Stream Courage

Maya's heart raced like a bass drop as she hovered over the 'Go Live' button. This was it — three months of secretly practicing her streams, and she was finally going live. Her friends had been begging her to do it for weeks, convinced her chaotic gaming commentary would go viral.

Just as her finger touched the button, her screen went black.

'You have got to be kidding me,' she groaned, facepalming so hard her forehead stung. She traced the tangled mess of cords behind her setup and realized the HDMI cable had worked itself loose. Again.

'Need help?'

Maya jumped and spun around. Liam stood in her doorway, leaning against the frame like he owned the place. Her older brother's best friend had been stopping by way too much lately, always with some random excuse.

'I got it,' she said, maybe too quickly. Her face felt hot.

'You sure about that?' He nodded at her setup. 'Your whole bear of a setup looks like it's about to collapse.'

Maya rolled her eyes. 'First off, it's not a bear. Second, why are you even here?'

'Mom wanted me to bring this.' He held up a grocery bag. 'She said something about you wanting to try exotic fruit?'

Maya's soul left her body. She'd mentioned wanting to record a 'weird food challenge' stream exactly once, at dinner, two weeks ago. And now here was Liam, holding a papaya like it was the most normal thing in the world, while she sat in her gaming chair wearing her lucky oversized hoodie and no makeup.

'Why does everyone in this house remember everything I say?' she muttered.

Liam chuckled, actually chuckled, and it was annoyingly attractive. 'Want help with that cable? I used to do tech support for streaming setups.'

Maya hesitated, then moved over. Their fingers brushed as he reached for the cord, and her stomach did something concerning. He smelled like cedar and something else she couldn't place, and suddenly her bedroom felt way too small.

'There,' he said, stepping back as her screen flickered back to life. 'All good.'

'Thanks,' she said, not meeting his eyes. 'You can... stay if you want. I'm doing a food challenge stream anyway, if you're not too busy.'

Liam grinned. 'Wouldn't miss it. I've never seen someone eat papaya on stream before.'

Maya hit 'Go Live' and thought maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be a disaster after all.