The Sphinx of Sunset Pier

My hair was doing that thing again—frizzing up like I'd stuck my finger in an electrical socket. Perfect. Just what I needed before seeing Jordan for the first time since the incident.

"You look fine, Maya," Chloe said, dragging me toward the carnival entrance. "You're literally spiraling."

"I'm not spiraling," I lied, wiping my sweaty palms on my denim shorts. "I'm just... mentally preparing."

The boardwalk was packed, smelling like funnel cakes and seawater. That's when I saw it—The Sphinx booth, all purple velvet and gold stars, with a painted sign: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. Some cheesy fortune teller setup where you paid twenty bucks to have your palm read or whatever.

But Jordan was standing right outside it, looking unfairly good in that oversized hoodie they always wore. Of course they were.

"Hey!" Jordan waved, and suddenly my throat went dry. "Win you a goldfish?" They pointed at the carnival game behind them.

"You don't have to—"

"I want to. Hold this." They handed me their phone, and I stood there awkwardly watching them throw ping pong balls into tiny glass bowls. First throw: miss. Second: bounce. Third: nothing.

Then somehow, impossibly, fifth try—splash. A plastic bag with an orange fish swimming in confused circles.

"For you," Jordan said, presenting it like it was a prize medal. "Name's Bubbles."

"Bubbles? Seriously?"

"What? It's a classic!" They laughed, and I felt something unclench in my chest.

The Sphinx lady gestured us over. "You two," she called, her voice raspy like she'd been smoking for decades. "Let me see your palms."

I almost bailed, but Jordan was already sitting down, grinning at me. So I sat.

The old woman traced the lines on my palm with one chipped fingernail. "You're scared of something," she said. "But you don't have to be. Sometimes the scariest things are the ones worth doing."

Then she looked at Jordan. "And you? You already know what you want."

The zip line cable stretched across the pier, riders screaming as they flew over the ocean.

"Want to go on that?" Jordan asked, nodding toward it.

My heart hammered. Heights? Me? But then I looked at Jordan's hopeful face, at our goldfish swimming in its bag, at my crazy hair that didn't matter anymore.

"Yeah," I said. "Yeah, let's do it."

And for the first time all summer, I wasn't scared at all.