The Last Pyramid Standing

The solo cup pyramid towered twenty cups high, a shimmering monument to my social anxiety. Marcus's end-of-summer bash raged around me—people grinding to Drake, the pool glowing with underwater LEDs, someone doing keg stands in the kitchen. I stood guard over my creation like it was the last wonder of the world.

"Yo, Jax!" Marcus appeared, sweat sheening his forehead. "Cool pyramid, my dude. But you've been nursing that same red plastic cup since, like, seven o'clock. What's actually in there?"

"Just ... punch," I lied. It was empty. Had been for an hour.

"Your ex is here," Marcus lowered his voice. "With what's-his-face. The swim team guy."

Of course. Maya and Tyler. The Golden Couple. I spotted them instantly—Maya in that coral bikini she'd bought specifically for his swim meets, Tyler already shirtless because obviously. They were in the pool, Maya clinging to Tyler's shoulders while he did laps, her laugh carrying across the deck like bells.

"I need some air," I muttered.

"Dude, you're literally outside."

I escaped to the backyard's edge where an old stone sphinx statue guarded the koi pond, its wings chipped, its face weathered by decades of suburban neglect. Some long-ago homeowner's Egypt phase, now overgrown with ivy.

"Riddle me this," I muttered to it. "How do you survive watching your first love swimming with the guy she replaced you with?"

The sphinx said nothing. Great at riddles, terrible at emotional support.

"Jax?"

I turned. Maya stood there, dripping pool water, towel wrapped sarong-style around her waist. Behind her, Tyler was doing cannonballs with the bros.

"Hey." I couldn't look at her. "Having fun?"

"Are you okay? You've been out here forever."

"Just guarding the pyramid." I pointed at my solo cup tower on the patio. "It's delicate work. Very structural."

Maya laughed—that genuine, head-throwing-back laugh that had made me fall for her sophomore year. "You're such a dork." She stepped closer. "I missed you, Jax. We don't talk anymore."

"You have Tyler now."

"Tyler's..." She waved a wet hand dismissively. "Tyler's great at swimming and looking hot and being popular, but he doesn't get my references. He didn't even know what a sphinx was until I explained it. Last week he thought it was a type of cat."

I cracked a smile. "Seriously?"

"We're not dating anymore, by the way. We broke up Tuesday." She looked at the sphinx. "I realized I'd rather have someone who builds weird pyramids and talks to statues than someone who's just... pretty."

My heart did that embarrassing flutter thing. "So..."

"So," she said, grabbing my hand, "come swimming with me. Your pyramid will be fine. The sphinx can guard it."

The pyramid stayed standing. My solo cup stayed empty. And for the first time all night, I wasn't watching from the edge anymore.