Three A.M. Vitamin Rush

Maya's phone glowed at 3:14 AM, illuminating her room like a personal **spy** satellite. She was doing it again—stalking Riley's Instagram from six weeks ago, analyzing every caption for hidden meanings. Was that subtweet about her? Did Riley's story from Tuesday mean she was moving on?

"You're spiraling," she muttered, tossing her phone onto her duvet. It landed face-up, mockingly displaying another notification: *Riley liked your post.*

Her mom had left those weird gummy **vitamin** D supplements on her counter last week—"For your mood, sweetie." But honestly? The only thing fixing Maya's mood was the chaotic adrenaline of obsessing over Riley, the electric feeling that crackled through her veins like summer **lightning**.

She grabbed the vitamin bottle. Maybe if she took three instead of one, she'd stop overthinking. Probably not how supplements worked, but desperate times, right?

*Ping.*

Riley: *u up?*

Maya's heart did that stupid skippy thing. *Yeah.*

Riley: *can't sleep. thinking about that party.*

Maya stared at the ceiling. The party where they'd almost held hands. The party where Maya had panicked and made a joke about Riley's shoes instead. The party where everything had almost changed.

*me too,* she typed.

Riley: *my cousin said i'm terrible at reading signals.*

Maya sat up, heart pounding. *what signals?*

Riley: *idk maybe just signals in general*

The vitamins sat on her nightstand, a reminder of all the things she thought she needed to fix about herself. But maybe—just maybe—she didn't need to be someone else to be worth liking. Maybe the lightning-fast panic she felt around Riley wasn't a warning sign. Maybe it was just

Riley: *anyway. night.*

*wait,* Maya typed, fingers trembling. *the signals. were they about me?*

Three dots appeared, disappeared, appeared again.

Riley: *what if they were*

Maya grabbed the vitamins and chugged three. Not for her mood. For whatever came next.