Green Between My Teeth

The first time I saw Chloe at the padel court, my palms were sweating so much I could barely grip my racket. She was wearing this bright orange headband that matched her nails, laughing like she didn't have a care in the world while I stood there overthinking everything.

"You gonna serve or what?" she called, grinning.

I served straight into the net. Classic.

"My bad," I mumbled, feeling my face heat up. "First time playing."

"No worries, I'm terrible too," she said, then proceeded to destroy me 6-1.

Afterward, we grabbed smoothies at the café near the community pool where I'd been spending my entire summer swimming laps because I was too scared to talk to anyone. The swimming coach kept telling me I had potential, but I mostly just liked how underwater, nobody expected you to make conversation.

Chloe sat across from me, sipping something green and disgusting-looking.

"What is that?"

"Spinach, mango, basically a salad in a cup," she said. "My mom's on this health kick. Want some?"

"Hard pass."

She laughed. "You're funny. What's your name, anyway?"

"Marcus."

"Cool. I'm Chloe. We should play padel again, unless you're scared of losing again."

"I'm not scared," I said, even though I totally was. Not of losing. Of saying something stupid, of her realizing I was awkward, of this actually becoming a thing.

"Good. Same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow."

I walked home with actual butterflies in my stomach, feeling like I'd somehow passed a test I didn't know I was taking. And then I caught my reflection in a shop window and saw the massive piece of green spinach stuck between my front teeth.

She'd let me walk around like that for twenty minutes.

I pulled it out, groaning, but then I started laughing. Because Chloe hadn't been mean about it. She'd just let me be comfortable enough to be myself, spinach teeth and all.

Tomorrow, I'd definitely bring floss. And maybe I'd actually try to win.