Even "it" couples sometimes have to overcome silly social-media drama. Just ask Paul Skenes and Livvy Dunne.
The young Pirates ace and his gymnast/influencer girlfriend have become the sports world's latest power couple, with Skenes pitching his way to the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year Award and Dunne continually growing her massive social media following while often appearing at Pirates games to cheer on her beau.
But the whole relationship was nearly over before it really started, according to a story at GQ.com. And it was for a pretty relatable, if humorously petty reason.
"He wouldn't follow me back on Instagram," Dunne said, recalling their early-relationship time in 2023 as student-athletes at LSU.
Her surprise made sense, as Dunne, with 5 million-plus followers on the platform, was the most-followed college athlete in the country at the time and one of the earliest to profit off new name, image and likeness rules.
But not following her wasn't exactly a conscious decision on Skenes' part. He had an Instagram account, but he rarely used it. He obviously knew who she was before they met, but Dunne wasn't as familiar with him.
"She didn't know who I was," Skenes recalled.
Mostly true, but not totally true.
Dunne "would see him around every now and then. I was like, 'Who is this tall, mysterious man that never smiles?'" she told GQ.
So, with the help of mutual friends, they made a plan to attend a Morgan Wallen concert as a group in Oxford, Miss., where Skenes had traveled for a game.
Just as there was no initial Instagram connection, there was no spark at the concert, either.
"He was shy," she said.
Really?
"Kind of reserved," he said.
But, Dunne said, "I had ambition to get to know him."
It still took a while from there, given their differing schedules. But Skenes eventually asked her out.
"Our first and second date, I was like, 'Oh, I really like him,'" she said.
The feeling was mutual, things progressed and, yada, yada, yada, they're now quite the successful item, with all kinds of opportunities ahead of them.
But, thankfully, here's no more Instagram drama -- Skenes eventually clicked the follow button.