Sweat on the Palm

Maya's palms were sweating. Again. She wiped them on her skirt, then caught herself — super obvious move. Could her crush Jake, standing across the **padel** court, be any more oblivious?

"You gonna serve or just stand there looking like a deer in headlights?" Jake called, grinning that maddeningly cute grin.

"Shut up, I'm getting there," Maya shot back, but her voice cracked. Smooth.

This was supposed to be casual. Just Jake, Maya, and his annoying cousin Ethan hanging at the new padel club Jake's dad owned. No pressure. Except Maya had been crushing on Jake since seventh grade, and her best friend Priya swore this was finally her chance.

"He keeps looking at you," Priya had texted during homeroom. "MAKE A MOVE."

Right. Because Maya was so good at that. Her love life was basically a ghost town populated entirely by missed opportunities and awkward what-ifs.

Ethan, meanwhile, was talking loudly about how he'd "totally shred" them. The guy was full of **bull** — last weekend at Alex's party, Priya had caught him failing miserably at beer pong and blaming his "off night." Classic.

Jake bounced the ball, his racket arm flexing. Maya tried not to stare.

"Game point," he said. "Winner gets bragging rights. Loser buys bubble tea."

"You're on," Maya said, surprised at how steady she sounded.

She served. The ball sailed over the net. Jake returned it hard. Maya's racket met the ball with a satisfying *thwack* — and suddenly, she wasn't thinking about her sweaty palms or her racing heart or the way Jake's hair curled slightly at the nape of his neck.

She was just playing.

They rallied back and forth, the glass walls of the court steaming up, their shouts and laughter filling the air. When Jake finally missed Maya's killer shot along the wall, he laughed and threw up his hands.

"Okay, okay, you win!"

Maya stood there, breathless, heart pounding for a totally different reason now. Jake walked over, wiping his forehead, grinning.

"You're actually insane at this," he said. "Same time next week?"

Maya looked at her open **palm**, then up at him. "Same time next week."

Priya was going to lose her mind.