Under the Lightning

My baseball hat blew off during the most important moment of my life—right after I'd spent twenty minutes perfecting my hair in the mirror before my first date with Alexis. No big deal, except we were at the county championship game and my lucky cap was currently tumbling across the bleachers like a runaway cheese wheel.

"Your hat!" Alexis yelped, already halfway to her feet.

"Leave it!" I shouted, but then lightning cracked overhead and everyone screamed.

Suddenly we were both sprinting, chasing my hat through rain that started coming down in sheets. The announcer's voice cut through the chaos: "Severe weather warning, folks, seek shelter immediately!" Like we needed him to tell us that.

We tackled my hat near the concession stand, both of us soaked and laughing like idiots. But then the power died. The entire stadium went pitch dark.

"Okay, this is actually how zombie apocalypses start," Alexis said, her voice vibrating with what I pretended was just excitement, not fear. "I've seen enough movies to know this is chapter one."

"And chapter two?" I asked, hyper-aware that our shoulders were touching in the dark.

"We find shelter, assess supplies, and establish zombie-killing roles. Obviously."

She tapped my chest. "You're athletic, so you're the distraction. I'll handle weapons because I've actually thought this through."

"I'm the distraction?"

"You caught my attention, didn't you?"

My brain short-circuited. This wasn't happening. The universe wasn't this generous.

More lightning flashed, illuminating her crooked smile and the streaked makeup that somehow made her look even more incredible. The rain had plastered her hair to her face in ways that should've looked terrible but didn't.

"Baseball games are the worst first dates anyway," she said softly. "Too loud, too much time not actually talking. This? This is better."

I took her hand. "You know what happens after the zombies?"

"What?"

"The survivors rebuild. Better this time."

She squeezed back. "I think I'd like that."

The lights flickered back on. My hat was somewhere behind us, completely forgotten.