The Sphinx's Riddle

My sixteenth birthday bash feels like a fever dream of streamers, soda, and way too many people in my tiny backyard. But when Kai drags me toward the fortune teller booth at the edge of everything, I'm caught off guard.

The fortune teller—Ms. Something-or-Other, her name tag's half-hidden by scarves—grabs my hand. Her palm presses against mine, cool and steady, while mine is basically sweating through existence. In the corner of her booth sits this sphinx statue, all stone wings and mysterious smile, watching like it knows something I don't.

"You're at a crossroads," she announces, like she's dropping wisdom instead of stating the obvious. "The sphinx asks: what do you hide from yourself?"

I pull my hand back. "Okay, that's deep and all, but I'm just here for the cake."

Kai's grinning like an idiot because he KNOWS. Knows I've been crushing on Sam since seventh grade. Knows I've been hiding in plain sight, pretending to be everyone's bestie while secretly wanting more.

Then nature decides to intervene. Lightning cracks across the sky—this wild, electric flash that turns the whole backyard stark white for half a second. Thunder shakes the ground. Everyone screams and scatters toward the house.

Everyone except Sam.

He's standing under this massive palm tree that's definitely seen better days, laughing as the storm soaks him. Something in me just... clicks. Like all the overthinking, all the careful hiding, all the trying to be perfect—it all dissolves in the rain.

I march over there, heart hammering harder than the thunder now.

"You're gonna get struck by lightning," I call out.

He shrugs, water dripping from his hair. "Worth it."

This black cat—Mrs. Henderson's prize-winning show cat, apparently—streaks past, chasing something invisible. It stops between us, tilts its head like it's evaluating the situation, then trots off like it decided we're boring.

"The universe has opinions," Sam says, stepping closer.

"The universe has terrible timing."

"Maybe. Or maybe it's just..." He pauses, actually looking at me like really looking, not just the casual glances we've been doing for three years. "Maybe it's time."

The sphinx's riddle echoes in my head: what do you hide from yourself?

"I like you," I blurt out, and it's the most terrifying thing I've ever said. "Like, I've liked you forever, and I've been pretending I don't, and—"

He laughs, this warm sound that cuts through the storm. "I know. I was waiting for you to figure it out."

The rain's pouring now, my makeup's probably running, and I'm standing there like an idiot in the middle of my own birthday party. But Sam steps closer, and his palm slides against mine, and suddenly the storm doesn't matter.

"Happy birthday, Maya," he says softly.

Lightning flashes again. But this time, I'm not hiding from it.