The Bear at the Pool

Liam's summer wasn't supposed to go down like this.

He'd been spending way too much time this July spying on Maya's Instagram stories, watching her live her best pool-party life from his lonely couch. His iPhone battery was basically a casualty of war at this point.

Then came the invite to Jordan's party. *The* party.

Liam showed up rocking his target-from-target swim trunks, ready to finally make a move. The pool was packed – people doing cannonballs, that one couple who wouldn't stop being gross together, Jordan's older sister blasting something that wasn't even good but everyone pretended to vibe with anyway.

He spotted Maya across the pool, looking unreal in that way that makes your brain do a little malfunction.

Then his iPhone buzzed. Maya had posted a new story. Liam tapped it, expecting another aesthetic sunset or whatever.

Instead: a video of *him* from earlier that day. Standing outside her house. Spying. The caption read: "my little detective <3"

His face burned hotter than the summer sun. She'd KNOWN? This whole time?

Before he could process this absolute catastrophe, Jordan's dad came storming out of the house, red-faced and巨大的.

"Who left the GATE OPEN?" The dad bear was about to go full nuclear on whoever messed up.

Liam's phone slipped from his sweaty grip. *Plop.* Right into the deep end.

He just stared at the ripples, totally cooked.

Maya appeared beside him, sliding into the water. "You gonna get that?"

"It's gone," Liam said, wishing he could dissolve into the pool water.

"Good," she said, splashing him. "Now you can actually talk to me instead of watching from afar like a total creep."

He died. Actually died. But she was smiling.

"Besides," she added, "I only posted that because I thought it was cute. Like, come say hi to my face next time?"

Liam finally laughed. Sometimes the universe has to destroy your social life to help you level up.