An anxious flutter rolled through her stomach as she examined the API she’d spent much of the past few weeks building and tweaking, then tweaking and rebuilding. This was it. The deciding factor when it came to making the deadline for the Future in Innovation Tech Conference. She’d already accepted that if she wasn’t able to validate the JSON API schema, she wouldn’t bother signing up for one of the coveted spots at FITC when it came to Austin in the spring.

The closest she’d ever come to experiencing something akin to a panic attack swept through her as her finger hovered over the keyboard. The countless hours she’d pumped into creating this app, the dreams she’d attached to it; it all came down to this single component.

She crossed her fingers, then pressed ENTER and watched as the colorful pinwheel turned and turned and turned on the screen.

The screen blinked and when it came back, her schema had been validated.

“Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod!” Samiah jumped up from the sofa and slid across her living room floor in her socks, underwear, and shirt, à la Tom Cruise in Risky Business. It felt as if a balloon filled with glitter had just exploded inside her chest.

Her immediate thought was to share her news with Daniel. Her fingers fumbled as she typed out the text message and sent him a snapshot of her laptop screen.

He replied with a GIF of a man break-dancing, his tracksuit, thick gold chain, and Kangol cap straight out of 1985. Samiah burst out laughing. The reply was so on brand.

A few minutes later, her phone vibrated with another text from Daniel: BUZZ ME UP.

She called him. “Are you downstairs?”

“Yeah. I was on my way to surprise you with dinner when you texted. I know you’ve been swamped trying to build this API and figured you hadn’t taken the time to eat.”

It felt as if her heart had swelled to three times its normal size. After the years she’d spent settling for so far less than what she deserved, it was acts like this one that showed her how truly special Daniel was. It meant more than any expensive, grand gesture ever would.

She called down to the building’s concierge and gave the doorman permission to let him up. She considered remaining in her T-shirt and underwear, but decided to throw on a pair of shorts. As much as she wanted to hang an OPEN FOR BUSINESS sign on the rim of her panties, social conventions drilled into her by her very proper mother demanded she be a bit more refined.

She answered the door and refinement went out the window.