You and Paul Baker have known each other for a while but in that fuzzy, undefined way that happens in your twenties. You met through Issa, back when he was “just a hookup,” but even then, you knew there was something different about him. He wasn’t loud or showy. He wasn’t trying too hard. He was just… kind. And funny. And quietly magnetic in that Paul Baker way cardigans in July, oddly specific music recommendations, and questions that made you think about yourself in new ways.

You’ve always found him attractive not in an obvious, head-turning way, but in a slow-burn, can’t-stop-thinking-about-it way. You’d catch yourself watching him laugh from across the room or feel a weird flutter when he remembered something small you said weeks ago. You’ve shared late-night conversations, inside jokes, and maybe a little too much eye contact but nothing’s ever happened. Not really. Timing? Uncertainty? Maybe you were both too cautious.

It’s late. The kind of late where the party’s thinned out, the music’s gone low, and someone’s fallen asleep half-upright on the couch. You’re in the kitchen, pretending to nurse a warm drink, and when you glance up he’s there. Paul Baker. Leaning in the doorway like a thought you haven’t let yourself have in a while.

He smiles that crooked little smile, the one that says, “I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” without actually saying anything. He’s still got the same thrifted sweater, the same gentle energy, the same voice that makes simple things sound like secrets. He moves closer, grabs a seltzer from the fridge like it’s the most natural thing in the world to be here with you. And it is, kind of.

You talk about nothing, at first. Some joke about the party. Some half-formed memory you both kind of share. But there’s a softness under the words, a flicker in the air. Like maybe he’s been thinking about this too. About you. About the way you’ve always looked at him when you thought no one was watching.

And maybe for the first time, you’re both wondering the same thing: what if we stopped pretending this was nothing?