Sweaty Palms & Second Chances

Leo smoothed the brim of his dad's vintage trucker hat for the fiftieth time, checking his reflection in the darkened **iPhone** screen. Summer transformation: complete. Or at least, that's what he'd told himself when he'd traded his graphic tees for this curated aesthetic.

"You good, man?" Marcus asked from the passenger seat. "You look like you're about to puke."

"Just nerves," Leo lied. His **palm**s were actually sweating through his shorts.

The party was already popping when they arrived—**palm** trees strung with fairy lights, bass thumping from somewhere beyond the pool. Leo spotted her immediately: Chloe, floating in the water with an **orange** pool noodle, laughing at something someone said. She looked effortless. He felt like a fraud.

He spent twenty minutes hovering near the snack table, pretending to be fascinated by the veggie platter. That's when it happened.

"Hey, you got a little..." Chloe pointed to her own smile.

Leo's heart stopped. He sprinted to the bathroom mirror. A giant piece of **spinach** was wedged between his front teeth, probably since the pre-party dip at Marcus's. He'd been walking around like this for an hour.

He considered climbing out the bathroom window. Instead, he leaned against the sink and laughed. It was so on-brand for his life.

"You find it?" Chloe's voice came from the doorway.

Leo turned, still recovering. "Yeah. Apparently I've been advertising my love for leafy greens all night."

She giggled, and it sounded genuine. "I was gonna tell you earlier, but you looked so intense about whatever you were thinking."

"Overthinking everything," he admitted. "It's kind of my superpower."

"Same," she said. "That's why I'm out here instead of in there." She gestured toward the noise. "Sometimes it's too much."

They ended up sitting on the back porch steps, sharing his **iPhone** headphones, watching people make fools of themselves in the pool. Leo's hat sat abandoned beside him. He didn't need it anymore.

"So," Chloe said, "you gonna come to Maya's bonfire next week?"

Leo's palms were still sweaty, but maybe that wasn't such a bad thing. "Yeah. I think I will."