Three-Second Memory

The goldfish sat in its plastic bag on the passenger seat of Maya's beat-up Toyota, swimming in clueless circles while she hyperventilated into her steering wheel. Tonight was finally happening — the party where Jake from AP English would actually be there, and she'd spent three hours choosing between two almost-identical crop tops.

"You got this, Nemo," she told the fish, which she'd won at the carnival earlier because apparently she was still twelve. The bag bounced as she peeled into the parking lot of the old baseball field where everyone hung out.

Thunder rumbled. Great.

The party was already popping when she arrived, lights strung up from the backstop, someone's phone blasting through a portable speaker. Jake was there, leaning against the dugout, looking annoyingly effortless in a vintage jersey that definitely wasn't from Target.

Maya grabbed her emergency-from-panic drink (Sprite, because she was basically a grandmother) and prepared to make her move. But then the sky ripped open.

First came the lightning — this jagged, electric crack that turned everything white-blue and made someone shriek. Then the deluge. Everyone scrambled for cover, jamming into the tiny dugout like wet, complaining sardines.

Maya ended up squished against Jake. His shoulder was warm. The air smelled like rain and stolen beer and suddenly she couldn't remember any of the clever things she'd mentally rehearsed. Her brain had become a goldfish — three-second memory, endless loop of oh my god he's right there and say something cool and wait what was I supposed to say?

"Nice weather," she blurted.

Jake laughed, and it wasn't mean. "Yeah, Mother Nature's really showing off tonight."

They talked for twenty minutes while the storm turned the baseball diamond into a lake. About how he'd struck out in the bottom of the ninth last season, how she was failing pre-calc, how they were both terrified of graduating. The goldfish swam forgotten in her car, but Maya didn't need it anymore.

Some memories you keep forever. Some are worth the wait.