The Night Everything Went Wrong

The cable box died three minutes before Jake was supposed to come over. OF COURSE. Because the universe had a personal vendetta against my social life.

"Maya, did you pay the bill?" Mom yelled from the kitchen.

"Yes! It's just—broken!" I smacked the remote like that would fix anything. The screen stayed stubbornly black. Jake, the cute junior from my English class, was going to be here in TWO MINUTES, and we were supposed to watch that new Netflix everyone was talking about.

My six-year-old brother Leo chose that moment to sprint into the living room, clutching his plastic goldfish bowl.

"Bubbles looks SICK!" he wailed.

The orange goldfish was indeed floating sideways.

"He's just... resting," I tried, but Leo was already sobbing.

Then the doorbell rang.

Jake stood there looking nervous-cute, holding a container of spinach artichoke dip from that fancy deli downtown. "My mom made extra," he said, and I swear I almost died right there.

So there we were: me, Jake, a sobbing six-year-old, a dying goldfish, a broken cable box, and spinach dip that was probably amazing but I was too stressed to eat.

Jake surprised me. He didn't bail. Instead, he googled "how to save a sick goldfish" on his phone.

"Change the water, add a pinch of salt," he read, kneeling beside Leo. "Wanna be a fish doctor, buddy?"

Leo stopped crying. They worked together while I finally fixed the cable (it had come unplugged, I'm an idiot). By the time Bubbles started swimming properly again, Jake and I were sitting on the couch eating spinach dip with crackers, watching some random stand-up special.

"So," he said, dipping a cracker, "this wasn't how I pictured tonight going."

"Me neither." I laughed. "But somehow... it's not terrible?"

Jake smiled. "Yeah. Actually, it's kinda great."

Bubbles swam happily in his newly cleaned water. The cable worked. And I learned that sometimes the nights that start as disasters end up being the ones you remember.

Also: Jake looked really good holding a goldfish bowl. Just saying.