Riddle of the Nervous Heart

My hair was a disaster, obviously. I'd spent forty-five minutes trying to look like I hadn't tried at all, which is basically its own art form. The beanie I'd strategically placed to cover my worst-escape-artist bangs kept sliding down my forehead. I shoved it back up, checking my reflection in the microwave door one more time.

"You look fine, Maya," my little brother called from the couch. "You're just overthinking it because you like him."

"I do NOT like him," I lied, grabbing my jacket. "We're just going as friends. It's not a date."

"Sure, Jan."

I rolled my eyes so hard I saw my own brain and left the house, heart already running a marathon against my ribs. Jordan was waiting by his beat-up Honda, wearing that vintage windbreaker that made his shoulders look really good. Not that I was noticing.

"Hey," he said, and then his face did that thing where it was trying to be cool but kinda failing. "You look... nice. I like your hat."

My heart did something absolutely illegal. "Thanks. It's mostly for my hair's anxiety issues."

He laughed, and we got in his car. The Egyptian-themed escape room had been his idea—part of his whole mythology obsession, which I secretly found adorable even though I pretended it was nerdy. The Sphinx room was supposed to be beginner-level, but twenty minutes in, we were stuck on the final riddle.

"'I have cities but no houses, mountains but no trees, water but no fish. What am I?'" Jordan read from the stone tablet prop, forehead creased in concentration. "I've been staring at this for ten minutes and nothing."

"A map," I said immediately. "It's a map, Jordan."

He stared at me, then started cracking up. "You're kidding. That's it?"

"I'm literally smarter than everyone in this room," I said, preening. "Bow down."

"Okay, okay, genius." He high-fived me, and his hand lingered on mine for maybe three seconds longer than necessary. My stomach did about twelve backflips.

But when he tried to grab the final key from the sphinx statue's base, the whole thing tipped over. CLANG. The fake stone nose broke off, and an alarm started blaring.

"OH MY GOD," Jordan yelled, eyes wide. "THE BEAR IS GOING TO KILL US."

"The WHAT?!" I screamed back.

"The owner's pet bear! He told us at the front desk! If we break anything, we have to bear the wrath of ISIS—"

"His name is ISIS?!"

"YES!"

We were sprinting toward the exit like our lives depended on it, adrenaline making everything hilarious. We burst through the front door, hearts pounding, and collapsed against the building in fits of laughter.

"We are literally the worst humans ever," Jordan gasped, wiping tears from his eyes. "We broke the sphinx's nose and ran away like cowards."

"Wait," I said, still breathless. "You knew there was a bear and you still brought me here?"

"It's a TEDDY BEAR COLLECTION," he howled. "The owner collects them! I panicked!"

I stared at him, then started laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. "You thought a stuffed teddy bear was going to murder us?"

"I was under a lot of pressure!" he protested, grinning. "A very cute girl was watching me solve puzzles."

The air between us shifted, suddenly electric. I bit my lip, trying to hide my smile. "You think I'm cute?"

Jordan's face flushed exactly the color of a sunset. "I mean, you're okay. For a sphinx-slaying genius."

"I'll take it." I adjusted my hat, feeling suddenly brave. "You want to get food? My treat. Since we almost died and everything."

"Only if you solve all the riddles on the menu," he said, opening his car door with that smile that made my brain short-circuit.

"Deal. But you're driving, obvs."

"Obviously."

As we pulled away, I watched my reflection in the window—hat slightly crooked, smile huge—and decided that being a teenager wasn't the absolute worst thing in the world. Sometimes, it was actually pretty great.