Stuck in the Spinach

Maya's palms were sweating so bad she could practically water plants with them. First house party of sophomore year, and she'd already managed to make it weird. Five minutes in, she'd bailed on conversation with some seniors to hover near the snack table, pretending to be intensely fascinated by a bowl of spinach dip.

"You gonna stand there all night or actually try it?"

Maya jumped. It was Leo—the fox-eyed junior who'd transferred in last month and already had half the school obsessed. He wore that smirk that said he knew exactly how nervous he made everyone.

"I'm... observing," Maya said, instantly cringing. Who says "observing" at a party?

Leo laughed. It wasn't mean, though. "Right. Very scientific." He dipped a chip. "This stuff's actually fire. Try it."

She did, and yeah, okay, it was good. They ended up talking for twenty minutes about nothing and everything—his old school, her failed attempt at lacrosse, how they both pretended to understand memes they didn't actually get. Maya's palms stopped sweating. She forgot about being awkward.

Then Leo's phone buzzed. His expression shifted—that cat-like calculation again. "Hey, I gotta handle something. You good here?"

"Yeah, totally." Maya lied.

He disappeared into the crowd, and suddenly she was back at square one. Standing alone at a party, holding a spinach-dip-stained napkin, watching the guy she'd actually clicked with talk to someone who was effortlessly cool.

Maya's phone lit up. Leo: *sorry that got weird. you're hilarious though. want to hang properly? no spinach dip required.*

She stared at it, grinning like an idiot. Her palms weren't sweating anymore.

Maybe parties weren't her thing. Maybe she'd always be awkward around groups. But apparently? That didn't matter as much as she thought.

*You bet,* she typed back.

And when she looked up, Leo was already looking back at her from across the room, smirking like he knew exactly what she was thinking.