The Spinach Incident

Maya's stomach did backflips as she stepped into Tyler's house. The cable from his gaming setup snaked across the floor like a neon blue viper — she almost tripped over it, which would've been peak embarrassing.

"Sorry about the mess," Tyler said, kicking the cable aside. "My bear of a brother was over yesterday. He practically destroyed the living room."

Maya laughed, but her nerves were doing jumping jacks. This was it — hanging out at Tyler's place, just the two of them. No school bystanders, no friends to buffer the awkwardness. Just them, his slightly messy room, and way too much thinking time.

They sat on his bed (his actual bed, where he slept every night, Maya's brain unhelpfully noted) and started a movie. Tyler's mom appeared in the doorway ten minutes later with a bowl of something green.

"Spinach salad!" she announced way too enthusiastically. "I remember you mentioning you loved healthy food, Maya!"

Maya froze. She'd mentioned liking *some* vegetables once at lunch when Tyler was within earshot. She hadn't realized he'd actually *listened*. The pressure to maintain her cool-girl-who-cares-about-wellness persona crashed into her actual desire to never eat spinach in front of her crush.

"Thanks, Mrs. Chen," Maya said, reaching for a fork with what she hoped passed as enthusiasm.

The first bite wasn't terrible. The second was worse. By the third, a piece of spinach decided to lodge itself firmly between her front teeth. Of course. Of *course* this was happening.

She caught Tyler watching her, a weird expression on his face. Panic spiraled through her chest. He was going to think she was a mess. He was going to realize she wasn't this effortless health-conscious girl he'd imagined.

"You have a little—" He gestured at his own teeth, looking almost relieved about something. "Spinach. In your teeth."

Maya's face burned. But then she noticed something — Tyler's ears were turning pink too.

"I literally have no idea what I'm doing with girls," he blurted out. "Like, zero clue. My brother says I'm overthinking everything, and he's probably right because you're just sitting there eating salad and I'm sitting here wondering if my hair looks stupid."

Maya started laughing. She couldn't help it. Here was Tyler, the seemingly confident guy she'd been agonizing over for weeks, admitting he was just as nervous as she was.

"Your hair looks fine," she said, grinning with a very visible piece of spinach still stuck in her teeth. "And I have no idea what I'm doing either. Clearly."

Tyler laughed too, and suddenly the room felt different. Less like a test she had to pass, more like just two people figuring stuff out.

"You want to just order pizza and play video games instead?" he asked. "My parents are cool with it."

"Absolutely," Maya said. "But I'm going to floss first."

"Good call," he said, and the way he smiled at her — really smiled — made the spinach incident almost worth it.

Almost.