Three Percent Battery

Maya locked herself in the bathroom with three percent battery and zero percent confidence. The party downstairs thumped like a second heartbeat she couldn't escape.

Staring at her cracked iPhone screen, she opened the texts to her little sister. How's Goldie? she typed, then deleted. Too obvious.

Goldie's fine. Miss you more, the reply came.

Goldie the goldfish was the only living thing that didn't expect anything from her. No small talk about college applications. No questions about why she transferred schools. Just swimming in circles, living his best fish life.

Her iPhone chimed—two percent. The universal deadline.

"Hey, anyone in here?"

Maya jumped, almost dropping her phone into the sink.

The door creaked open. A guy stood there, holding a tangled mess of white charging cable like it was ancient rope.

"Oh thank GOD," he said. "I've been looking everywhere. My phone died and I'm supposed to meet—actually, never mind. You need this first?"

Maya stared. Cute, in that messy-haired, oversized-sweater way that made her stomach do nervous flips.

"I literally have two minutes," she admitted.

He laughed. It was nice. Real. "Drama?"

"Social anxiety."

"Same." He dropped onto the edge of the tub, cable dangling between them. "I only came because Tyler said you'd be here."

Wait. What?

"Me?" Maya squeaked.

"No, the other Maya. Sorry, that came out—" He covered his face with both hands. "I'm Leo, by the way. The guy who's about to drown in awkwardness."

She couldn't help it—she laughed. Actually laughed.

"Maya," she said. "And I think we're already drowning."

He passed her the cable. Their fingers brushed. Something sparked—three percent worth of something.

"Your sister's text," Leo nodded at her phone. "About the fish?"

"You saw that?"

"Hard not to. Also, I have a fish too. His name is Ted. We can be weird fish people together."

Maya felt something shift inside her chest. Not panic. Not fear. Something warmer.

"Ted the fish?"

"Ted the excellent fish. He's a betta. Very judgmental."

Her iPhone died at zero percent exactly. And for the first time all night, Maya didn't care.