The Goldfish and the Storm

Maya's palms were sweating. Actual sweating. She wiped them on her dress for the third time, probably ruining the fabric, but whatever. Jake Morrison's party was already way out of her comfort zone, and she'd been here exactly seven minutes.

The bass from the speakers vibrated in her chest, or maybe that was just anxiety. Everyone seemed to know exactly what to do with their hands, their laughs, their lives. Maya stood near the massive fish tank in the corner, watching a lone goldfish swim back and forth, back and forth.

"Nice fish, right?"

Maya jumped. A guy with messy dark hair and incredibly green eyes leaned against the wall beside her.

"It's having a better night than me," she said before she could stop herself.

He laughed. "That's Bubbles. My sister won her at a carnival last year and somehow she's still alive. Life finds a way." He extended a hand. "I'm Leo, by the way. Jake's cousin."

"Maya. From school."

Recognition flickered. "You're in Mr. Henderson's English class, right? The one who actually did the reading?"

They fell into easy conversation—books, teachers, the collective misery of pre-calc. Maya's shoulders dropped an inch. Maybe this party wouldn't be a total disaster after all. She grabbed what she thought was chips and dip from a nearby table. The spinach artichoke dip was actually decent, or maybe she was just starving.

CRACK.

Thunder shook the house. The lights flickered once, twice, then died completely, plunging the room into darkness.

"Everyone stay calm!" Jake's voice called out. "The basement's flooding, I gotta go—just hang tight!"

Dim blue light filtered through the windows. Maya could barely make out Leo's silhouette beside her.

"My parents have this ridiculous thing about ancient Egypt," his voice came from the darkness. "We have, like, three sphinx statues in the house. Want the tour?"

"Why not?" Maya heard herself say.

His fingers brushed hers—warm, slightly calloused. "Cool. Follow my voice. Oh, and fair warning: my little sister left her sphinx doll somewhere. It tells riddles."

A flash of lightning illuminated the hallway, and Maya found herself grinning in the dark.

"What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs in the evening?" she quoted.

Leo stopped. "Okay, first of all, impressive. Second, that's literally the only one anyone knows."

Another lightning flash. His face was closer than she'd realized, soft with something that made her stomach do a weird little flip.

"Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"You've had spinach in your teeth since we started talking."

The horror that washed over her was absolute, complete, devastating.

"But," he continued quickly, "I didn't know how to tell you without making it weird, and then we were actually having a good conversation, and then the power went out, and—"

Maya started laughing. She couldn't help it. This was her life. This was absolutely her life.

"I have floss in my backpack," she managed between giggles.

"Perfect. And Maya?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really glad you came to the party."

The goldfish swam in its darkened tank. Somewhere, rain pattered against the roof. And Maya thought that maybe, just maybe, being a little awkward wasn't the worst thing in the world.