That moment should've meant nothing.
It was small.
Simple.
Easy to ignore.
But it didn't stay that way.
Because after that…
they noticed.
Natalie was the first.
She didn't say anything immediately, just gave me that look.
That look.
The one that said she knew something I wasn't ready to admit yet.
Jennie was worse.
"So…" she dragged the word out one day, walking beside me, "how's your not-crush?"
I glared at her. "Shut up."
She laughed. "I'm just asking."
Maria didn't even try to hide it.
"Oh my God," she said once, way too loudly, "you literally turn so quiet when he's around."
"I do not," I argued immediately.
"You do," Natalie added calmly.
"I don't like him," I said.
Again.
And again.
And again.
But they didn't believe me.
And honestly…
I wasn't sure if I believed myself either.
Every small thing became something to them.
If he stood near me.
If he talked to me.
If he even looked in my direction.
"Thirty-six," Jennie whispered one day, smirking.
I froze.
"You're still counting, aren't you?"
"…No," I said quickly.
She laughed.
But I was.
I didn't tell them that.
I didn't tell anyone that.
But every moment stayed.
Every glance.
Every small, meaningless thing that somehow didn't feel meaningless anymore.
And no matter how much I tried to deny it…
Something had already changed.