Garage Band & Green Teeth

Maya's palms were sweating. Literally sweating. Like, she could've filled a water bottle with the nervousness dripping down her hands.

"You ready?" Tyler asked, hopping onto his dad's ancient leather couch. He ran a hand through that perfectly messy brown hair that somehow always looked good, even when he'd just woken up. Maya hated how effortless he made everything look.

She nodded, unable to trust her voice. Today was the day. Their first real practice. The day she'd finally play bass for someone other than her bedroom mirror.

"Okay, just—your amp cable's loose," Tyler said, reaching down to fiddle with the tangled mess of wires at her feet. His fingers brushed hers, and Maya's heart did this embarrassing little flutter thing that definitely wasn't part of the plan.

"Thanks," she squeaked. Smooth. Really smooth.

They launched into their cover of that Paramore song. Maya closed her eyes, letting the bass line carry her away, and for three minutes and twenty seconds, she wasn't the quiet girl who sat in the back of pre-calc. She was someone else. Someone confident.

But then the song ended, and reality rushed back in like a cold wave.

"That was actually sick," Tyler said, grinning. "You're way better than you said."

Maya felt her cheeks burn. "Yeah, right."

"I'm serious. Hey, you hungry? My mom made this spinach lasagna thing, it's actually not gross."

They sat cross-legged on the garage floor, sharing the lasagna out of Tupperware containers. Tyler talked about his dreams of playing Warped Tour someday, and Maya actually laughed at his jokes and forgot to overthink everything for the first time in maybe ever.

"What?" he asked, suddenly staring at her.

"What what?"

"You've got—" He gestured at his own teeth. "Spinach. Like, a lot of it."

Maya's stomach dropped. She'd been smiling and laughing with green stuff stuck in her teeth for who knows how long. She wanted the garage floor to open up and swallow her whole.

But Tyler just handed her a napkin, still grinning. "Don't worry. It's kinda your look."

And for reasons she couldn't explain, Maya didn't want to disappear anymore. She just smiled, spinach and all.