The Goldfish Incident

Kai's phone buzzed. Third time in five minutes. Another cable snaked across his bedroom floor—charging cable, Ethernet cable, whatever kept him tethered to the group chat blowing up about Jordan's party tonight.

"You coming?" Maya's text read. "Please tell me you're not gonna bear the burden of being the only one not there again."

Kai groaned into his pillow. Social situations were his personal version of walking on hot sand—uncomfortable and best avoided. But Maya had a point. Last weekend's streaming marathon while everyone else was at Tyler's had earned him the nickname 'Goldfish' in the group chat.

As in: "He's got a seven-second memory for plans, but somehow remembers every episode of that show."

Fair. But also, ouch.

His sister's cat, Mochi, chose that moment to parkour onto his bed, landing directly on his stomach. Kai grunted. Mochi purred like a tiny engine, completely unbothered by social anxiety or pending existential crises.

"At least your life goals are simple," Kai muttered, scratching behind her ears. "Eat, sleep, destroy things. Peak existence right here."

His phone lit up again. Jordan himself this time: "Kai. There will be water slides. And pizza. And I'm not taking no for an answer. I'll send Maya to physically drag you if needed. She's already outside btw."

Kai's heart did that stupid fluttery thing. Maya. Outside. Right now.

He scrambled up, Mochi complaining as she slid off his stomach. Through the window, he could see Maya leaning against her porch, scrolling on her phone with that intense focus she used when pretending not to care about stuff.

His phone buzzed one more time. Maya: "I can see you watching me, you weirdo. Also, I brought those gummy bears you like. The sour ones. Come downstairs or I'm eating them all."

Kai grabbed his hoodie, heart suddenly doing cartwheels. Maybe social situations weren't his thing. Maybe group chats still gave him anxiety.

But Maya waiting outside with sour gummy bears?

That was different.

He took a breath, grabbed his phone off its charging cable, and headed downstairs.