Spinach Smoothie Disaster

The name tag pinned to my chest said MAYA — Asst. Manager, which was technically true if you counted helping my uncle at his juice bar as management. I'd basically begged for this job just because Tyler's basketball team came in every Tuesday for post-practice smoothies.

"You got this, Maya," I whispered to myself, wiping sweaty palms on my apron. Tyler had walked in five minutes ago, and I'd successfully avoided eye contact for approximately four minutes and fifty-nine seconds. Success.

Then my cousin Jamar, who was definitely not promoted to anything, yelled from the back room: "Maya! The water's shut off again!"

Every head in the shop turned. Including Tyler's.

"I got it," I called back, rushing to the supply closet. The main water line had been acting up all week, and my uncle's solution was a jerry-rigged system involving a garden hose through the wall. Classy, I know. The kind of place that really screams "cool hangout spot" and not "health violation waiting to happen."

I knelt by the connection point, trying to remember which valve did what. The floor was still wet from yesterday's backup incident, which should have been my first warning. My sneaker slipped on a puddle, and I went down hard, grabbing blindly for balance.

My hand found the cable TV line my uncle had also run through here (don't ask, I don't). The whole makeshift setup came loose, spraying water everywhere as I scrambled backward into — why did my uncle store this here? — a crate of fresh spinach.

Green everywhere. In my hair, on my uniform, probably up my nose. I sat there, stunned, spinach in places spinach should never be.

A hand appeared in my field of vision. Tyler's hand. His basketball jersey was damp from the spray, and he was trying not to laugh and mostly failing.

"You good, Maya?"

"This is fine," I said, accepting the hand up. "Everything is completely fine. I'm just testing the new spinach body wrap treatment. Very trendy in Europe."

He laughed, and I felt my face burning hotter than the faulty water heater. "Need help with this?"

Together we got the water shut off and reconnected the cable line. I wiped spinach from my cheek with what dignity I could muster.

"Hey," Tyler said, as his team finished their smoothies and headed out. He paused at the door. "This was honestly the most interesting thing that's happened all week. You're pretty funny when you're not pretending you don't see me."

My stomach did that embarrassing flip thing. "I wasn't —"

"You totally were." He grinned. "See you Tuesday, Maya."

I watched him leave, then looked down at my spinach-covered uniform. My uncle emerged from the back, shaking his head.

"You know," he said, "you really should be more careful with the cable connection. That's our entertainment system."

"Uncle, you ran a cable line through a water supply closet."

"Details." He tossed me a bottle. "Here. Some new vitamin supplement we're trying. You look like you need it."

I caught it, still smiling despite everything. Tuesday couldn't come fast enough.