The Salad Bar Stakeout

Maya's shift at The Green Fork couldn't end fast enough. Her hair—the exact shade of 'basic brown' she'd been trying to dye platinum for three months—was stuffed under the world's ugliest visor. She felt like a walking salad bar advertisement.

"More spinach?" she asked the same guy who'd been hovering near her station for twenty minutes.

"Uh, yeah. Thanks." Cute—like, devastatingly cute. Dark curls, jawline sharp enough to cut glass, and eyes that kept darting around like he was waiting for someone to jump out from behind the crouton dispenser.

Maya watched him out of the corner of her eye while pretending to organize the cucumbers. His phone kept lighting up with texts. He'd check them, frown, then shove it back in his pocket like the messages were burning his hand.

Okay, maybe she was being a total creep, but Maya had perfected the art of low-key social media spying last year when she thought her crush was dating someone else. He wasn't. They weren't. But the investigative skills remained.

"Everything okay?" she asked, sliding more spinach onto his plate. "You look like you're expecting to get busted."

He laughed—nervous but real. "Is it that obvious? My mom's supposed to pick me up, but she's... running late. Again."

Maya nodded slowly. The texts. The checking his watch. The look around the restaurant like he was casing the place.

"Wait," she said, realizing something. "You're not waiting for your mom, are you?"

He froze. Then his shoulders dropped like three sizes. "I'm supposed to be at SAT prep. My mom thinks I'm there. I'm actually here hiding in a salad bar because I couldn't deal with another three hours of practice tests today."

Maya snorted. "Dude. That's peak Gen Z rebellion."

"Right?" He grinned, finally meeting her eyes. "I'm Leo, by the way. Professional academic fugitive."

"Maya. Professional enabler of salad bar delinquency." She paused. "You know, if you want to disappear somewhere that isn't surrounded by leafy greens, there's this study room behind the community center. Nobody ever goes there."

Leo's eyes lit up. "Seriously?"

"Dead serious." Maya found herself actually smiling for the first time all shift. "But you have to promise not to tell your mom you learned about it from the girl in the ridiculous visor."

"Deal." He hesitated, then added, "Hey, are you off soon? Because that study room sounds way more interesting with company."

Maya glanced at the clock. Fifteen minutes. She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and felt something shift—like the universe had finally decided to give her a plot twist worth reading.

"Fifteen minutes," she said. "Don't leave without me."