Three Inches of Everything

Kae stood in front of the mirror, popping her third gummy **vitamin** of the week. Not because she needed them—her mom had bought the giant bottle from Costco and left it on the counter like a passive-aggressive health comment—but because chewing them helped her not scream.

Tonight was Jordan's party. The Jordan. The one whose Instagram stories made Kae's chest feel like it was folding in on itself. She'd been practicing her laugh in the mirror for three days.

"You got this," she whispered, then immediately cringed. Who says that?

Her phone died at 17% on the uber ride over. Now she stood on Jordan's front porch, staring at a tangle of charging **cable** someone had left near the potted plants. It was frayed at the end, exposing copper wire like a tiny disaster. She almost reached for it—some instinct to fix things, to make them neat and whole—when the door swung open.

"Kae! You made it!" Jordan's smile was exactly like her photos. Kae's throat went dry.

The house was already loud. Kae hovered near the snack table, clutching a red Solo cup like it was a life preserver. That's when she noticed him.

He was sitting on the back porch alone, phone lit up in his face, one hand trailing through a bowl on his lap. A **goldfish**—an actual, alive one—swam in circles in what looked suspiciously like a cleaned-out pickle jar.

"That's not weird at all," Kae said before she could stop herself.

He looked up, startled. Then he laughed. Not a practiced laugh. A real one, all crinkled eyes and surprise. "His name is Kevin. He's my emotional support animal for parties."

"Kevin the goldfish. In a pickle jar."

"Classy, right?" He patted the empty spot beside him. "I'm Nico. You escaping too?"

"Kae." She sat down. "I don't know if I'm escaping or just... existing incorrectly."

"Same." Nico fished a cracker from a nearby bag. "Kevin doesn't judge, though. That's his best quality. Well, that and not needing his tank cleaned like, ever. He's very low-maintenance friendship material."

Kae found herself laughing. A real one.

They sat there for an hour, Kevin swimming lazy circles between them, while Kae forgot about her practiced laugh and her dead phone and the vitamin gummies in her pocket. Some connections didn't need charging cables or perfect Instagram stories. Sometimes you just needed a goldfish in a pickle jar and someone who understood existing incorrectly.

"Next party," Nico said, "we bring Kevin."

"Deal."

And somehow, that was exactly enough.