Signal Lost at Sunset

Lena's palms were literally sweating as she stood outside the arcade. She'd been crushing on Marcus since seventh period English, and somehow they were now here—at their first "hangout." Was it a date? She didn't know. The uncertainty was literally killing her.

"You sure you've never tried papaya?" Marcus asked, holding up a spoon.

"Never. My mom says it tastes like soap," Lena lied smoothly, because she'd never actually told her mom anything about papaya ever. "You first."

Marcus laughed and took a bite, his eyes lighting up.

"Bruh, you're missing out. It's actually fire." He held out the spoon to her, and she tried to play it cool as she leaned in. Their fingers brushed, and Lena's heart literally did a backflip.

The papaya wasn't bad—kind of sweet, kind of weird—but Marcus watching her taste it made it better somehow.

Then her phone buzzed. Her friends were blowing up her group chat:

*how's it going??*

*did he ask you out??*

*we need DETAILS immediately*

Lena rolled her eyes. "Sorry, my friends are being extra."

"Same. My sister keeps texting me about the cable bill," Marcus said, running a hand through his hair. "She literally pays for nothing but wants to act like she's in charge of everything."

Lena nodded, though she was mostly just watching the way his hands moved when he talked, the way he leaned against the arcade entrance like he belonged there, the way the sunset caught his profile.

They spent the next hour playing badly at Mario Kart and sharing way too much about their middle school traumas. Marcus confessed he still had his stuffed animal from when he was five. Lena admitted she once cried because her crush saw her in her pajamas during a Zoom class.

The sun dipped lower. Her phone kept buzzing with demands for updates. But something about this moment—him, the weird papaya aftertaste, the arcade lights flickering on—felt too perfect to ruin by checking her notifications.

"I should probably get home," Marcus said finally. "But, like, this was fun. We should definitely hang again."

Lena tried to keep her voice steady. "Yeah. Definitely."

She watched him walk away, already pulling out his phone, and for once, she didn't immediately check hers. The messages would still be there. The updates could wait. For the first time all night, she let her phone stay dark in her pocket and just felt the warm evening air on her face.

Her friends were going to lose it, but honestly? She'd tell them tomorrow. Tonight, she just wanted to hold onto this feeling a little longer.