Page 63 of With a Little Luck

“Yeah,” I say. “The usual.”

Carlos nods. “And to drink?”

We both order Sprites, and as Carlos walks away, Maya gives me an intrigued look. “You reallyarea regular.”

“Yeah, this was one of Ari’s favorite places when we met her, and it’s close enough to home that Pru and I could ride our bikes before we had our licenses. It was just the three of us for a while, but now of course Quint comes a lot, too. And Ezra. And Morgan—you probably haven’t met her. She used to volunteer with Pru and Quint. She’s going to college up in San Francisco now, so we haven’t seen her in a while, and … I am rambling. I’m sorry.”

Maya barks a laugh. “Please, after I talked your ear off about my tiefling backstory earlier? Honestly, it’s refreshing when you start to open up. You’re always so quiet.”

Naturally, this comment only serves to make me clam back up. I busy my hands by undoing the strip of paper around the napkin and silverware. “I don’t usually have much to say.”

“You don’t have much to say? Or you don’t think people want to hear it?”

“Both?” I crumple the paper strip into a tight ball and flick it across165the table. It bounces off the salt shaker. “Mostly I think a lot about comic books and D&D campaigns … and most people aren’t super interested in that.”

“I’m interested.”

She says it so genuinely that I can’t doubt her, especially after how much fun we had last weekend, and how much thought she’s been putting into her character.

“I’m still trying to wrap my head around that,” I tell her. “Never in a million years would I have imagined …” I trail off, worried that I’m on the verge of saying something embarrassing.

“What?” urges Maya. “That I have an imagination? That I like stories with magic and adventure, too?”

“Not that,” I say, then pause as Carlos brings our drinks. I use the interruption to try to form a coherent thought. “It’s like, this obviously isn’t some cliché teen movie where I’m the nerd kid who gets stuffed into lockers by the popular jock, and you’re the cheerleader who enjoys … I don’t know. Shopping, or whatever.”

Maya makes a face, suggesting that I might want to get on with a point, and I grimace. “But there are still … you know. Social circles. And you’ve always been in one circle. The one that joins school clubs and runs for student government and gets voted for prom court, and … stuff.”

“You do know that we don’t actually have a prom court at our school, right?”

“Oh. Yeah, of course.”

I definitely did not know that.

Seeing the truth on my face, Maya laughs and shakes her head. “Have you even been to one of the dances?”

“No,” I say. “BecauseIam in one of the other circles. The social circle that …”

“Plays fantasy games,” she says.

“And watches anime and reads novels about dragons and goes to sci-fi conventions and Renaissance Faires and, like, actually wears costumes to them.”166

Maya’s eyes widen with … glee? “Do you really?”

Oh god.

I look away.

She gasps, leaning forward. “Do you have pictures? Can I see? What kind of costume? Did you wear a kilt? Armor?” She narrows her eyes. “Were you an elf?”

“No,” I say sheepishly. “I was a human. A human … wizard.”

Her eyes twinkle. “If you don’t show me a picture, I bet your sisters will.”

“Not Pru. She’s loyal to me.” I sigh heavily. “But the rest of them would definitely sell me out in a heartbeat.”

She laughs. “I wouldn’t take advantage like that. Though I would like to see it.” She hesitates, before adding, “I’d actually love to go sometime.” She takes a long sip of her drink, nose wrinkling from the carbonation. A waiter stops by a minute later with our food.

We eat in silence for a while, before Maya says, a littletooairily, “Do you ever feel like you’ve missed out on something and now you’re not sure if you can go back and try again?”

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