Digital Palm Reader

Maya's palms were sweating. Again. She wiped them on her vintage band tee—third time in five minutes—as she leaned against the kitchen island at Chloe's end-of-summer blowout.

"Girl, you're vibrating," Chloe said, pointing at Maya's pocket. The iPhone 14 was going off like crazy. Group chat explosions. Instagram story replies. TikTok notifications stacking up faster than she could clear them.

"It's fine," Maya lied. But her palms kept sweating because *he* was supposed to be here. Tyler. The guy she'd been lowkey obsessed with since AP Bio last year, whose every Instagram story she dissected like it was the Zapruder film.

Chloe dragged her to the living room where a circle had formed around Jenna, who was apparently "into crystals and manifestation now." She grabbed Maya's hand.

"Your palm says you're overthinking everything," Jenna announced dramatically, tracing the lines. "You need to trust the universe, bestie."

Maya almost laughed. The universe? She needed to trust that Tyler would actually text back after that dry-ass reply she'd sent yesterday.

Then her phone lit up. *Tyler ❤️*

Her heart did that stupid flutter thing as Chloe and Jenna leaned in, watching like this was live theater. Maya swiped open, ready for whatever cringe was about to happen.

instead: "hey so my mom made me take these vitamin gummies that taste exactly like the ones from your backpack last week"

Maya stared. Then she burst out laughing—real laughter, not the fake performative stuff she'd been doing all night. "Bro, those were literally fruit snacks."

"WHAT"

"I was too embarrassed to admit I still eat fruit snacks like a literal child"

The phone buzzed again. "this is the best thing that's ever happened to me"

Her sweaty palms didn't matter anymore. The palm reading didn't matter. What mattered was that Tyler, the guy she'd built up in her head as this untouchable god of social media perfection, had just admitted he was also out here living his most awkward life.

"Ugh," Jenna groaned. "The universe is clearly blocking my energy with all this digital interference."

Maya grinned, finally relaxed. "Nah," she said, pocketing her still-buzzing phone. "The universe is doing just fine."