Sweaty Palms and Curveballs

Marcus's palms were sweating so bad he could practically water the plants just by touching them. He leaned against the backyard fence, watching as Maya laughed at something Tyler said—again. Tyler, who'd somehow morphed from a nobody to the resident social king over summer break. Total bull, if you asked Marcus. The guy wasn't even that funny.

A stray cat wound around Marcus's legs, probably sensing his embarrassment. He bent down to pet it, hiding his face. This was supposed to be the party of the year, and he was currently having a deep emotional bonding moment with a random cat instead of, like, actually talking to humans.

"Hey! Heads up!"

Marcus looked up way too late. A baseball connected with his forehead, and everything went briefly sparkly.

"Oh my GOD, Marcus!" Maya was suddenly right there, pushing through the crowd. "Are you okay? That looked so bad."

He sat up, vision swimming. The whole party was staring. Tyler stood there with a baseball bat, looking genuinely horrified for once. Marcus could've milked it. Could've played the victim card. Instead, he heard himself say, "Nice arm, man. Should've led me more."

Maya cracked up. "Did you just get concussed and immediately talk baseball strategy?"

"What can I say," Marcus said, rubbing his head. "I'm committed to the bit."

She helped him up and walked him to the water table, her hand warm on his arm. Not the way he'd planned to get close to her, but he wasn't exactly complaining.

"You're weird," she said, handing him a water bottle. "Like, actually weird. But in a good way."

Marcus's palms were still sweaty. His head was pounding. Tyler was probably still hovering somewhere feeling guilty. But somehow, for the first time all night, he wasn't thinking about approaching Maya. He was just standing there with her, talking about nothing and everything while the cat wound between their legs and someone's baseball game picked up again in the background.

Sometimes the universe hits you in the head, he thought. And sometimes, weirdly enough, that's exactly what you need.