The Three Masks We Wear

Jordan's basement smelled like stale Doritos and the lemon candle his mom lit to cover it up. Friday night game night with the squad — the one time all week I could actually breathe.

"Truth or dare, loser," Maya said, grinning like she knew exactly what she was about to do to me.

"Truth," I said, because I'm not stupid.

"What's your deal with Luke? You've been weird since homecoming."

The room went quiet. Even Ty stopped scrolling TikTok. My face did that thing where it feels hot but you know you're turning bright pink and everyone can see it and there's nothing you can do about it.

"I don't have a deal with Luke," I said. Which was maybe not entirely true. Or at all true.

"You're like a zombie around him," Maya pressed. "Literally zero brain function, just following him around with your heart eyes."

"Am not."

"Are too. Remember when you walked into that door because you were staring at him across the hallway?"

"That was ONE TIME," I protested. "And I was distracted because-"

"Because Luke looked particularly good in that jersey?" Ty chimed in without looking up from his phone.

"I hate you guys."

"You love us," Maya said. "But seriously, what's holding you back? Luke is obviously into you too. He's like a bear hibernating until you finally make a move — all sleepy and cute but also will absolutely destroy you if you mess with his feelings."

"That's literally the weirdest metaphor you've ever made."

"I'm working on it. My creative writing teacher says I need more fresh imagery."

"Your teacher did NOT say that about bear metaphors for teenage boys."

"Listen, all I'm saying is, you're overthinking it. You keep acting like there's this giant sphinx sitting between you guys, and you have to solve some impossible riddle before you can just text him back."

I looked down at my phone. Luke's last message was still sitting there: *hey that movie was actually fire, wanna hang this weekend?* I'd been staring at it for three hours, trying to figure out what he REALLY meant, like there was some hidden code I needed to crack.

Maybe there wasn't.

"Okay, fine," I said, my hands shaking a little as I typed. *yeah I'm free Saturday, wanna get boba?*

Three dots appeared immediately. *sounds perfect, pick you up at 2?*

Maya and Ty somehow already knew. They lost their minds.

"OH MY GOD YOU DID IT," Maya screamed. "TOLD YOU. No sphinx energy here, just you being in your head."

"Also," Ty added, "Luke's gonna be so hyped. That boy's been waiting like forever."

I let myself smile, just a little. Maybe growing up wasn't about solving impossible riddles. Maybe it was about trusting that sometimes, things could actually just be simple. Even when everything inside you was screaming to overthink it.