Riddles Under the Stars

Maya's palms were sweating again. Classic. Every time Xavier looked at her across the bonfire, her hands turned into waterfalls. He was wearing that fox beanie she secretly loved — the one with the embroidered ears that made him look somehow both ridiculous and adorable.

"Truth or dare?" Someone shouted.

"Truth," Xavier said, his eyes landing on her. "I dare you to pull that sphinx card from the tarot deck and actually tell us what it means."

Great. Now everyone was staring at her. Maya had brought her tarot cards as a conversation starter, which had been working until now. The sphinx card — the riddle keeper, the mystery, the thing that asks impossible questions and refuses to give straight answers.

She cleared her throat. "It's about, uh, not having all the answers. Being okay with uncertainty."

Xavier was watching her with this look she couldn't read. Maybe that's what sphinxes felt like.

Later, when most people had left and only the embers remained glowing, she found herself at the edge of the lake. The water looked black and endless, reflecting stars like spilled glitter.

"Mind if I join you?"

Xavier. Of course.

They sat in silence for a minute, knees drawn up, watching the water lap against the dock.

"I'm not good at this," he said suddenly.

"At what?"

"Whatever this is." He gestured between them. "The talking thing. The feeling thing. My brain goes all — " He made a gesture like something exploding.

Maya laughed. "Same. My palms literally sweat gallons around you. It's embarrassing."

He turned to her, surprised. "Really?"

"Really."

"That's... actually kind of nice to hear."

Without thinking, she stood up and kicked off her sneakers. "I'm going swimming."

"Now? It's midnight."

"Exactly. No thinking. Just — " She stepped to the edge. "You coming?"

Xavier hesitated for exactly one second before grinning. "You're the sphinx, you know that?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You ask the questions I can't answer." He pulled off his fox beanie and set it carefully on the dock. "But I think I'm okay with not knowing everything for once."

They jumped in together, screaming at the cold, and for the first time all night, Maya's palms were dry.