Palms Read and Secrets Spilled

Zara's palms were sweating literally everywhere. Standing behind the counter at GreenSqueeze, she smoothed her hands on her apron for the hundredth time.

"You good, Z?" Marcus whispered, nudging her with his elbow. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm fine," she lied. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. Chloe's snapchat: *SPY MODE ENGAGED. Find out who he's talking to. Got u covered on the shift swap.*

Being the designated friendship spy was exhausting.

The bell chimed. In walked Him—Tyler, with his perfect curl-flop hair and that smile that made Zara's brain turn into static. He wasn't alone. Sarah Chen was with him, laughing at something he'd said.

Zara's stomach did that awful knot thing.

"What can I get you?" Her voice came out weirdly high. Smooth. Very smooth.

"What's actually good here?" Tyler asked, leaning against the counter like he owned it. "Everything looks like... lawn clippings."

"The Popeye special is fire," Zara heard herself say. Why was she like this? "It's got spinach, mango, and this ginger kick that'll change your life."

"Spinach." Sarah wrinkled her nose. "Hard pass."

But Tyler ordered it. While Zara worked the blender—way too aggressively, she realized—Sarah started wandering around the shop, peering at the menu boards like they contained state secrets.

"You're kinda intense about the smoothie thing," Tyler said as Zara slid the cup across the counter.

"Job requirement." She shrugged, then added, "Your friend's kinda going full spy mode over there."

Tyler laughed. Actually laughed. "She's not spying. She's just... thorough. Unlike me. I still haven't figured out the perfect smoothie order, and I've been coming here for months."

"Months?" Zara's palms suddenly felt less catastrophic. "You've been here before?"

"Every Tuesday after practice." His face did that thing where it got pinker. "You're usually on break, though."

Wait.

"I've been watching you work from outside," he continued like he couldn't stop the words now. "Like, not in a creepy way. In a... 'she's really passionate about spinach' way."

Her phone buzzed again. Chloe: *REPORT BACK. I see him talking to u???*

Zara looked at Tyler, who was suddenly studying his shoes with intense fascination. She looked at Sarah, who was now taking pictures of the neon sign for reasons.

Then she looked at her own hands—still, finally, not shaking.

"You want the truth?" Zara said. "I've been watching you too. Not spying. Just... watching."

Tyler's grin went sideways and perfect. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Cool," he said, and took a sip of his spinach smoothie. "This is actually amazing."

"Told you." Zara smiled. "I got you."

Outside, Chloe's text went unanswered. Some secrets were worth keeping.