The Instagram Sphinx

Maya's thumb hovered over the follow button. Again. For the third time this week.

She was basically a professional social media stalker at this point—a certified digital spy. Her feed was a carefully curated gallery of Jordan's life: skateboarding photos, blurry concert shots, that one selfie with the golden-hour lighting that made her stomach do actual gymnastics.

"You're doing it again," said Leo, her brother's annoying friend who was crashed on their couch. His golden retriever, Buster, flopped onto her feet, apparently sensing her distress. "Just DM him already."

"Easy for you to say," Maya muttered. "You're not the one who's been running laps around this crush since September."

The problem was Jordan. He was like a human sphinx—gorgeous, mysterious, and full of riddles she couldn't solve. His bio just said 'why not' and he posted cryptic song lyrics at 2 AM. What did it mean?

Then her Wi-Fi cut out. Maya stared at the spinning wheel of doom.

"No no no," she groaned, following the tangled cable behind her desk. Of course. Buster had chewed through the Ethernet cord. Again.

She marched into the living room, phone clutched in her sweaty hand. Leo looked up from his game.

"Your dog destroyed my life."

"Pretty sure he just destroyed a cable," Leo said, scratching Buster's ears. "But same energy."

Maya's phone buzzed in her hand. Jordan had posted something new. A story. It was a photo of the same chewed cable she was holding, captioned: 'when your internet decides to peace out right as you're about to DM someone'

Wait.

Maya's heart practically stopped. Jordan lived in the apartment below them. She'd seen his skateboard by the mailboxes. His Wi-Fi name was 'skaterboi_99'—she knew because she'd tried to connect when hers was down last month.

They were suffering through the same internet outage.

Leo was already laughing. "So... you gonna go downstairs and finally talk to him, or what?"

Maya grabbed her keys. "Shut up, Leo."

"Bring snacks!" he called after her.

The elevator ride took forever. When she knocked on apartment 3B, Jordan opened the door, looking surprised. His hair was messy and he held the same chewed cable in his hand.

"Hey," he said, grinning. "I think our dogs are in cahoots."

"Your dog chewed your cable too?"

"Nah, my neighbor's dog did. But I'm pretty sure they're plotting against us." He stepped back. "Want to come in? I've got hot pockets."

Maya smiled. For the first time in months, she didn't overthink it.

"Only if you have the pepperoni kind."

"Obviously," Jordan said. "I'm not a monster."

The sphinx had finally been solved. And she didn't even need to run away this time.