Electric Orange Smile

Maya gripped the bathroom sink, staring at her reflection. The orange dress she'd spent three hours choosing now felt way too loud. Like, hi, I'm here, please look at me levels of desperate.

She'd almost talked herself out of coming to Jordan's party entirely. But then she'd remembered how his eyes lingered last week when they'd partnered for that chem project, and—okay, whatever. She was here. She was doing this.

Maya plastered on what she hoped was a chill smile and headed back to the kitchen. The air smelled like cheap pizza and expensive perfume. Someone had hijacked the Bluetooth speaker, and the bass was actually fire.

She grabbed a solo cup and turned around—smack into Jordan's chest.

"Whoa, you good?" He steadied her with hands that were somehow gentle and strong at the same time.

"Yeah, totally." Her voice came out way higher than intended. Cringe.

"I like the dress," Jordan said, and okay, maybe the orange wasn't too much after all. "It's... it's really you."

Was that a compliment? Maya's brain did five backflips. "Thanks. I, uh, I wasn't sure about it."

"Nah, it works." He stepped closer. "Hey, you got a little—"

Maya's stomach dropped. She knew that tone. She'd heard it once freshman year, right before Jason Patel had told her she'd had spinach in her teeth for literally three entire periods.

She pressed her tongue to her front teeth. Nothing there. Then her back molars—

Yup. There it was. A chunk of green spinach, probably from whatever gross hors d'oeuvres his mom had put out, camping out between her teeth like it paid rent.

Maya started to turn away, but Jordan's hand caught her wrist. "Wait—"

"I need to go. Like, right now."

"Maya." His voice was soft. "That's not—I mean, yeah, there's spinach, but that's not what I was gonna say."

She froze. "What?"

"I was gonna say you've got a little”—he gestured to his own smile—"something in your teeth. And then I was going to tell you that your smile is literally my favorite thing about you, so it's honestly kind of iconic that there's spinach in it right now."

The moment hung between them, suspended and electric. Maya felt it—that sudden lightning strike of oh, OH, he actually likes me. Not in a weird performative way. In a real, messy, spinach-and-all way.

She started laughing. She couldn't help it. "You're so weird."

"Takes one to know one." Jordan grinned. "So, you wanna get out of here? There's this boba place down the street—"

"Yes," Maya said, and the way his face lit up made the orange dress feel exactly right.