Green in the Glow

Maya's iphone buzzed against her thigh—the group chat was exploding. Ryan was actually coming. THE Ryan Chen, who'd smiled at her in bio yesterday, was coming to Sarah's dinner party.

"You good?" Sarah asked, flipping her hair. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm chill," Maya said, though her hands were definitely not chill. She'd spent two hours on her makeup. This was it—her chance to finally move from 'biology table girl' to 'actual person Ryan notices.'

The dinner spread looked Pinterest-perfect. But the spinach dip was right there, calling to her like a siren song. Her stomach growled.

"Dig in!" Sarah's mom announced.

Maya went for it. Maybe too aggressively. A glob of green landed on her white shirt.

"You got a little—" Sarah started gesturing at her own teeth.

Maya's heart stopped. She ducked to the bathroom, iphone in hand, frantically checking her reflection in the camera. Green. Everywhere. Between every tooth. Like she'd been eating grass clippings for fun.

The bathroom door opened. Ryan stood there, holding an orange slice.

"Hey," he said. "Sarah sent me to check on you."

"I'm dying," Maya said. "This is it. This is how I go."

Ryan laughed. Not mean laughing. Real laughing. He held out the orange. "Vitamin C? It helps with... well, everything."

Maya took it, their fingers brushing. "I have spinach in my teeth, don't I?"

"A little bit." His eyes were warm. "It's kinda endearing, though. Like, you're actually eating instead of doing that thing where girls pick at food to look dainty."

She popped the orange slice into her mouth. Tart, bright, real.

"I'd rather be real than dainty," she said, surprising herself.

"Yeah," Ryan said, leaning against the doorframe. "Me too."

They stood there for a moment—orange on her tongue, spinach on her teeth (screw it), and something like possibility in the air. Her iphone buzzed again from the group chat, but she ignored it.

Sometimes the worst moments became the best ones. Who knew?