Green Smoothie Disaster at Taylor's Pool Party

The chlorine from the pool water still clung to my skin as I ducked into the kitchen, my heart doing that stupid fluttery thing it always did around Jordan. Three weeks of crushing and I'd barely managed more than a dry 'hey' at lunch. This pool party was supposed to be my moment.

'There she is!' Mia announced from the counter, where she was blending something that looked like actual sludge. 'We're doing a cleanse. You in?'

I stared at the spinach leaves floating in the blender. 'Since when do we do cleanses?'

'Since Jordan posted about going vegan on their Insta story,' Mia said, gesturing with her iphone. 'Saw it five minutes ago. We're being supportive allies.'

Because apparently that was my personality now. I'd spent years being the sarcastic video game friend, and now I was suddenly reinventing myself as someone who drank green sludge and pretended to like hiking. The things we do for crushes, honestly.

'Fine.' I watched her dump in some powder. 'What's that?'

'Vitamin supplement. Whole foods, organic, all that jazz.'

The blender screamed like a dying cat. When she handed me a glass, the mixture was the exact color of something that had been dead for a week.

'Cheers.' Mia clicked her glass against mine. 'To new beginnings.'

I chugged it like a shot, because I was seventeen and made excellent life choices. The taste was somewhere between 'lawn' and 'regret.'

'There you guys are!' Jordan appeared in the doorway, wet hair slicked back, swim shirt showing off shoulders that were frankly unfair. 'Doing shots without me?'

My brain short-circuited. 'It's... health stuff?'

Jordan inspected the sludge in my glass. 'Is that spinach?' They burst out laughing. 'That's genuinely unhinged.'

'I'm being supportive,' I said weakly.

'Of what? Digestive regularity?' Jordan grinned, and something in my chest did that fluttery thing again. 'You're ridiculous. It's kinda great.'

They walked over to where I was frozen against the counter, close enough that I could smell the pool water on their skin. 'So, friend, you gonna finish that literal pond water, or are you gonna come back and actually swim?'

The way they said friend – soft, like maybe it could be something more – made my knees feel like they'd forgotten how to human.

'I'm never drinking this again,' I said, setting it down.

'Good call.' Jordan's eyes crinkled. 'Next time, just say hey. You don't have to drink sludge to talk to me.'

They squeezed my shoulder before walking back outside. Mia mouthed 'I TOLD YOU' from across the kitchen.

Maybe I didn't need to reinvent myself after all. Sometimes the ridiculous, spinach-drinking version of you was exactly who someone wanted to hang out with.