The group chat catches it before he does. They always do.

One friend notices the mirror photo is taken from the better side. Another points out she stopped hiding behind someone’s shoulder in group pictures. The teasing starts fast, but then comes the careful side-eye. Someone zooms in on the dress. Someone else types, “Since when?” and leaves the rest floating there.

She answers with a joke, sure. But she does not delete the photo. She does not send a safer one ten minutes later. Once her friends stop treating it like a fluke, the men who thought they had her figured out are already behind.