The Orange Shirt Incident

The orange shirt had seemed like a good idea in my bedroom at 7 PM. By 7:23, standing in Maya's crowded basement, I wanted to evaporate.

"You look like a traffic cone," Jordan announced, delighting in my misery.

"It's called burnt orange, actually. It's a vibe."

"It's a hazard."

I drifted toward the snack table, attempting to look busy and mysterious—like the kind of person who wore orange intentionally. Across the room, Kai sat on the couch, laughing at something I couldn't hear. We'd been DMing for weeks, the kind of late-night conversations that feel enormous in the dark and terrifying in fluorescent light. Kai was a sphinx, all careful words and unreadable eyes, every message leaving me unraveling another layer of myself.

Then Riley's golden retriever, Barnaby, burst through the back door with the chaotic energy of a creature who understood social cues less than I did. He bounded toward the couch, tail clearing a coffee table like a hurricane. Kai laughed, head tilted back, and I found myself moving closer without deciding to.

Barnaby spotted my orange sleeve and decided it was his new best friend. He jumped, paws connecting with my chest in a gesture of aggressive affection.

"Sorry!" Kai was suddenly there, pulling the dog back. Their fingers brushed my arm. "He's got zero boundaries."

"It's okay," I said, my voice betraying me by cracking. "I like dogs."

Smooth. Truly wordsmithing at the highest level.

Kai's eyes crinkled. "I like your shirt. It's bold."

"It's orange."

"Yeah. But like, confidently orange."

Barnaby chose that moment to steal a nacho from someone's plate and bolt. Kai grabbed my hand—my actual hand—and we chased after the dog together, through the kitchen and out into the backyard where the air was finally cool enough to breathe.

We caught Barnaby near the fence. Kai was laughing, bending to clip the leash onto his collar, then looking up at me with something like recognition.

"You know," they said, "I've been wanting to talk to you all night."

The orange shirt was fine. The orange shirt was great. The orange shirt was exactly what I was supposed to be wearing.