Sweaty Palms and Gummy Bears

Maya's palms were sweating again. She wiped them on her denim shorts for the third time, staring across the padel court where Jake was absolutely crushing it with his friends. The ball *thwack-thwack-thwacked* against the glass walls, and every sound made her heart do this weird stutter thing.

"You gonna play or just stand there being creepy?" Chloe said, appearing beside her with a coconut smoothie. "Also, you've got something in your teeth."

Maya flushed. "I'm not being creepy. I'm observing. There's a difference."

"Mhm." Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Is that why you take, like, twenty vitamin gummies every morning? To fuel your staring habit?"

"First of all, they're hair-skin-nails gummies, and second, I'm trying to grow, okay?" Maya tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Jake's like six feet. I need all the help I can get."

Chloe snorted. "You're fifteen. You've got time. Also, he broke up with Sarah last week, so your window is literally wide open."

Before Maya could process that information—Jake was SINGLE?—a commotion erupted near the resort's main building. Some guy was setting up what looked suspiciously like a mechanical bull.

"No way," Maya breathed.

"Oh my god, YES," Chloe grabbed her arm. "We are SO doing this."

The bull was painted obnoxiously bright, its plastic horns slightly chipped. A sign announced *RIDE THE BULL - $5 - BEAT THE RECORD (47 SECONDS) AND WIN FREE SMOOTHIES FOR A MONTH.*

Jake and his friends wandered over, still holding their padel racquets. Maya felt her palms start sweating again. This was it. This was her moment to actually talk to him instead of just, you know, existing in his general vicinity.

"I'm going first," she announced, surprising herself.

Chloe's eyes went huge. "Maya, what—"

She handed over her five dollars before she could talk herself out of it. The operator—a guy with a handlebar mustache and surprisingly gentle eyes—helped her onto the bull.

"You ever done this before, sweetheart?"

"Nope," Maya said, her voice only kinda shaking. "But I really want that free smoothie."

Jake was watching. This was fine. Everything was fine.

The bull started moving.

Maya lasted 13 seconds.

She tumbled off into the inflatable mat, dignity fully intact, mostly. Jake was laughing, but not in a mean way. His nose crinkled when he laughed, which she'd noticed from approximately two hundred feet away approximately fifty times.

"Not bad," he said, extending a hand to help her up. His palm was warm and dry, which felt unfair somehow. "I'm Jake, by the way."

"Maya," she managed, still brushing sand off her shorts. "I play padel. Sometimes. Well, I'm learning."

"Cool," he said. "We need a fourth tomorrow if you're interested. My friend Tyler keeps flaking."

"Yeah," Maya said, grinning so hard her face hurt. "Yeah, I'm interested."

That night, she took her gummy vitamins and stood in front of the mirror, turning her palm up and studying the lines there. She wasn't any taller, and her palms were still kinda sweaty, and she'd definitely bruised her ego on that mechanical bull.

But tomorrow she was playing padel with Jake.

And honestly? That was worth all the gummy bears in the world.