The harsh hum of the fluorescent lights droned above the Cloud 9 electronics aisle, where Jonah and Garrett lingered near a display of off-brand tablets that had been gathering dust for weeks. The store bustled with the late afternoon crowd, the air tinged with stale popcorn and the faint whiff of disinfectant. Jonah, animated as ever, gestured wildly with his hands as he recounted the absurdity of the day.

“And then she demanded to speak to a manager because the TV remotes weren’t ‘pre-programmed with her favorite channels,’” Jonah said, voice climbing incredulously. “Like, how am I supposed to—”

But his words evaporated mid-sentence when he caught sight of a male coworker turning into the aisle, maneuvering a flatbed cart piled high with cases of bottled water. The grin Jonah had worn seconds earlier softened into an awed, almost dreamy look. His eyes fixed on the coworker’s face, tracing the lines of his jaw and the easy confidence in his stride. Jonah’s mouth opened as if to say something, but nothing came out. A strange flutter settled in his chest, a familiar, terrifying thrill he couldn’t control.

Garrett, leaning comfortably in his wheelchair beside the endcap of discounted headphones, noticed the sudden silence and the way Jonah’s eyes had gone glassy. He shifted his gaze lazily from Jonah to the coworker and back, a slow, knowing smirk creeping across his face.

“Man,” Garrett said, drawing out the word like he was savoring it, his voice deep and amused, “you got it bad. I’ve seen middle schoolers with more chill around their crush.”

Jonah snapped upright so quickly he almost knocked the stack of cheap tablets off their precarious pyramid. His cheeks burned with mortification, his arms flailing as he tried to recover.

“What? No! I—I don’t—there’s nothing—I was just... distracted by... uh...” Jonah’s eyes darted around wildly, landing on the sad, half-stocked rack of phone chargers. He grabbed a package off the hook with trembling hands, brandishing it like a lifeline. “This cable! Yeah, it’s—it’s a new... lightning... micro... cord! Very, uh... innovative stuff here!”

Garrett’s laughter rumbled low and soft, but his eyes gleamed with mischief. He leaned in just a touch, like a shark scenting blood in the water.

“You know, if you stare any harder, you’re gonna burn a hole through the back of his vest,” Garrett said, voice teasing but edged with genuine amusement.

Jonah swallowed hard, his tongue thick in his mouth. He risked another glance at the coworker, who was now bent slightly over the cart, adjusting a wobbly stack of water cases. The sight made Jonah’s stomach flip. He tried to will his voice into something calm, but it came out an octave higher than intended.

“Garrett, seriously, drop it!” Jonah hissed, eyes wide with panic. He forced an awkward laugh that sounded more like a strangled cough. “He’s just a coworker, okay? A totally normal coworker who I—who I don’t think about at all outside of work.”

Garrett leaned back with a catlike satisfaction, one eyebrow cocked high. “Sure, man. Totally normal. Just keep telling yourself that,” he said, letting the words hang between them like a neon sign blinking Jonah’s secret.

Jonah clenched the phone charger package so tightly it crinkled in his hands, praying that the coworker hadn’t overheard a single word of the humiliating exchange.