Palm Readings Pocket-Dialed

Maya's palms were sweating. Literally sweating. She wiped them on her denim shorts for the third time, clutching her iPhone like it was a lifeline—which, honestly, it kinda was. The house party swirled around her, bass thumping through the floorboards, red Solo cups in everyone's hands. Everyone except hers.

She'd come because Jada said it would be "low-key chill." Bull. This was a full-blown rager and Maya was about as equipped to handle it as a fish was equipped to handle climbing trees.

"Yo, you good?"

Maya jumped. It was Leo, leaning against the doorframe with that effortless confidence she'd been trying to fake all night. His golden retriever, Buster, bounded over and shoved his wet nose into her hand.

"Yeah," Maya lied. "Just... waiting for a text."

Leo's eyes dropped to her death-grip on her phone. "Bull, Maya. You've been staring at that screen like it holds the meaning of life."

He pushed off the doorframe and flopped onto the couch next to her, Buster flopping down at their feet. "Let me see your hand."

"What?"

"Your palm. My abuela taught me palm reading. It's bs but it's fun bs."

Maya hesitated, then extended her right hand. Leo took it gently, his finger tracing the lines on her palm. The touch sent electricity up her arm that had nothing to do with his supposed psychic abilities.

"See this?" He tapped her heart line. "You've got a long one. Means you fall hard. Maybe too hard sometimes." He looked up, catching her eyes. "And this head line? It curves down toward your heart. You think with your feelings more than you admit."

Maya's throat felt tight. "That's not real."

"Bull," he said softly. "I'm good at reading people, Maya. You're scared of being seen. But you shouldn't be."

Buster chose that moment to sneeze violently all over Maya's shoes.

They both cracked up, the tension breaking into laughter. Maya looked down at her phone—no notifications, no emergency texts requiring her immediate departure. For the first time all night, she didn't care.

"You want another drink?" Leo asked. "Non-alcoholic, obviously."

Maya slipped her iPhone into her pocket without checking it once. "Yeah," she said, smiling. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Some things, she realized, were better experienced live than through a screen.