Future Darkly: Pandemic - Anna and Alex

Anna is doing these half-assed reps on her yoga mat, zoning out to some podcast while Alex pecks at his laptop like the overworked drone he is. Photos of their old, sun-soaked hikes flash across the frame behind them. Then boom—the host drops the bomb that isolation’s lifted, and Anna’s face lights up like she just won the lottery. She slams the pause button, Alex snaps upright and fires off the quickest ‘BRB lunch’ text in history. Barely fifteen minutes later Alex is outside her door, sweating in a crime-scene onesie. Anna cracks the door wearing matching plastic and they both let out this hoarse, giddy yell—the first skin-to-eyes contact they’ve had in months. They lurch forward for a hug, stop cold, realize it’s ridiculous, then just laugh like idiots. She leads him inside. He zaps a digital thermometer under his tongue, scribbles the paperwork with clumsy fingers, they both exhale when he’s cleared. Then the air thickens: they’re dying to touch. But they play chicken for three long seconds before Anna blurts, ‘Better safe,’ and he agrees, still smelling rubber.