Vitamin Anxiety Electric

Maya stood outside Jake's house, clutching her phone so hard her palm left sweat marks on the case. The bass from inside vibrated through the soles of her Converse. First party of sophomore year, and she'd already taken one of her brother's "pre-workout energy vitamins" that he swore would give her confidence.

Spoiler: it was just giving her the jitters.

Her phone screen went black. Three percent. She'd forgotten her charging cable at home, because apparently her brain had dissolved the moment Jake Wilson had invited her.

"Mayiaaa!" Carlos opened the door, grinning like he'd already pregamed. "You made it! Jake's by the DJ setup, being all broody and mysterious."

She stepped inside, and suddenly her palms were sweating so badly she could practically wring them out. The vitamin was making her heart race like she'd run a marathon, but she hadn't moved from the doorway.

"Hey," she squeaked to the first person she recognized—Chloe, who was snapchatting herself with a red cup. Chloe didn't look up. Of course.

Maya wandered toward the back where Jake was definitely NOT being mysterious (he was just standing alone looking at his phone like every other teenage boy). She was three feet away when her phone died completely.

"Hey," Jake said, looking up. His eyes were that annoyingly pretty shade of hazel that made girls forget how to speak. "You good?"

"Yeah, just..." She wiped her palm on her jeans, mortified. "My phone died. Classic."

Jake laughed, and pulled a tangled mess of white cord from his pocket. "I've got like three cables in here. My mom makes me carry them because I'm always dead battery girl at family dinners."

He handed her the most disgusting, frayed cable she'd ever seen.

"That's... revolting," she said, then immediately regretted it. "I mean, thanks."

"It's vintage," Jake said. "From like, iPhone 7 era. Retro tech." He stepped closer. "So are you gonna talk to me or just stand there being intimidatingly cute?"

Maya's palm stopped sweating. The vitamin-induced panic dissolved into something else—something warm and sparkly and completely terrifying.

"I might need another vitamin first," she said.

Jake smiled. "I think you're doing just fine."

Her phone stayed dead all night. She didn't care once.