Spinach Teeth and the Vitamin Water Incident

Maya's heart hammered against her ribs like a trapped bird as she stood at the entrance of Tyler's house party. This was it. Her first real high school party. She'd spent forty-five minutes on her makeup, another twenty convincing herself this wasn't totally lame, and approximately three seconds regretting everything before Jenna grabbed her hand and dragged her inside.

The bass thumped through the floorboards, vibrating in Maya's chest. People she'd known since middle school were suddenly unrecognizable—slouching against walls with red plastic cups, laughing too loud, existing in a version of reality Maya had only seen in movies.

"You good?" Jenna asked, already scanning the room for her friends.

"Yeah. Just need some water."

Maya made her way to the kitchen, which smelled like cheap cologne and something burning. That's when she saw him—Ethan, the guy she'd been lowkey crushing on since bio class, standing by the counter looking devastatingly good in a flannel that definitely wasn't school-appropriate.

She reached for what she thought was water and took a long gulp, immediately realizing it was some disgusting vitamin water that tasted like artificial grape and bad decisions. She choked, spraying it everywhere, and Ethan turned to look at her.

"You okay there?" He smirked, and Maya wanted to dissolve into the floor.

"That was... not water."

"Yeah, that's my sister's weird wellness phase stuff." He stepped closer. "You've got a little—" He gestured to his own teeth.

Maya's stomach dropped. She ducked into the bathroom and stared in horror at the mirror. A massive piece of spinach from her earlier dinner was wedged between her front teeth, visible from space. She'd been talking to multiple people with this in her mouth for probably an hour.

She heard a knock and the door opened before she could respond. Some guy she didn't know stumbled in, followed by his friend.

"Bro, I said I'd be—" The guy froze. "Oh. Sorry."

"Just give me a second," Maya said, her voice cracking.

"Dude, that's literally my cat's bathroom," the guy said, pointing to the litter box in the corner. "Also, why is there a bear in here?"

Maya turned. There was, in fact, a massive stuffed bear sitting in the bathtub, wearing sunglasses and holding a sign that said BEAR WITH ME.

"His sister's really into Pinterest," the guy explained. "I'm Lucas, by the way. This is Tyler—the actual Tyler, whose house this is."

The actual Tyler shrugged. "Sorry about the spinach thing. That's rough."

Maya started laughing, and she couldn't stop. Maybe it was the ridiculousness of the situation, or the fact that her dignity was already dead, but something about a giant sunglasses-wearing bear in a bathtub while she had spinach in her teeth was just too much.

"You know what," she said, finally catching her breath. "This is fine. This is actually fine."

"Wanna help us hide the bear before his parents come home tomorrow?" Tyler asked. "We're thinking the roof."

Maya looked at her reflection one more time, picked out the spinach, and grinned. "Absolutely."

Some nights don't go according to plan. Sometimes you choke on vitamin water in front of your crush, discover you've been flashing spinach to everyone you know, and end up on a roof at midnight with two strangers and a stuffed bear.

But sometimes, those are exactly the nights you needed.