Storm Kings and Broken Screens

The summer air hung thick and sticky as I wiped my palms on my shorts, gripping the padel racquet like it owed me money. Across the net, Tyler smacked a ball that spun straight toward my face.

"Yo, you good?" Tyler called out, grinning that stupid grin that made half the sophomore class swoon. "You've been staring at your iphone all morning."

I shoved my phone deeper in my pocket. My thumbs hovered over THE text — the one I'd drafted seven times and never sent. The one to Maya.

"Just checking the weather," I lied, though we both knew Alabama summer weather was predictable as a TikTok trend: hot, then hotter, then storm.

The sky turned that bruised purple color, the kind that makes your stomach do flips. Then it happened — actual lightning cracked somewhere close enough that the hair on my arms stood up.

"We should probably bail," I said, already backing toward the pool gate where our bikes leaned against each other like tired friends.

"One more point!" Tyler insisted, as rain started spotting the court. "Loser buys boba."

I'm not saying I only agreed because Maya worked at the boba place and I needed a reason to talk to her that wasn't me awkwardly waving in the hallway.

The sky opened up. We're talking SOAKED, like the kind of wet that makes your clothes cling to your skin in ways that feel deeply uncool. We abandoned our gear and sprinted toward the clubhouse pool, laughter bubbling up somewhere between the chaos and the cold rain.

"Dude, your phone!" Tyler yelled as I fumbled it —

simple physics, really. Wet hands + sleek glass body = trajectory straight into the pool.

I watched it sink like a tiny, expensive ship. My heart sank with it. THE text. The photos. The embarrassing screenshots I never deleted.

But then Tyler did something unexpected. He jumped in — fully clothed, shoes and all — and surfaced holding my dripping iPhone like it was treasure.

"Got it," he said, shaking water from his hair. "Hope you have iCloud."

We sat by the pool edge, shoulders pressed together as the storm raged around us. Something shifted in my chest, loose and warm and confusing.

Maybe, just maybe, I'd been looking at the wrong person all along.

"Thanks," I said, and meant it for more than the phone.

"Anytime," he replied, and the way he smiled made me forget all about that text to Maya.