The Last Real Thing

Maya felt like a zombie. Not the cool, cinematic kind with dramatic makeup and a tragic backstory. The regular kind: eyes glazed, moving through the crush of bodies in Tyler's basement like she was navigating a dream she couldn't wake up from. Finals week had taken her out. Three days of four hours sleep and too much caffeine, and here she was, at the first party of junior year, watching Liam from English class lean too close to some sophomore whose name she couldn't remember.

"You look dead," Chloe said, appearing with two red cups. "Drink this."

"I am dead," Maya muttered, taking the cup. Whatever. It was Sprite.

She escaped through the sliding door, stepping onto the patio where the air actually moved. The pool reflected string lights like broken stars, water rippling in the breeze. She sat on the edge, feet dangling in. The cold shocked her system, electric and sharp.

And then—a wet nose in her ear.

She jumped. A golden retriever, Tyler's family's dog, what's-his-name, Buster or Buddy or something equally generic, had materialized from nowhere, tail wagging like he'd just found his new best friend.

"Seriously?" Maya laughed, actual laughter, not the fake kind she'd been doing inside. The dog proceeded to shake water all over her dress, droplets flying everywhere like he'd decided this was absolutely the moment.

"Buster! NO!"

Tyler's older sister, Jenna, a senior who'd graduated last year, rushed over, grabbing the dog's collar. "Oh my god, I'm so sorry, he literally—"

"No, it's perfect," Maya said, and she realized she meant it. Standing there in her now-splattered dress, feet in the pool, this ridiculous creature grinning like he'd just accomplished something magnificent, Jenna looking genuinely horrified—it was the first real thing that had happened all night.

"You okay?" Jenna asked, like she actually wanted the answer.

"Yeah," Maya said. "Yeah, I'm good."

She didn't go back inside. She stayed there, feet in the water, dog eventually collapsing beside her like she was his new person, and for the first time in weeks, Maya didn't feel like a zombie at all. She felt like someone who could just sit by the pool with a dog and not have to perform anything for anyone.

And honestly? That was better than any party anyway.