Static Electricity

Maya's palms were sweating. Again. She wiped them on her denim shorts for the third time, watching Leo from across the basement. He was leaning against the ping-pong table, laughing at something Chloe said, his hair falling into his eyes like he'd personally styled it that way.

"You're staring," whispered Jordan, appearing beside her with a knowing grin. "Again."

"Am not," Maya lied, checking her phone. No notifications. Of course. The charging cable she'd borrowed from Leo last week was still coiled in her pocket like a dead snake—she'd forgotten to return it three days running, which was either a convenient excuse to talk to him or absolute torture, depending on the moment.

"He's totally looking back though," Jordan said. "But also, Chloe's being all touchy with his arm, so like, vibes are complicated."

Maya's stomach did that thing where it felt like someone was wringing it out like a wet towel. Chloe had that effortless confidence thing, the way she could flip her hair and say whatever came to mind without overthinking it twelve times first. Maya was more of a mental rehearsal person, running through conversations that would never happen because she'd choke on actual words.

"I should just give him his cable back," she said, mostly to herself. "Get it over with."

"Or," Jordan said, "you could not do that and actually talk to him like a normal person who doesn't lead with 'here's your charging cord back, thanks for letting me borrow it even though we haven't spoken since.'"

Maya snorted. "When you put it that way."

But then Leo was walking over, and her brain short-circuited. He smiled—that crooked thing that made her knees feel suspiciously unstable.

"Hey," he said. "You headed out?"

"Yeah, um," Maya started, then remembered the cable. She fished it from her pocket. "Your cable. Sorry I kept it so long."

"Oh, nice," he said, but he didn't take it immediately. His fingers brushed hers when he finally did, and her heart did something genuinely concerning. "You know, you could've kept it longer. Given me more reasons to talk to you."

Jordan made a face behind Leo's back that was definitely intended to be encouraging and mostly looked like they were having a stroke.

"Oh," Maya said intelligently.

"Unless that's weird," Leo added quickly, scratching the back of his neck. "That was weird. I'm—"

"No," Maya said, finding her voice somewhere between her lungs and her throat. "Not weird. You could, like. Text me. If you wanted. Not that you have to. Or anything."

Leo's smile widened. "I think I will."

As she walked out into the cool night air, Maya's palms were finally dry. She pulled out her phone to find a new notification: Leo had added his contact info to the cable's charging reminder note she'd left herself.

Somewhere in the distance, a fox darted across the street—sleek and clever and wild.

Yeah, Maya thought. Same.