The Sphinx at Connor's Party

Maya felt like a total zombie as she stood in Connor's crowded basement, her phone at 2% and social battery even lower. She'd spent all night "spying" on this party through Instagram Stories, watching perfectly filtered clips of people having the time of their lives. Now that she was actually here? Totally different vibe.

The air smelled like cheap body spray and desperate hormones. Across the room, she caught sight of Jordan—the human sphinx who'd been giving her mixed signals for three weeks straight. One day he's sliding into her DMs with fire emojis, the next he's ghosting her harder than a ghost in a haunted house.

Maya's palms were sweating so much she could practically water-ski on them. Why was this so hard? She was literally just standing there, clutching a plastic cup of lukewarm soda like it was a lifeline.

"Yo, you good?" Her best friend Priya appeared, looking annoyingly perfect in her thrifted dress.

"I'm about five seconds from running out of here," Maya whispered. "Jordan literally just looked right through me like I'm invisible."

Priya rolled her eyes. "Girl, you're overthinking it. He's probably just being his usual mysterious self. You know how he gets."

But then Jordan started walking toward them, moving through the crowd like he was on a mission. Maya's heart did that stupid fluttery thing it always did when he was near. His eyes locked onto hers, and for the first time all night, she didn't feel like a zombie extras in someone else's movie.

"Hey," he said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was looking for you."

Maya blinked. "You... what?"

"I've been trying to talk to you all night," Jordan said, looking genuinely awkward. "But every time I looked over, you seemed super busy. I thought maybe you were trying to avoid me or something."

Priya mouthed "I TOLD YOU SO" behind Jordan's back before smoothly disappearing into the crowd like a stealth operation.

"I wasn't avoiding you!" Maya practically shouted, then lowered her voice. "I thought you were avoiding me. You're like, impossible to read sometimes. Total sphinx energy."

Jordan laughed, and Maya felt her palms finally stop sweating. "Yeah, my friends tell me I'm socially challenged. Can I make it up to you? Maybe we could bail on this party and get food?"

"Like... right now?"

"Unless you're enjoying standing in a basement listening to the same twenty songs on repeat."

Maya grinned. "Let's go."