The digital silence had been deafening. Ever since the incident - the declaration of family-dom with Gareth that had left her mortified and him, presumably, speechless, Leshay couldn't get herself to message him back after that.
Weeks passed...almost a month...without a word...
Then, a beacon in the digital wasteland! An unrecognized number blinked onto her screen, bearing a message so simple, so unassuming, it almost made her heart stop.
"Hii...It's Gareth...This is my new number..."
It was Gareth!
Not a word about the mortifying explosion of familial affection. Just...Gareth. With a new number. Like pressing 'reset' on their entire dynamic. And unbelievably, it worked. They slipped back into their easy rhythm: rapid-fire texts, shared memes, late-night chats, and the comfortable cacophony of their interwoven lives.
But something had subtly shifted.
Gareth started to "flirt". It wasn't a full-blown offensive. It was subtle, insidious, like a creeping vine, wrapping itself around her thoughts. A compliment on her new profile picture. A teasing remark about the video about "lovesick" that she posted on her status. A genuine, almost unnerving, recollection of a minor detail she'd mentioned weeks ago. Leshay, predictably, adored it. She was drowning in a sea of "maybe, just maybe." But the "maybe, just maybe" was terrifying. Terrifying because it felt too good to be true. Terrifying because the fear of ruining a friendship was a tangible, heavy weight. So, panicking and fuelled by equal parts self-preservation and pure, unadulterated idiocy, Leshay did the only thing she could think of: she built a digital wall.
She feigned an existing relationship. "You're being delusional, Gareth. I have a "boyfriend"." She could almost hear the screech of brakes through the screen. The digital world went cold. The playful banter evaporated. The conversations devolved into curt replies, punctuated by long silences. The vibrant, pulsing light of their connection had been abruptly dimmed, leaving a hollow ache in its wake.
Leshay told herself it was for the best. She'd nipped it in the bud. She'd saved their friendship. But as she scrolled through their now-barren chat, a gnawing doubt settled deep in her gut. Had she, in her blind panic, slammed shut a door that Gareth had finally, tentatively, dared to open?
The silence from Gareth felt heavier than ever before, and Leshay realised she might have just made the biggest mistake of her life.