The Spy in the Corner

I was basically being a **spy**. Hiding behind the snack table at Tyler's pool party, pretending to be intensely fascinated by a bag of chips. Meanwhile, my crush was across the deck, laughing at something someone said. Classic me.

"You gonna actually talk to him, or just creep from afar?" My best friend Maya appeared beside me, already knowing the answer.

"I'm not creeping. I'm... observing. Gathering intel."

"Mhmm." She smirked. "By the way, you have **spinach** in your teeth."

I basically died.

This party was supposed to be my moment. Tyler's parents were out of town (huge), the **pool** was lit up with those floating lights, and somehow everyone important was here. The kind of gathering that gets mentioned in group chats for weeks.

I should mention that Maya had dragged me into playing **padel** earlier—which I'd never heard of until today—and I'd already embarrassed myself enough by swinging at literally nothing. So yeah, my social credit was negative.

Then Tyler walked over.

My heart did that thing where it forgets how to work. He was wearing that hoodie he always wears, the one with the fraying cuff.

"Hey," he said. "You're really good at padel."

I stared at him. Was he being sarcastic? I'd literally missed every ball.

"That's... not what happened," I managed.

"No, I'm serious. You were committed." He grinned. "Anyway, wanna play something?"

"What?"

"Truth or **sphinx**." He gestured to where people were sitting in a circle on the patio. "Like truth or dare, but you have to solve a riddle if you don't want to answer. My cousin made it up. It's stupid but kinda fun."

I looked at Maya. She was already giving me that look. The *do it or I'll make you regret it* look.

"Bet," I said, trying to sound chill while internally screaming.

We ended up sitting next to each other in the circle. My palms were sweating. Tyler's knee kept accidentally touching mine. The riddles were ridiculous, but every time I laughed at something, he laughed too.

At some point, someone dared Tyler to tell everyone who he had a crush on.

He hesitated. The circle got quiet. Even the people in the pool stopped splashing.

"Sphinx," he said finally.

"Okay," said his cousin, grinning like she knew exactly what she was doing. "What has to be broken before you can use it?"

Tyler thought for a second. "An egg."

"Wrong. It's..." His cousin paused dramatically. "...your shell."

Everyone groaned. I rolled my eyes. But then Tyler looked at me, really looked at me, and something in his expression shifted.

"Actually," he said, "I think I'll answer the question instead."

The circle went silent again.

He didn't take his eyes off me. "I mean, I don't have to say the name, right? Just... she's here. She's been at every party since September, and I keep waiting for the right moment to talk to her, but she always looks like she wants to be anywhere else."

Maya kicked my ankle under the table.

"Oh," I said softly. "That's... actually really nice."

"Yeah?" He smiled, and it was different from his other smiles. More real. "Wanna get out of here? There's this spot on the roof where you can actually see stars."

I stood up, leaving my spy position behind. "Bet."