Sweaty Palms and Silent Stories

Maya's palms were literally dripping onto her phone case. Great. Just great. Tonight was supposed to be her chance to finally talk to Ryan—the Ryan with the skateboard and the smile that made her stomach do actual backflips—but instead she was camped in the bathroom at Chloe's party, refreshing Instagram like it was her job.

"You coming back out?" Chloe's voice floated through the door. "Tyler's doing palm readings again. He claims he's, like, 90% accurate now."

Maya wiped her hands on her jeans. "Yeah. One sec."

She checked her story views for the third time in five minutes. Ryan had viewed it. That was something, right? But she felt like such a creep, spying on his socials, trying to figure out if he'd posted anything new, if his story replies meant anything. This was pathetic.

The living room was packed. Tyler had set up shop in the corner with a flashlight and way too much confidence. Maya watched as he examined Rachel's hand, nodding dramatically.

"You're gonna meet someone special soon," Tyler announced. "Someone mysterious. Like, sphinx-level mysterious."

"Sphinx-level mysterious?" Rachel raised an eyebrow. "What does that even mean?"

"It means you won't be able to read them at all," Tyler said sagely. "They'll be an enigma. A puzzle."

Maya rolled her eyes but stayed in the back of the crowd, fingers itching to check her phone again. Since when did she become this person? The one who cyber-stalked a crush and overanalyzed every single interaction?

"Maya! Your turn!" Tyler was beckoning her over.

She shook her head. "No thanks. I'm good."

"Come on!" someone called out. "Let's see what your future holds!"

Before she could protest, she was being pushed toward the chair. Tyler took her hand, squinting at it with exaggerated concentration.

"Hmm," he said. "Interesting. Very interesting."

"Tyler, you literally don't know how to read palms," Maya said.

"Your heart line shows..." He paused dramatically. "Someone who's been watching from afar. Someone who's been secretly spying—"

Maya's face burned. Everyone was looking. Ryan was looking.

"—on someone else's social media, trying to work up the courage to just say hi already." Tyler grinned. "Am I right?"

The room went silent for about two seconds before someone shouted, "OOOOH!"

Maya wanted to die. She wanted to actually, literally dissolve into molecules and never exist again.

But then Ryan laughed. Not mean laughing. Nice laughing. He caught her eye across the room and gave her this tiny, half-smile thing.

"For real though," Tyler added, his voice softer now. "Your lifeline says you're gonna be okay. Whatever you're overthinking? Just talk to them."

Maya's palms were still sweating. But maybe—just maybe—that wasn't the worst thing in the world.