The Riddle of Friday Night

Leo stood on the porch, clutching his phone like a lifeline. His iphone battery was at 12%, which felt way too metaphorical for his current social battery. Inside, Jackson's house thudded with bass and the kind of confidence Leo had been faking since seventh grade.

His mom had made him promise to eat something healthy, so there he was, in the kitchen of the most popular guy in tenth grade, desperately trying to choke down a bag of raw spinach like it was normal party food. Jackson walked in, grabbed a vitamin water from the fridge, and caught Leo mid-chew.

"Yo, you good?" Jackson asked, actually sounding like he cared.

Leo nodded, spinach stuck in his teeth. "Just... getting my greens."

Jackson laughed, but not mean. "My girl's trying to get me into that vegan lifestyle. I lasted three days."

They stood there in the kitchen, Jackson scrolling through his phone, Leo pretending his iphone wasn't basically dead. Through the doorway, Leo could see everyone else in the living room, watching some movie on a setup that still used an actual cable connection because Jackson's dad refused to "stream like a peasant."

"Hey," Jackson said suddenly. "You know what that tattoo is?" He pointed to his own arm - a sphinx inked across his bicep. "Everyone asks if it's Egyptian mythology or whatever. Truth is, I got it because sphinxes ask riddles. Life's just one giant riddle, you know?"

Leo looked at him - really looked at him. Jackson, who seemed like he had everything figured out, was just as lost as the rest of them.

"Yeah," Leo said, his phone finally giving up the ghost. "Yeah, I think I do."

"Cool." Jackson tossed him a vitamin water. "You wanna hang out in here? The living room's basic anyway."

Leo grinned. spinach stuck in his teeth, phone dead, social battery completely drained - and for the first time all night, he felt like he was exactly where he was supposed to be.