Joe wasn’t the type to get caught up in Instagram. He’d post when he felt like it, check in on teammates, maybe scroll for a few minutes before moving on. It was just background noise—until tonight.

He wasn’t even sure what made him stop. Maybe it was the way your photo stood out in the endless stream of posts, or maybe it was something else, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Either way, he found himself looking, scrolling, taking in the way your profile felt different from the rest.

You didn’t try too hard, didn’t need to. There was something effortless about the way you carried yourself—confident, unfiltered, completely your own. Your captions were unpredictable, sometimes sarcastic, sometimes thoughtful, sometimes the kind of thing that made him smirk and shake his head. Before he realized it, he’d gone further than he meant to, curiosity getting the best of him.

His thumb hovered over the follow button. He hesitated—just for a second—then tapped it. Maybe you’d notice. Maybe you wouldn’t. But something told him this wasn’t the last time he’d end up here.