Vitamin D Deficiency Social Anxiety

The invitation had been sitting in Maya's DMs for three days before she finally typed 'yeah omw.' Chase's pool party. The Chase. As in, the guy she'd been lowkey staring at across the cafeteria since September.

Maya stood by the back gate, clutching her towel like it was a lifeline. She could already hear music thumping and laughter floating over the fence. Her phone buzzed — her mom's reminder: 'Did you take your vitamin D gummies? You know how you get.' Maya rolled her so hard it hurt. Yeah Mom, definitely took them. Definitely not currently spiraling.

She pushed through the gate. People were everywhere — in the pool, on loungers, around the snacks table. Chase was in the shallow end, tossing a beach ball. He looked annoyingly perfect.

"Maya! You made it!" Chase called, waving. Half a dozen heads turned. Maya's face burned.

"Yeah," she managed, then immediately spotted an escape route. "Just gonna... get changed."

The bathroom became her sanctuary for approximately seven minutes before someone knocked. "Hurry up in there!"

Maya emerged in her swimsuit, feeling exposed. She made a beeline for the pool steps because obviously the best strategy was full submersion. She was waist-deep when something came bounding out of nowhere — a massive golden retriever, tennis ball in mouth, making a beeline straight for her.

"BARNEY! NO!" someone screamed, but it was too late. The dog launched himself into the pool, creating a wave that doused Maya completely.

The entire party went silent. Then Chase started cracking up. Soon everyone was laughing. Maya stood there, dripping wet, dog paddling around her like she was some kind of aquatic playground.

"Well," Chase called, swimming over. "Now you don't have to ease into it. Barney's an equal opportunity destroyer."

Maya looked at the dog — Barney — who was now enthusiastically shaking water all over her.

"Yeah," she said, wiping dog water from her face. "Thanks for the assist, I guess."

"Here." Chase splashed her back. "I'm Chase."

"I know," she said before she could stop herself.

His grin widened. "Oh yeah?"

Maya actually smiled. "Maya. And I actually did take my vitamins today. Not that it's helping."

"Barney's better than vitamins anyway," Chase said, scratching the dog's ears. "Wanna play chicken? You can be on top — you look like you'd be ruthless."

"I'll destroy you," Maya said, and somewhere in the back of her mind, she realized she meant it.

The dog barked. Someone started playing Olivia Rodrigo. Maya sank deeper into the cool water and thought, okay. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.