Green Juice & Stage Fright

Maya's palms were sweating. Like, actually sweating. She wiped them on her apron for the third time, leaving dark streaks on the already-stained fabric. The Green Blender was not exactly the cool job she'd promised her friends she'd get this summer.

"Yo, Maya! Table four wants another round of the detox special!" Marcus shouted from the kitchen. He was twenty-two, had a man bun, and said things like "no cap" unironically. Maya was pretty sure he only hired her because she looked "earthy" whatever that meant.

The detox special. Just saying it made her stomach churn. Kale, spinach, apple, ginger, and some mystery green powder that Marcus claimed was packed with vitamins but looked suspiciously like lawn clippings.

Spinach. The word still made her shudder. Last year, her mom had gone through this "wellness phase" where every meal was somehow green. Maya had spent three months hiding quinoa-salad "treats" in potted plants before her mom caught on.

"On it!" Maya called back, grabbing the blender. The lunch rush was chaos—hipster parents with expensive strollers, teens from her school who definitely recognized her from AP English, and way too many people ordering things they couldn't pronounce.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Probably another text from Chloe about the party tonight. The one Maya was definitely going to this time. Definitely. If she didn't chicken out again.

She dumped spinach into the blender. Green flecks immediately scattered across the counter. Great. Now she looked like she'd murdered a salad.

"Hey, Maya!" A familiar voice made her jump. Ethan. The Ethan. Sophomore year crush since forever, currently standing five feet away wearing a vintage band tee and looking annoyingly good. "How's the summer treating you?"

Her palms instantly started sweating again. Smooth. Literally not smooth at all.

"You know. Living the dream." She gestured vaguely at the spinach-covered counter with her green-stained hands. "Making smoothies. Changing lives one vitamin at a time."

He laughed. Actually laughed. Not the fake polite laugh he gave teachers, but a real one. "That's actually kind of impressive. My mom's been trying to get me to drink that green stuff for years. I'm pretty sure it's poison."

"It's definitely poison," she whispered, leaning in. "I'm 80% sure Marcus harvests the spinach from behind the dumpster."

Ethan's eyes widened. "That explains so much. Hey, some of us are going to Tyler's tonight if you wanna—"

"MAYA!" Marcus's voice boomed. "Order up! And wipe down that counter before the health inspector shows up!"

Maya's face burned. She wiped her palms on her apron again, creating even more dark streaks. When she looked back up, Ethan was already walking away, glancing over his shoulder with this tiny smile that made her stomach do this weird flip thing.

Her phone buzzed again. Chloe: "so?? r u coming or nah??"

Maya looked at the green mess she'd made of her apron, her still-sweaty palms, the spinach scattered everywhere like some kind of vegetable explosion. Then she pulled out her phone and typed back:

"yea. def."

Marcus walked by, tossed her a rag. "You're mopping the floor before you leave. And don't think I didn't see you slacking off with that boy."

Maya grinned, wiping spinach off her hands. "No cap, boss. No cap."