Spinach, Cables, and Second Chances

Friday night. The most important night of my sophomore year, and I was currently analyzing my reflection like my life depended on it.

"You good, Maya?" My bestie Chen leaned against my doorframe, looking unbothered in her oversized hoodie.

"No," I groaned. "My hair keeps doing this weird flippy thing on the left side, and I'm pretty sure I just saw a gray hair. I'm sixteen, Chen. Sixteen and dying of stress."

Chen laughed. "Girl, that's literally highlighter from when you tried to dye your hair last month. Remember? The disaster?" She flopped onto my bed and held up my iPhone. "Speaking of disasters, Jordan's been texting you for twenty minutes. 'You nervous?' 'Almost there?' 'Everything cool?'"

"I AM nervous!" I snatched my phone back. "This is my first date ever, Chen. EVER. And Jordan's actually, like, gorgeous and funny and probably has perfect hair that never flips the wrong way." I paused. "Wait, did I eat today? I feel like I haven't eaten since Tuesday."

"You had that spinach smoothie this morning," Chen reminded me.

"Right. The green one that looked like swamp water. Whatever, I'm starving." I reached for the granola bar on my nightstand but missed, knocking my charging cable onto the floor instead. It tangled around my ankle like a snake determined to ruin my night.

"Maya, your shoe," Chen pointed.

I looked down. My favorite docs had somehow gotten caught in the cable mess. "Are you kidding me right now?" I yanked my foot free, sending my phone flying across the room.

It landed screen-down with a sickening crunch.

We both froze.

"Please tell me that didn't just happen," Chen whispered.

I scrambled over and flipped it over. The screen was a spiderweb of cracks, but somehow—miraculously—it still worked. Jordan's face lit up the damaged display: an incoming FaceTime call.

"Oh my god, he's early. He's calling me! What do I do?!"

"Answer him! But maybe check your teeth first?" Chen's eyes widened. "Just... just to be safe."

I swiped accept while sprinting to the bathroom mirror."

"Hey Maya!" Jordan's voice rang out cheerful and perfect. "I'm outside whenever you're—"

I stared at my reflection in horror. There, stuck between my front teeth like a tiny green flag of embarrassment, was a massive piece of spinach. From this morning. From the smoothie. It had been there ALL. DAY.

"Maya? You there?"

I heard Chen losing it in the background. I simultaneously wanted to die and to laugh because this was so ridiculously on brand for me. I grabbed my hairbrush, fixed the rebellious flip, and made a decision.

"Jordan?" I said into my cracked iPhone screen, grinning with full spinach pride. "I'm coming down. Just so you know, I've had a rough night and there's a 90% chance I have something in my teeth, and I'm pretty sure my phone's about to die because the charging cable hates me. But I'm really excited to see you anyway."

Silence for a heartbeat. Then Jordan's laugh came through the speaker—warm, genuine, perfect.

"Honestly? That's the most real thing anyone's ever said to me. I'll be the guy on the sidewalk checking his own teeth in the rearview mirror."

I grabbed my hoodie, gave Chen a fist bump, and headed for the door. Whatever happened next, at least it would be real.