Thunder in My Pocket

My iPhone vibrated against my thigh like a trapped heart. One notification. From him. My fingers shook as I unlocked it, the screen casting blue light across my darkened bedroom.

'Outside. Now.'

Three months I'd been crushing on Lucas at Northwood High. Three months of watching him across AP Bio, of my friends saying he wasn't worth it, of me practicing what I'd say if he ever noticed me. And now, at 11 PM on a Tuesday, he was texting me.

I grabbed my hoodie and crept past my parents' room, my sock feet silent on the stairs. The screen door hissed shut behind me.

Lucas stood under the streetlamp at the corner, his silhouette golden against the falling rain. Something about the way he leaned there — too casual, too perfect — made my stomach flip.

'You came,' he said, not smiling exactly.

'You're insane,' I replied, but I was smiling like an idiot. 'It's pouring.'

'Perfect storm, right?' He stepped closer, and I could smell rain and citrus gum. 'I wanted you to see this.'

He pointed up.

I followed his gaze and my breath caught. The sky was alive. Lightning cracked open the darkness, silver veins branching across the clouds, illuminating everything in these frozen moments. Like the world was a photograph and someone was flashing the shutter.

'Stay here with me,' Lucas said, and his hand found mine in the dark. His palm was warm. 'Just watch.'

We stood there while the storm built around us. I forgot about my phone. Forgot about my curfew. Forgot about what everyone at school would say tomorrow if they knew Lucas Chen had texted me in the middle of the night to watch lightning.

Then: running footsteps.

'Chloe!' My dad's voice. 'Get inside NOW.'

Lucas dropped my hand. The spell broke.

'I have to go,' I whispered, suddenly cold.

'Text you?' His eyes were bright in the streetlamp's glow.

'Yeah.'

I was halfway home when my iPhone buzzed again. Not Lucas. A weather alert: SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING. I laughed despite myself, rain plastering my hair to my forehead, lightning still firing behind me.

Some nights change you whether you want them to or not.