Green Between the Teeth

Maya stared at the bathroom mirror, braces catching the fluorescent light. In exactly twenty minutes, she'd be at Jake's house for their "study session" — the first time they'd hung out without the whole friend group. No pressure.

"Honey, eat something before you go!" her mom called from the kitchen. "I made that smoothie with the **papaya** you liked!"

Maya groaned. Papaya? Really? She grabbed a random handful of chips instead, her stomach doing that familiar nervous flutter. This was fine. Everything was fine. She'd had a crush on Jake since seventh grade, and now they were finally paired up for biology. Totally normal circumstances.

At Jake's, everything was going smoothly. They'd finished the worksheet in record time, and somehow they'd ended up on the couch watching Netflix. His arm kept brushing against hers. Was he doing that on purpose? Was she overthinking it? Both? Probably both.

"Want something to drink?" Jake asked, heading to the kitchen. "My dad went through this health kick phase, so we have... " He opened the fridge. ""Smoothies. And I think there's **spinach** in them?""

"Sure, why not."

Maya accepted the green monstrosity. It tasted surprisingly good. She took another sip, leaning in as Jake whispered something about their English teacher. He was so close. This was it. The moment. He was going to—

"Maya, you have a little..." Jake gestured to his mouth.

She froze. "What?"

"Green. Between your... you know." He made a vague motion toward his teeth.

Maya's soul left her body. Spinach. In her braces. While talking to her crush. She mumbled something about the bathroom and basically sprinted down the hall.

The mirror confirmed her worst nightmare. Bright green **spinach** prominently displayed in her metal mouth. She died right there. Funeral services would be held on Tuesday.

But wait — she noticed something else on the counter. A bottle of gummy vitamins. Jake's **vitamin** stash. She could literally see him taking them every day at lunch. He'd mentioned his "new wellness routine" like three times this week.

Jake wasn't perfect. Jake had an entire personality moment around vitamins and wellness and health shakes.

Maya cleaned her braces and walked back to the living room, where Jake was pretending to be extremely interested in his phone.

"So," he said, not looking up. "My mom's making these really terrible energy bites for her yoga group. Want to stay and help me taste-test them? I promise they're disgusting."

She grinned. "Only if you promise to never mention what just happened."

"Deal."

Sometimes the most mortifying moments became the best stories. And maybe, just maybe, having someone witness your most embarrassing moments — and stick around anyway — was what real connections were made of.