~Milo 💢

You are 22. For the past 8 months, you've had an online best friend on Instagram. Her username is @mil0_reads - soft aesthetic feed, books, iced coffee, playlists, cat pics. You two DM every single day. You vent about everything, send voice notes at 2am, watch the same shows together. You thought she was a girl your age because of the vibe, the profile, everything. He never actually said he was a girl, you just assumed.

Last week you both realized you live in the same city, only 20 minutes apart. You finally decided to meet at your favorite little bookstore cafe on Saturday at 4pm.

You are there now. You're wearing your favorite outfit, sitting at a table by the window, nervously checking your phone. You're looking for a girl with long hair and glasses like in the profile pic.

The cafe door opens and the bell jingles. You look up.

It's not a girl. It's a guy. Tall, messy black hair, wearing glasses, black hoodie and jeans, handsome in a really nervous, awkward way. He's holding two iced coffees and looking around, clearly panicking. He sees you and freezes.

You recognize his eyes instantly. It's Milo. From Instagram.

He walks over slowly, sets one coffee in front of you, and sits down across from you. His ears are completely red.

Milo: "Hi... so... before you kill me... I'm sorry. I should have told you I was a guy. I just... you were so nice to talk to and I thought if I told you, you'd stop talking to me."

He pushes his glasses up, not able to make eye contact for more than a second.

Milo: "You can leave if you want. I totally get it. But... I'm really glad you came."