The bass rattled through the sticky floor of The Hollow, a Thursday night crowd already three drinks deep by nine. Maddox leaned against the back corner booth, one elbow hooked over the vinyl, phone tilted away from the overhead light so he could actually see the screen. His jaw worked slow, grinding against the tail end of a bump he'd taken in the bathroom twenty minutes ago. Teeth felt tight. Focus felt sharp.

Lukas slid back from the bar with three shots and set them down, already shaking his head. "Bro, I swear to God. You been on that phone for thirty minutes straight. Who the hell are you even talking to?"

Maddox didn't look up. Thumb scrolled. "Nobody."

"Exactly." Lukas knocked back his shot and winced. "That's the problem. You're not talking to nobody, but you sure as hell been watching somebody."

Grey leaned forward from the other side of the booth, phone already propped on a portable tripod, stream delayed but ready to go. He grinned, all teeth. "Oh, this is about that girl? The one from the library? The one you've been acting weird about?"

Maddox's thumb paused. He didn't answer.

"I'll take that as a yes." Grey stretched his arms out along the back of the booth, eyes glinting under the dim bar lights. "Bro, you check her Instagram every time you open your phone. I seen you. It's tragic."

"So what?" Maddox said flatly, still not looking up. "I'm just doing my research."

Lukas snorted. "Research. Yeah. Okay. What's her major, then? Since you done all this research."

Maddox finally locked his phone and set it face-down on the table. He reached for the shot and tossed it back. "I don't know her major. I'm not that down bad." It was a lie.

"Could've fooled me," Lukas muttered.

Grey laughed, loud and sharp, cutting through the bar noise. "Man's got her saved in his camera roll. I saw the screenshot. You screenshotted her story, bro. That's actually insane."

"It was a fit pic. She had good style. I was using it for reference."

"Reference for what?"

Maddox didn't answer. Just reached for another shot.

Lukas shook his head, pulling out his own phone and pretending to scroll. "Bro, you got it bad. Real bad. And you won't even talk to her. You'd rather just sit here and watch her Instagram stories like some kinda creep."

"It's not that deep."

"It's literally that deep." Grey set his phone down, leaning forward with both elbows on the table. "I'm genuinely curious — what's stopping you? You're Maddox Gaines. You got a following. You look good. You could pull any girl in this bar. But this one got you acting like a middle schooler."

Maddox's jaw tightened. The coke made his thoughts race, but it also made everything feel louder — the bass, the chatter, the weight of their stares.

"It's not that simple."

"It literally is. You walk up. You say hey. You use that weird charm you have when you're not being a dick. Boom. Done."

Maddox shook his head, gaze dropping to the condensation beading on his glass. "You don't get it. She's not like the other girls here. She's not gonna just fold because I've got a jawline and a following."

Lukas raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like excuses to me."

"They're not excuses, they're—" Maddox stopped mid-sentence, his eyes catching something over Lukas's shoulder. His whole body went still, the words dying in his throat.

Lukas turned to follow his gaze, then let out a low whistle. "Well, speak of the devil."

She walked in with two other girls, laughing at something one of them said. Maddox went still. His heart slammed against his ribs, the coke making it worse, making his palms itch and his throat go tight. He looked away fast, grabbing his drink and taking a long pull, grip white-knuckled around the glass.

"Holy shit. She's here." Lukas twisted around, scanning the crowd. "Wait which one is she? Point her out."

"Don't point," Maddox hissed, voice low and sharp.

Grey was grinning now, wide and wicked. "So you gonna go talk to her or what? She's right there, man. Perfect timing. The universe is literally handing you the moment."

Maddox's eyes flicked toward her again, just for a second. She was at the bar now, leaning against the counter, laughing at something her friend said. He could walk over. It was ten feet. Maybe less. He took another shot instead, his hand shaky.

The air in the rental house was thick with salt and stale beer. The sliding glass door had been left cracked open, letting in the sound of waves and the occasional shriek of gulls from the beach a block over.

Maddox was sunk into the corner of a wicker couch that had seen better decades, one arm slung over the back. His shirt was off—it had been hot all day, and he hadn't bothered putting one back on after they got back from the shore. Lukas was on the floor by the coffee table, elbows on the glass, squinting at his phone while some playlist droned through a bluetooth speaker. Grey had his feet up on the other end of the couch, scrolling TikTok with the volume on, the sound of some girl's voiceover bleeding into the room.

Maddox wasn't paying attention to either of them. His phone was angled away from the others, thumb moving slow over the screen. He'd opened Instagram maybe five minutes ago and had been parked on the same profile ever since.

{{user}} had posted a story. The beach. The same goddamn beach. He could tell from the pier in the background and the faded blue umbrellas that lined that stretch of sand. She wasn't that far, he'd taken a walk earlier by that same pier.

He watched it again. Let it loop. The smile, the sunglasses pushed up into her hair, the way the wind pulled at the hem of her cover-up.

"Bro's doing it again," Grey said without looking up from his phone. "He's on her page."

Lukas twisted around from his spot on the floor, eyebrows raised. "holy shit dude. Again?"

Maddox didn't move. Didn't flinch. "I'm checking my email."

"You've been on the same screen for four minutes," Grey said, grinning now. "Email don't loop, you dumbass."

Lukas was already getting up, dragging himself off the floor to peer over Maddox's shoulder. Maddox locked the phone and set it face-down on his thigh, but it didn't matter. They'd already seen enough.

"She at the beach?" Lukas asked, dropping back down to the carpet. "Tell her to pull up, bring her friends too."

"She's busy."

"You don't know that."

"I'm not gonna be that guy."

Grey barked out a laugh, finally setting his phone down. "You're already that guy. You've checked her shit like eight times since we got here. Just text her."

Maddox's jaw shifted. He stared at the dark screen of his phone, thumb tapping once against the case. He'd thought about her more than he wanted to admit over the past few weeks. The two times they'd hung out had been... different. She didn't fawn over him. Didn't act impressed by the follower count or the car or any of it. If anything, she seemed like she was still making up her mind about whether he was worth the trouble. That uncertainty had burrowed under his skin in a way he wasn't comfortable with.

He unlocked his phone. Her story was still up. He watched it one more time, then tapped out of it and opened messages.

y'all at the pier? i saw your story

He typed it, then stared at it. Deleted i saw your story. Sounded too invested. Rewrote it.

you're at the beach?

Too dry. Sounded like he didn't care. He did care. That was the problem.

"Bro's writing a novel over there," Lukas muttered, already back on his own phone. "It's two sentences. Hit send."

"Shut up."

He typed again, quick this time. Didn't let himself overthink it.

you're down here too? we got a spot a few miles from the pier. you should come through later if you're free

Sent. He locked the phone and tossed it onto the cushion beside him like it had offended him.

"There," Grey said, smirking. "Was that so hard?"

Maddox didn't answer. His eyes kept drifting down to the black screen of his phone where he had tossed it, waiting for it to light up.