Palm Readings & Ghosted Replies

Maya's palms were sweating so much she could practically water plants with them. She clutched her iPhone so tight her knuckles turned white, refreshing Instagram for the twentieth time that hour. Still no reply from Ethan. Three days of radio silence since their Almost Kiss at Tyler's party.

"You want your palm read or what?" Sofia demanded, dangling Maya's hand like she was about to read her fortune from her fingerprints. The basement reeked of vanilla candles and something that was definitely not incense, despite Sofia's claims.

"Fine." Maya surrendered her hand. "But if you say I'm gonna have three husbands like you told Chloe, I swear to god—"

"Hush." Sofia traced the lines on Maya's palm with dramatically slow movements. "Your love line is... complicated. Like, *very* complicated."

"Complicated how?" Maya's stomach did that thing it did whenever Ethan's name came up. The fluttery, terrible thing.

"Like someone who can't decide what they want." Sofia looked up with eerie seriousness. "Or someone who doesn't know what they deserve."

upstairs, something crashed. A dog barked. Then a cat screeched. Then her dad yelling at Cooper to stop chasing Mrs. Whiskers again. The domestic chaos made everything feel smaller somehow. More manageable.

"What's THAT supposed to mean?" Maya pulled her hand back, heart pounding.

Sofia shrugged like it wasn't basically her whole life she was messing with. "Means stop waiting for someone who can't even text back. My cousin's goldfish has better communication skills and LITERALLY cannot speak."

Maya's phone buzzed. ETHAN.

Her thumb hovered over the notification like her life depended on it. And then she did something completely out of character: she pocketed the phone without reading it.

"You know what?" Maya stood up. "I think I'll take the fish's advice on this one."

Sofia cackled. "Growth. I see growth in your future."

Maya's phone buzzed again in her pocket. Probably another text. Probably something that would make her overthink everything until 3 AM. But for the first time, she didn't care. Some puzzles aren't meant to be solved. Some people aren't meant to stay.

She grinned at her best friend. "Read my palm again. Tell me something that's actually gonna happen."

"Okay, okay." Sofia grabbed her hand again, grinning. "Your future says you're gonna get Taco Bell with me right now. My treat."

Maya laughed so hard her palms stopped sweating. "Deal."