The Cable Between Us

The hat pulled low over my eyes was my only defense against the fluorescent cafeteria lights. I'd spent twenty minutes fixing my hair that morning, only to spend the entire lunch period hiding under this stolen baseball cap like I was some kind of fugitive. Which wasn't entirely wrong—I was technically skipping third period.

"You look like you're about to rob a convenience store," Maya said, sliding onto the bench across from me. Her eyes were doing that thing where they scanned my face like I was a puzzle she couldn't quite solve. I'd catch her spy-ing on me during English sometimes, watching me when she thought I wouldn't notice. It made my palms sweat every single time.

"I'm incognito," I muttered, picking at the cafeteria pizza that had the structural integrity of cardboard. "Ricky's gonna kill me if he finds out I bailed on the history project."

She reached across the table and gently tugged the brim of my hat upward. Our fingers brushed, and something electric shot through me—like when you touch a doorknob after walking across carpet in socks, but better. Way better.

"You know," she said, her voice dropping to that conspiratorial whisper that made everything feel momentous, "I saw your post last night. The cable guy selfie with the mustache drawn on."

My face burned. That was supposed to be close friends only. "That was—"

"Actually kind of iconic," she finished. "Like, you're not even trying to be cool, and that's somehow more cool than everyone trying so hard it hurts."

She pulled her phone from her pocket, the charging cable still dangling from the case. "Wanna hang at my place this weekend? My parents are gone, and I have that vintage Nintendo you were talking about."

The words hung between us, heavy and terrifying and completely wonderful. I thought about Ricky's history project, about the hat that had become my security blanket, about how I'd spent sixteen years being the person who watched from the sidelines while everyone else lived their lives.

"Yeah," I said, and it came out stronger than I expected. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Maya grinned, and for the first time all day, I didn't feel the need to pull the hat back down over my eyes. The bell rang, and we both stood up, and I didn't even care that Ricky was definitely going to murder me later. Some things were worth the trouble.