The Sphinx of Southside Pool

Maya pressed her palms against her thighs, trying to wipe off the nervous sweat that had nothing to do with the blazing Arizona sun. The pool party was in full swing—music bumping, people laughing, someone doing a cannonball off the diving board. And there he was.

Jordan. The sphinx of Southside High. Mysterious, unreadable, impossibly cool.

He sat alone on the edge of the pool, feet dangling in the water, wearing that stupid hat—some vintage thing with a patch on the front that made him look like he'd stepped out of a Tumblr aesthetic board. He hadn't spoken to anyone all afternoon. Just watched. Like a statue. Like he knew something nobody else did.

"Go talk to him," Chloe whispered, appearing beside her with two sodas. "You've been staring for, like, twenty minutes. It's getting weird bestie."

"I can't just—"

"You literally can. Watch this." Chloe suddenly shouted, "Hey Jordan! Maya wants to ask you something!" and then shoved her forward.

Maya stumbled. Her foot caught on nothing. She didn't fall into the pool—no, that would have been dignified. Instead she tripped over someone's abandoned phone, did this weird half-spin recovery move that looked like a dying flamingo, and landed directly next to him, straddling the pool edge.

Smooth. So smooth.

"I'm going to bear this moment in my brain forever," she announced to nobody, staring at the ripples in the water. "That's not the right usage of bear, is it?"

Jordan's shoulders were shaking. Was he laughing at her? Oh god, he was definitely laughing at her. She turned to apologize, maybe die a little, but then he looked up and his eyes were crinkled and he was actually smiling.

"No," he said, "but I appreciate the effort." He pushed his hat back. "I'm Jordan."

"Maya," she managed. "That was—"

"Epic? Legendary?" He tilted his head. "I was actually hoping you'd come over. Everyone's too intimidated to talk to me because I never know what to say at these things." His smile turned sheepish. "I'm not a sphinx. I'm just awkward."

Maya blinked. Then she laughed—real laughter this time, not the nervous kind. "You? Awkward? You're, like, the coolest person here."

"I have a curated aesthetic," he admitted, "and zero social skills. It's a delicate balance."

They sat there for an hour while the party raged around them. Talked about everything and nothing. His weird obsession with Egyptian mythology (the sphinx nickname made sense now). Her dream of becoming a marine biologist (the water called to her, even if it was just a chlorinated pool). The way they both overthought every social interaction until it became this elaborate mental chess game nobody else knew they were playing.

When Maya finally got home, Chloe was already spamming her phone.

Chloe: SO???

Chloe: DID YOU MARRY HIM

Chloe: DETAILS BESTIE

Maya smiled at her reflection in the mirror, still wearing her pool-wet clothes, still feeling the phantom warmth of sitting next to someone who finally got it.

Maya: He's not a sphinx.

Maya: He's just awkward. Like me.

Her palm still tingled where it had brushed against his when they'd said goodbye. Some things, she decided, didn't need riddles to be magic.