Friday Night at the Sphinx Diner

Maya pulled her beanie **hat** down lower, trying to disappear into the booth. The Sphinx Diner smelled like coffee and desperation—exactly where she and her friends ended up every Friday night.

"I'm just saying," Chloe said, gesturing with a half-eaten **papaya** muffin she'd brought from her mom's health-food phase, "that Leo looked at you THREE times in math today."

"He looked at the clock behind me," Maya muttered. She felt like a **zombie**—exhausted from AP classes, college applications, and maintaining a carefully curated Instagram feed that showed a version of herself she barely recognized.

"You're overthinking again," said JT, fiddling with the vintage **sphinx** figurine he'd found at a thrift store. His mom called it his emotional support item. Whatever.

The bell jingled. Leo walked in with his friends, and Maya's stomach did that embarrassing flip thing. She'd been carrying this crush since sophomore year, trapped in her own head like she was riddled with some ancient **sphinx** riddle she couldn't solve.

"Go talk to him," Chloe kicked her under the table.

"I can't."

"You're **bear**-ing the weight of absolutely nothing," JT said, then cringed at his own pun. "Sorry, I've been watching way too many dad movies."

Maya groaned, but something shifted. Maybe it was thepapaya muffin hitting her system, or the way Leo's laugh carried across the diner. But suddenly the zombie-like exhaustion lifted.

She slid out of the booth, hat adjusted just right, and walked toward him. Not because she was ready. Because she was done waiting.

"Hey Leo," she said. And for the first time in two years, Maya wasn't overthinking. She was just showing up.