The Last Real Summer

Marcus slumped against the aluminum bleachers, his **iphone** burning a hole in his pocket. Not literally—his mom would kill him for that metaphor—but the urge to check it was like a physical itch. Seven notifications. Probably from group chats where everyone was making plans without him.

**Baseball** practice had been cancelled. Again. Coach said something about fields being too wet, but Marcus suspected Coach just didn't feel like dealing with a team that had lost eight games straight. His batting average was hovering somewhere between embarrassing and tragic.

"You look like a **zombie**," said Chloe, dropping beside him and cracking open a soda.

Marcus snorted. "That's because I am one. I've been watching reality TV for three days straight."

"Wait, people still watch **cable**?" Chloe raised an eyebrow. "That's so... vintage."

"My parents refuse to get streaming services. Something about 'building character' through commercial breaks." Marcus kicked at a loose pebble. "Anyway, my dad got me this job helping his friend clean out his garage. Guy used to work for some tech company in the 90s. Found all these old cables everywhere. Like, mountains of them."

"Cables?" Chloe wrinkled her nose.

"Yeah. And we started talking about how things used to connect. Before wireless. Before everything became invisible." Marcus gestured vaguely at the sky. "He said something that stuck with me—how we're all connected now, but we're more lonely than ever."

Chloe was quiet for a moment. "That's deep coming from a guy who spends his weekends organizing vintage wires."

"Shut up." Marcus smiled, then his phone buzzed. He almost pulled it out. Almost.

Instead, he watched the sunset paint the sky in impossible colors. For once, he didn't document it. Didn't post it. Didn't check if anyone else was seeing the same thing.

"Hey," Chloe said suddenly. "You want to come over? My brother's old gaming console still works. And my mom actually ordered pizza."

Marcus hesitated. His phone buzzed again. Probably important. Probably FOMO-inducing.

"Yeah," he said, standing up. "Yeah, I'd like that."

The notifications could wait. Some connections were still better than others.