Static & Sparks

The party was already dead when I arrived. Jake's basement smelled like cheap body spray and desperation, the kind that hangs heavy when forty people are pretending to have the time of their lives.

I stood by the snack table, nursing a lukewarm soda like it was a lifeline. Everyone called me a golden retriever in human form — always following, never leading, just happy to be included. 'You're such a good dog,' Maya had told me once, like it was a compliment. I'd laughed it off because that's what a good dog does.

Then Elena walked in.

Everyone called her 'the fox' behind her back, mostly because she'd dated three different guys on the lacrosse team in one semester and somehow came out unscathed. She moved through parties like she knew something the rest of us didn't — all sharp angles and knowing smiles, wearing her confidence like perfectly fitted armor.

She caught me watching her and I looked away, studying the basement's ceiling fan like it held the meaning of life.

'Storm's coming,' she said, suddenly beside me. Outside, lightning flickered across the sky, illuminating her profile in quick strobes. Flash-flash-flash, like someone taking pictures of a moment I hadn't realized I was in.

'I should go,' I said, because that's what I always did. Make an appearance, leave before I could say something awkward, maintain my safe orbit on the edge of everything.

'Or you could stay,' Elena said. 'You could stop standing in corners pretending you're not the most interesting person here.'

Lightning cracked closer this time, and the power cut. The basement plunged into darkness, someone screamed like it was a horror movie, and then — laughter. Elena's laugh, bright and unselfish.

'Come outside,' she said, grabbing my hand before I could overthink it. 'The best part of storms is watching them, not hiding from them.'

We ended up on Jake's front porch, watching lightning stitch across the sky in these brilliant, jagged patterns that made everything else seem small. She told me she wasn't actually slick — she was just tired of waiting for things to happen. I told her I wasn't actually a follower — I was just scared no one wanted to hear what I had to say.

'You're not a dog,' she said, as the first drops of rain started falling. 'You're just someone who hasn't figured out that you can bite back.'

My phone buzzed — Jake's group chat, blowing up about the power outage, everyone making plans I wasn't part of. I looked at Elena, silhouetted against another flash of lightning, and realized I'd been waiting for someone to give me permission to stop waiting.

'I bite back sometimes,' I said, and she smiled like she'd been hoping I would say that all along.

The storm broke overhead, rain coming down in sheets, and neither of us moved to go inside.