finally gone for the weekend, the house to herself, and everyone from junior year invited. But now the home internet was down, the cable TV was nothing but static on every channel, and without wifi, nobody could stream music or post stories.
She felt like a zombie. Honestly, she'd been feeling like one since school ended three weeks ago — same routine, same group chats, same carefully curated posts, same performative fun. Her iPhone had become an extension of her arm, a second nervous system she couldn't function without.
"Hey." It was Leo, sliding into the pool beside her. "Your phone actually dead?"
"Almost. Why?"
"Because," he said, "I've been trying to send you this meme for like twenty minutes." He held up his own phone, screen cracked but still glowing. "But since nothing's loading anyway..." He locked it and set it on the concrete. "Guess I'll just tell you."
Maya's heart did that thing it always did when Leo talked to her — the thing she'd screenshot and obsessively analyze if she had signal. "Tell me what?"
"That you look really pretty today," he said, not looking at her. "And that I was gonna ask if you wanted to maybe... I don't know, hang out sometime? Just us?"
Her phone buzzed its final breath — 1%, then black screen. The ghost of her digital self flickered and died.
And suddenly she was alive. Actually, uncomfortably, wonderfully alive. No filter. No screenshot. No group chat poll. Just her, Leo, and pool water drying on her skin.
"Yes," she said, and for the first time all summer, she meant it. "A thousand times yes."
Behind them, the cable guy's van finally pulled into the driveway. Maya didn't even turn around.