Palm Readings in the Rain

The thunder cracked like the bass drop at a homecoming dance. Outside, lightning painted the sky in jagged strokes, turning Maya's backyard party into something from a movie. But inside, I was stuck in the corner, nursing a lukewarm soda and trying to look busy.

"Hey, come here." Sophie grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the sofa where her cousin Leo sat cross-legged with a mysterious grin. "Leo reads palms. It's his thing."

Great. My best friend was making me get my fortune told by a guy I'd been secretly crushing on for two months. My life had officially become a teen romance novel.

"Let me see." Leo took my hand, his fingers tracing the lines on my palm like he was solving a sphinx's riddle. "You're going to meet someone important tonight."

My face burned. Sophie giggled behind her phone.

"That's so basic," I said, trying to sound chill. "What else you got?"

But Leo just smiled, all confident and annoyingly cute. "The cards don't lie, and neither do hands. You'll see."

Then the power went out. Someone screamed. Lightning flashed through the sliding glass door, illuminating Leo's face for like a millisecond. In that moment, something hit me harder than the storm outside—I'd been waiting for him to make a move all year, but what if I was supposed to be the one who did something?

The sphinx's riddle wasn't about fate. It was about guts.

"Actually," I said, pulling my hand back but not letting go of his fingers, "I think the prophecy's already working."

Sophie's jaw dropped. Leo's eyebrows shot up.

"Yeah?" he asked, all casual, but his voice cracked a little.

"Yeah. You wanna hang out sometime? Like, not at a party?"

The lights flickered back on. My heart was doing that annoying fluttery thing. But Leo grinned—really grinned—and squeezed my hand back.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Sophie mouthed "I TOLD YOU SO" from behind him, and I realized something better than any fortune could predict: sometimes the best moments aren't written in your palm. Sometimes you have to write them yourself, even if your hands are shaking.