Storms and Sweaty Palms
Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could practically wring them out like a washcloth. This was it – Jordan's party, the social event of the semester, and she was currently hiding in the bathroom like a total loser.
"You good in there?" called a voice. It was Riley, the girl from her chemistry class who always wore those combat boots and somehow made it look effortless.
Maya opened the door. "Just giving myself a pep talk. I'm not built for this."
Riley laughed, leaning against the doorframe. "Same. I already hid in the kitchen for twenty minutes. There's a literal bear mascot head on the TV and everyone's pretending it's normal."
Outside, lightning flashed through the windows, making the whole house strobe like a glitching video game. The storm had been building all evening, the kind that made the air feel electric and heavy.
"Wanna escape?" Riley asked. "There's a cat in the basement. His name is Pickles and he's the only living thing here that doesn't make everything weird."
They ended up in the basement, which was somehow cooler than the rest of the house. Pickles the cat immediately flopped onto Maya's lap like he owned her, purring so hard his whole body vibrated.
"This is literally the best part of this party," Maya admitted, scratching behind Pickles' ears.
Riley sat beside her, their shoulders brushing. "High school is such a weird fever dream. Like, why do we all pretend to be chill when we're all just awkward disasters?"
Another lightning strike, closer this time. The lights flickered and died, plunging them into darkness lit only by the storm through the window well.
"Well," Riley's voice came from the dark. "This is officially not awkward anymore."
Maya laughed, and in that moment, with the storm raging outside and a cat on her lap and someone who actually got it beside her, her sweaty palms didn't seem to matter anymore.
"Hey," Riley said softly. "Next party, we just come for the cat. Deal?"
"Deal."
Sometimes the best moments happen when everything else goes dark.