The Palm Reader's Cat

Leo's sixteen and already tired of pretending to care about Jordan's parents' lake house. The kitchen's crowded with people doing shots, the air thick with humidity and cheap cologne. He's two seconds from bailing when he spots a door cracked open down the hall.

Inside, it's actually quiet. Some girl sits cross-legged on the bed, wearing an oversized hoodie that swallowed her hands. On her lap sits the weirdest creature Leo's ever seen — a wrinkly, hairless cat with enormous ears, like something that crawled out of an Egyptian tomb.

"That's a sphinx," she says, not looking up. "Her name is Potato."

"Oh." Leo stands there awkwardly. "Cool."

"You want me to read your palm?" She pats the space beside her. "I'm not actually good at it, but it's better than listening to Tyler rap in the kitchen."

Leo sinks onto the bed. She takes his hand, her fingers soft but confident. The room smells like vanilla and something herbal.

"You've got really long lifeline," she murmurs, tracing the crease running down his palm. "And this one's your heart line." She looks up, eyes dark and serious. "It's all over the place. You're gonna fall hard, aren't you?"

Leo's chest does something weird. "Probably."

"That's good," she says. "People who don't fall hard don't live hard."

Suddenly the door bursts open. A golden retriever leaps onto the bed, tail going crazy, potato the sphinx cat hissing and scrambling beneath the duvet. The dog licks Leo's entire face in three gross swipes.

"BUSTER!" Someone yells from down the hall. "GET OUT OF THERE!"

The girl's laughing, really laughing, head thrown back. Leo realizes he is too. The dog finally trots out, tail still wagging.

"I'm Maya," she says, still smiling. Her hand finds his again, thumb brushing over his palm. "You wanna stay here? We can talk about how messed up your heart line is."

Outside, the party rages on. Tyler's still rapping. Jordan's probably drunk. But Leo's sixteen and he's got a girl holding his hand and a hairless cat somewhere under the covers, and for once, he's exactly where he wants to be.