Swings and Misses

The recreation center hummed with summer energy, but I was mostly trying not to look like an idiot. Again.

"You're gripping it wrong," Tyler said, demonstrating the perfect padel swing. His biceps flexed, and my stomach did that annoying thing it always did around him. "Loosen up. You look like you're about to attack someone."

"Maybe I am," I muttered, adjusting my grip on the racquet. My first time playing, and I'd already tripped over my own feet twice. The ball whizzed past my ear, close enough that I could feel the breeze.

"Nice form," Mia called from the sidelines, where she was feeding papaya chunks to Bear, her Golden Retriever. The dog sat attentively, tail thumping against the bleachers like a metronome. "At least you didn't hit yourself in the face this time."

I flipped her off. She grinned, papaya juice staining her fingers.

"Your problem is overthinking," Tyler said, stepping closer. His cologne mixed with the court's rubber smell. "Just react. Like when we're playing baseball in PE—you don't think, you just swing."

That was different. In baseball, I could hide in the outfield and pray nobody hit it my way. Padel was this aggressive, smaller version of tennis where the ball came at you FAST and you were trapped in this tiny cage with someone whose shampoo you could practically identify.

Suddenly, Bear erupted in barking, startling me so much that I swung the racquet wildly and crashed into Tyler. We both went down in a tangle of limbs and awkward apologies. His face was inches from mine, and I could see tiny golden flecks in his eyes.

"Smooth," he said, but he was smiling. His hand lingered on my arm as we disentangled ourselves.

"I'm a disaster," I mumbled, face burning.

"You're not," he said quietly. Then: "Want to grab food after? There's a food truck."

"Yeah," I breathed. "Yeah."

Mia waggled her eyebrows from the sidelines. Bear barked again, like he understood everything. For the first time all summer, I didn't feel like swinging and missing. Sometimes, the clumsiest moments are exactly where you need to be.