Green Between the Teeth

Maya stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror, carefully arranging her curls so they fell just right over her shoulders. She'd spent forty minutes on her hair — a record, even for her — because today was the day. Tyler's pool party.

"You good?" her best friend Kia called from outside. "Tyler's gonna wonder why we're late to his own party."

"Coming!" Maya grabbed her towel and headed out, heart doing that weird fluttery thing it always did when she thought about Tyler.

When they arrived, the pool area was already packed. People were cannonballing, laughing, flirting. Maya spotted Tyler immediately, dripping wet, shaking his hair like a golden retriever. She felt her palms go sweaty. Why did her palms have to sweat at the worst times?

"Maya!" Tyler waved, grinning. "Finally! Jump in!"

She hesitated. She'd eaten lunch earlier — a salad with way too much spinach because her mom had convinced her it would make her skin glow. Now she was paranoid. She ducked into the bathroom to check her teeth. Nothing. Good.

Back at the party, she slid into the cool water, letting it wash away her nerves. Tyler swam over, splashing her.

"You're actually here," he said, treading water in front of her. "I thought you might bail."

"Why would I bail?" Maya's voice came out squeaky. She cleared her throat. "I mean, why would I bail?"

Tyler shrugged, looking unexpectedly vulnerable. "I don't know. You seem like you've got better things to do than hang out with us."

Maya laughed. "Tyler, I spent forty minutes on my hair for this party. I don't have better things to do."

His face lit up. "Really?"

"Really."

They floated there talking while the party raged around them. At some point, Kia swam over and whispered, "You've got—" and pointed to her own teeth.

Maya's stomach dropped. All that confidence, gone.

But Tyler just laughed. "You've got a little—" He pointed to his own teeth too, revealing he'd had spinach in his the whole time too.

"We're both disasters," Maya said, and meant it.

"Yeah," Tyler said, smiling with his spinach-filled teeth. "But we're disasters together."

Maya floated on her back, looking up at the palm trees swaying against the blue sky, and thought: sometimes the most embarrassing moments are the ones that matter most.