Sweaty Palms and Second Serves

Maya's palms were literally sweating through her grip on the padel racket. Again."

"You're overthinking it," said Liam, her best friend since kindergarten, leaning against the fence with that infuriatingly chill energy. "Just hit the ball, Maya."

Easy for him to say. Liam was naturally athletic, the kind of person who could pick up any sport and look like he'd been training for years. Meanwhile, Maya was here because her mom had signed her up for this "social league" without asking, assuming her daughter needed more "structured recreational outlets" in her life. Code for: make some normal friends, stop reading tarot cards in your room.

The padel court was smack in the middle of the country club, surrounded by palm trees that swayed like they were laughing at her. Every time she missed a return (which was often), she felt her face burn hotter.

"Nice form!" some guy called out sarcastically. He was wearing a backwards baseball hat, tosssing a ball up and catching it repeatedly. Classic. The baseball team hung out at the padel courts on weekends, flirting with girls and pretending they weren't checking everyone out.

Maya adjusted her own hat—she'd started wearing it to hide her face whenever she messed up, which meant she wore it constantly. It was stupid, but it felt like armor.

"Wanna take a break?" Liam asked, noticing her death grip on the racket. "I think that guy in the baseball hat is trying to get your attention."

"Gross, no." But she glanced anyway.

That night, lying on her floor surrounded by tarot cards and crystals, Maya got a text from Liam.

"You know you don't have to be good at stuff to have fun doing it, right?"

Maya stared at her palms. They still felt shaky. But maybe he was right. Maybe she could just hit the ball badly and laugh about it. Maybe she could take off the hat.

The next weekend, she showed up to padel without it. Her palms still sweated. She still missed serves. But when Baseball Hat guy made a comment, she just flipped him off and kept playing. Liam cracked up.

"Progress," he said.

Maya smiled. Some days, that was enough.