Zombie Mode

Maya felt like a zombie. Not the cool, dramatic kind from TV, but the actual brain-dead variety that survives on three hours of sleep and sheer anxiety. She'd been staring at her phone since 7 AM, overthinking every detail of today's hangout at Jake's house. The cable guy was supposed to come between noon and five—which meant she'd probably be stuck there when some random dude interrupted everything.

"You good?" Jake asked, handing her a plate. "My mom went full farmer's market."

Maya stared at the fruit arrangement. Papaya. She'd never even seen one in real life, let alone eaten it. "Yeah, totally. Just... tired from finals."

"Same." Jake popped an orange wedge into his mouth. "I've been surviving on vitamin supplements and energy drinks this week."

Maya grabbed a vitamin water from the table, trying to look casual. Like this was normal. Like she hung out with the cute lacrosse guy every weekend, eating exotic fruit and discussing how dead they both felt.

They settled on the couch to play video games—zombie apocalypse, obviously. Jake kept winning, but he kept letting her get close, like he was going easy on her. The cable TV played some reality show in the background, muted.

"Wait," Maya said during the third round. "Did you just—did you let me win?"

Jake shrugged. "Maybe."

"Why?"

"I don't know." He actually looked nervous. "Maybe I didn't want you to hate this."

Maya's chest did that stupid flutter thing. She glanced at the papaya on her plate, still uneaten. "I'm not gonna hate it either way. I'm literally terrible at this game."

"You're not terrible," Jake said. "You're just... thinking too hard. Stop trying to survive and actually play."

Maybe he was right. Maya stopped overanalyzing every move. She bit into the papaya—it was actually good, sweet and weirdly tropical. She stopped worrying about the cable guy showing up at the worst possible moment. She just played.

And when she finally won, for real this time? Jake grinned like he was prouder than if he'd won himself.

"Okay," he said. "You're not a zombie anymore."

Maya laughed. "What was I before?"

"Dead," he said. "But now? You're actually here."

She was. And the cable guy never did show up.