Palm Courts & Orange Sunsets

The first time I saw Leo, my palms were sweating so much I nearly dropped my racquet. Padel tennis—who even plays padel? Apparently, my mom's new boyfriend's daughter does, and now I'm stuck at some fancy resort pretending I'm not completely out of my depth.

Leo was leaning against the palm tree near court 3, orange Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned just enough to make me forget my own name. He caught me staring and smirked. I looked away so fast I almost tripped.

"You're gonna spy on him all day or actually play?" My stepsister Chloe rolled her eyes, bouncing a ball against her racket. "You're being so weird."

"I'm not spying," I lied. "I'm observing. There's a difference."

"That's bull and you know it." She flipped her ponytail. "Just talk to him already."

Easy for her to say. Chloe was everything I wasn't: confident, pretty, played padel like she'd been born with a racquet in her hand. Meanwhile, I was still trying to figure out who I was supposed to be this summer—the quiet girl from public school, or someone who belonged at a place like this.

Later, I found Leo behind the game room, hand against a palm tree, lips locked with some girl from the tennis camp. My stomach did this awful twisty thing. I turned to leave, but he saw me.

"Hey," he called. "You're Chloe's sister, right?"

"Half sister," I corrected automatically. "And yeah."

"Wanna hit some padel later? My partner bailed."

I should've said no. I should've told him I'd seen him with that girl. Instead, I heard myself say, "Sure."

We played until sunset turned everything orange—his skin, the court, my burning cheeks. He was terrible at padel. Terrible. And when he laughed at himself, all genuine and unselfconscious, I felt something shift.

Maybe that was the thing about first anything—they didn't have to be perfect. They just had to be real. Leo might've been a player, and I might've been lying to myself about what I wanted. But standing there under the palm trees, watching the orange sky fade to purple, I didn't feel like a spy anymore. I felt like someone who was exactly where she was supposed to be.

"Tomorrow?" he asked.

"Tomorrow," I said. And my palms didn't even sweat.