The Sphinx's Secret

Jordan adjusted the ridiculous felt hat for the hundredth time. Their mom said working at the museum would look good on college applications, but she didn't mention the polyester uniform that smelled like every teenager who'd ever worn it.

"You're doing it again," said Maya from across the room, gesturing at Jordan's hand fidgeting with the hat brim. "You only touch it when you're overthinking."

Jordan's face heated up. Maya noticed everything—she noticed how Jordan organized the exhibit brochures by color, noticed they skipped lunch to write in their journal, noticed them in ways that made Jordan feel simultaneously seen and terrified.

The Egyptian exhibit was empty except for them, Maya, and the massive sphinx statue that dominated the center of the room. Jordan had memorized every crack in its stone face during their afternoon shifts.

"So," Maya said, sliding off the display case she'd been sitting on, "hypothetically, if someone was gonna ask you to the back-to-school dance, would the answer be different if that person had really terrible taste in music?"

Jordan's stomach did that thing where it felt like they'd swallowed a constellation. "Depends. Are we talking 'listens to unironic polka' terrible or 'thinks Ed Sheeran is experimental' terrible?"

Maya laughed, and Jordan wanted to frame the sound. "The second one. Definitely."

"Then yeah," Jordan said, heart running a marathon against their ribs. "Pretty sure that would be dealbreaker territory."

Maya stepped closer, and Jordan stopped breathing. "What if they promised to never play it around you?"

The sphinx seemed to be holding its breath too.

"Jordan?" Maya's voice dropped. "I'm not talking hypothetically."

Jordan's phone buzzed in their pocket—their alarm reminding them they had five minutes before their shift ended. Before they'd have to leave this moment and go back to being Jordan-who-couldn't-say-what-they-felt.

But maybe they didn't have to run this time.

"I'd say," Jordan managed, "that I'd be willing to risk it."

Maya's grin lit up the dim exhibit space brighter than any museum display. The hat slipped off Jordan's head and landed on the floor, and neither of them moved to pick it up.