Sphinx In The Breakroom

Maya's first week at Pharaoh's Smoothie Bowl couldn't be going worse. Her friend Tisha hadn't texted back in three days — ever since Maya accidentally left her on read during their group call. Now Maya was stuck blending kale-spinach monstrosities alone while Tisha posted thirst traps with the new girl from AP Bio.

The smoothie shop's owner, Mr. Hassan, had gone full Egyptian theme. The walls were covered in hieroglyphics, and there was even a six-foot plaster sphinx in the breakroom wearing a employee name tag that said "ask me about our loyalty program."

"You're overthinking it," Mr. Hassan said, catching her frowning at her phone between orders. "Friendships ebb and flow like the Nile."

"Did you just quote your own decor?" Maya asked, deadpan.

He shrugged. "The sphinx knows things."

That's when the bell chimed. Her heart dropped. Tisha walked in with Chloe, the new girl, both wearing matching strawberry açaí lip gloss.

"Hey!" Tisha said, too bright. "Didn't know you worked here."

Maya's cat, Mittens, would've hissed at this energy. Her dog, Buster, would've wagged his tail anyway, because Buster was a golden retriever and fundamentally incapable of holding grudges. Maya wished she could be more like either of them — sharp and protective, or genuinely chill.

Instead she blurted: "Want me to make you something?"

"What's good?" Chloe asked, actually interested.

Maya's brain short-circuited. "The Green Goddess has spinach. It's... actually mid. The tropical one's better."

Tisha laughed. "Still hate vegetables, I see."

Something shifted. The tension cracked. Tisha ordered the mango-pineapple blend, Chloe got curious about the sphinx in the breakroom, and Maya spent her break showing them the ridiculous statue.

"He's right though," Tisha said later, sitting on the counter while Maya cleaned the blender. "I was being weird. I thought you were ditching me for... I don't know, cooler people."

"You're the coolest person I know," Maya said immediately.

"Then why didn't you text back?"

"Because I'm socially awkward and my brain glitched, and I panicked and made it worse by waiting too long." Maya sighed. "Total loser move."

Tisha hopped off the counter. "Yeah, it was. But you're making it up to me with free smoothies, so... we're good-ish."

"Ish?"

"You have to listen to me rant about Mr. Patterson's history project. Full torture session."

"Deal."

As they walked home, Maya's phone buzzed. Tisha had sent a TikTok of a cat falling off a table with the caption "when u overthink everything like some people 🙄"

Maya grinned and sent back a photo of Buster, mid-wag, tongue out: "me accepting that i'm awkward but u love me anyway"

Maybe the sphinx didn't have all the answers. But friendship, Maya decided, was figuring out the riddles together, even when you didn't have a clue. Also, free smoothies helped.