Catfished at Sphinx

Maya's stomach did that thing it always did before a first meet — the nervous-flip-flop combo that felt like a thousand tiny butterflies staging a protest. She checked her reflection one last time in the bathroom mirror at Sphinx, the café everyone at school went to when they wanted to be seen.

The plan had seemed solid at 2 AM: meet up with the guy she'd been DMing for weeks, finally reveal she wasn't quite the senior she'd pretended to be (hello, sophomore year struggles), and somehow still make it adorable instead of weird.

Now, standing outside Sphinx in her sister's borrowed heels that pinched her toes with every step, Maya felt significantly less confident.

'You've been catfished,' her best friend Jenna had warned just yesterday. 'It's literally what happens. You meet some guy online, he seems perfect, then BAM — he's actually a forty-year-old man named Steve who lives in his mom's basement.'

Maya had rolled her eyes. 'Not everyone on the internet is a predator, Jen. Some of us are just insecure sophomores pretending to have our lives together.'

The café door jingled. A guy walked out — tall, curly-haired, wearing the vintage band tee he'd mentioned in their fourth hour conversation. It was definitely him.

And he was definitely not alone.

A girl walked beside him, laughing at something he said, her hand brushing his arm like it belonged there. Maya's stomach dropped through the floor.

She watched them for thirty seconds — thirty seconds of pure social cringe — before ducking behind a nearby phone booth like the world's worst spy. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. They'd talked about music and anxiety and how much they both hated group projects. He'd seemed different.

Maya's phone buzzed. A message from him: 'Hey, I'm here. Outside by the phone booths?'

She stared at it. What did she even say? 'Sorry, I'm currently spying on you from five feet away and noticed you have a girlfriend?'

A cat jumped onto the dumpster beside her, meowing loudly like it was judging her life choices.

'You too, buddy,' Maya muttered.

The guy turned, spotted the cat, and frowned. 'That's weird. My sister's cat ran away yesterday. She looks exactly like that.' He stepped closer. 'Wait — are you Maya?'

The girl beside him laughed. 'Oh, thank god. I'm his sister. He wouldn't stop talking about you all morning. I'm Emma, and yes, I'm here as emotional support because apparently my brother gets nervous around cute girls.'

The guy's face was now approximately the color of a ripe tomato. 'Emma, you can stop now.'

Maya stepped out from behind the phone booth. Her heels pinched, her heart was racing, and suddenly she was laughing — couldn't help it.

'So,' she said, grinning. 'Worst spy ever or best first impression ever?'

'Two out of ten,' the guy said, smiling back. 'But I'll give you points for the dramatic entrance.'