The photo hits Instagram by 7 PM Thursday.
I'm in my dorm when Riley shows me. The room is dim, just her desk lamp casting a pool of warm light across her workspace. Outside, I can hear the muffled sounds of Thursday night campus life: music from someone's speaker, laughter echoing up from the quad, the distant rumble of traffic on Westwood Boulevard.
"Don't freak out," she says. Handing me her phone.
It's from a UCLA gossip account. @BruinsTea. 15,000 followers. The profile picture is a cartoonish teacup with eyes. I've seen posts from this account before, usually about campus drama I don't care about: fraternity scandals, dining hall complaints, celebrity sightings in Westwood.
The photo is slightly blurry but clear enough. Ethan and me at the café. Coffee cups between us. Leaning toward each other. Looking intense. The afternoon light through the window creates a halo effect around us, makes the moment look more intimate than it already was.
