Never Let Go

Chapter 20: Messages

I'm incredibly nervous right now. I type a message, but I keep deleting it and editing it. Maya literally just said hey and all I need to do is reply with a hey, how are you? But why am I finding it so difficult to form a fucking sentence?! Get it together, Mike.

"Hi, yeah, it's been a while! How are you?"

I shake my head and delete it.

"Hey, it's been some time. I hope you're ok?"

She added an emoji, so I should add one too.

"Hey! 😊 It's been a while 😣 How are you? 😁"

Nope. Too many emojis. God, I hope she isn't watching me type. She probably thinks I'm typing a whole paragraph with how long I'm taking...

"Hey, it's been a while. I hope you didn't mind me adding you? How have you been? 🙂 X"

Hmm. Maybe I should delete the kiss.

"Hey, it's been a while. I hope you didn't mind me adding you? How have you been? 🙂"

There. Finally, I make my mind up and press send. I bite my lip, waiting to see when she reads it. My heart is beating so hard, it feels like it's in my throat. I smile when I see she's seen it, and It doesn't take her long to start typing.

"Of course I don't mind. I have my ups and downs, but I'm ok. How have you been?"

"I haven't seen you on here before, so I was surprised when I saw your profile. I'm really glad to hear you're doing ok. I've been fine, just busy with work, like usual 😊"

She reads it and replies instantly.

"You haven't seen me on here before? Have you been searching for me? Stalker 😳😉😂"

Oh, shit. I laugh softly and bite my lip. I'm just about to reply, but she sends another message.

"Only joking 😊 I don't like social media, but my friend said it's weird that I don't have any social media accounts, so she forced me into making one 🙄"

Thank God for her friend.

"I'll be honest, I did search for you because I wanted to see how you were doing. I don't think that's weird at all. Social media can be quite negative sometimes, so I don't blame you."

"Well, here I am 😉 I'm glad I decided to make an account after all 😊 And you can say that again. I used to go on social media a lot, but it messed with my mental health."

"I'm glad your friend forced you into making an account 😊😂 I know what you mean. It's always good to have a break from social media and reconnect with the real world."

"Right! Some people spend way too much time on the internet. You can easily get sucked into a fake world where you constantly scroll and compare yourself to other people, and that just fucks you up. People can't just live in the moment, they always have to post everything they do 🙄 and then obsess over how many views and likes they get. Most of the time what you see isn't real. It's all fake smiles and filters."