Palm Sweat & Party Secrets

Maya's palms were sweating. Again.

She wiped them on her denim shorts for the third time, standing at the edge of Jake's backyard party. The air smelled like cheap body spray and something burning on the grill. Someone's phone was blasting that song everyone pretended to hate but secretly loved.

"You good?" Chloe whispered, elbowing her. Maya's best friend since seventh grade, the one person who knew everything — like everything everything. Including how Maya had been crushing on Jake since that time he held the door open for her at school and she literally forgot how to walk.

"Fine," Maya lied. "Just... socially anxious-ing."

Chloe snorted. "Welcome to every party ever."

Then she saw it: Jake, sitting on the patio with his phone, looking like he was waiting for someone. Or something. Maya felt that familiar twist in her stomach, the one that felt like excitement and terror having a baby.

She should go over there. She should say something normal and cool and not weird.

Instead, she found herself kind of... spying? Not like, creepy spying. But like, strategic observation. She watched as Jake's friend Lucas sat down next to him, and they both looked at Lucas's phone and started laughing.

What were they laughing at? Was it her? Was it something she posted? Why was her brain like this?

"Maya, seriously, go talk to him," Chloe said. "You've been staring at him for like five minutes. It's getting weird."

"I'm not staring!" Maya hissed. "I'm observing. There's a difference."

"You're literally the worst spy ever."

Maya's phone buzzed. A notification from Jake.

*hey r u coming over?*

She almost dropped her phone. Her palms were suddenly sweating again.

"OH MY GOD CHLOE"

"WHAT"

"JAKE JUST TEXTED ME"

Chloe grabbed her phone, read it, and immediately started shoving Maya toward the patio. "GO. NOW. I believe in you. Don't be weird. You got this. I'll be here being your emotional support human."

Maya walked over, her heart doing that thing where it felt too big for her chest. Jake looked up and smiled, and something in her brain short-circuited.

"Hey," he said. "I was hoping you'd come over."

"Yeah," Maya managed. "Me too."

His dog, a golden retriever named Brody that everyone loved, trotted over and immediately flopped onto Maya's feet, demanding attention. She knelt down to pet him, her fingers sinking into his fur, and suddenly her hands stopped shaking.

"Brody likes you," Jake said. "He's a good judge of character."

Maya looked up, and Jake was watching her with this expression she couldn't quite read.

"So," he said. "I was wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime? Just us?"

The party noise seemed to fade. Chloe was somewhere behind her, probably losing her mind. Maya's palms were sweating again, but this time she didn't wipe them on her shorts.

"Yeah," she said. "I'd like that."

Jake's phone buzzed. He glanced at it and laughed. "Lucas says to stop being awkward and just ask for your number already."

Maya laughed too, and for the first time all night, her palms weren't sweating anymore.