Three Seconds of Lightning

Maya pressed herself against the bathroom wall, clutching her iPhone like a lifeline. Outside, Jordan's party raged with bass-heavy music she could feel vibrating through the tiles. She'd come because her friends said she HAD to — like, social suicide to skip the first party of junior year. But now she was hiding.

She opened Instagram for the hundredth time, practically cyber-stalking Kai's profile. He'd posted a story ten minutes ago: some blurry picture of red solo cups. She felt like a total creep, SPYing on him through a screen, but isn't that what everyone did these days? Pretend to be casual while obsessively documenting every moment?

The bathroom door flew open. Maya jumped, nearly dropping her phone.

"Oh! Sorry." Kai stood there, actually there, looking annoyingly perfect even with party-hair. "Just needed to escape for a sec."

"Yeah, same," Maya managed. Her heart was doing that thing where it felt like it might explode.

He nodded toward the hallway. "Everyone's RUNNING around like maniacs out there. Chase is doing keg stands in the kitchen. It's... a lot."

Through the window, LIGHTNING cracked across the sky, illuminating everything in harsh white for one split second. In that moment, Maya saw Kai clearly — he looked tired. Fake smile, tight shoulders. This was the guy she'd been obsessing over?

"My sister won a goldfish at the fair once," he said suddenly. "Lived for like, five years. She kept it in this tiny bowl and sometimes I'd just stare at it swimming in circles and think... that's gonna be me someday. Just going through the motions."

Maya stared at him. "That's... depressingly deep for a party conversation."

He laughed, and it was real this time. "Sorry. I'm socially awkward and apparently overshare when stressed."

"Me too," she said. "Like, me so much."

Another lightning flash. His phone buzzed — notification from Jordan's story. "You should probably check that," she said.

"Nah." He silenced it. "I'm good right here."

And for three seconds, Maya forgot about being cool, forgot about the FOMO, forgot about performing being a teenager. She was just standing in a bathroom with Kai who talked about goldfish at parties, and she felt weirdly okay with not knowing what happened next.