One Word Short

Proof

It all started with that first message.

“Hey cutie <3”

And from then, it flourished. She was kind. Sweet, funny… And she liked girls. She liked... Me. As any girl-liking girl would be, I was floored. I wanted to spend every moment talking with her, liking all her instagram photos… But then again, I always had an inkling that something was wrong.

“I can’t call rn hon, im with friends”

“I feel ugly, don’t really want to video chat, sorry”

She never wanted to call, or video chat, in all the times that I had asked. She never sent me photos of herself at the current moment. It was always touched up photos of her at a photoshoot, or a party. It was never anything at her lowest moment.

I loved her. I wanted to see her in all that she was.

But she just avoided that. Avoided sending me casual stuff. Strike one.

Strike two was how she always wanted pictures of me. But not the conventional kind of pictures, none from gardens I visited, none with me hanging out with my friends, none of me enjoying myself in the outside world, or even being fully clothed, for that matter. I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, since she was sweet and kind, and always showered me in compliments whenever I did it...

Then I found the real girl in her photos. She was a small instagram model, who was just trying to get followers. I came across her while browsing. Every photo that I had seen of my girlfriend was on there. The parties, her friends, everything. It all seemed like such a lie. I was heartbroken. Some part of me screamed that the girl I had just found was the fake one, the catfish, but… After everything that had came before? It didn’t seem likely. Strike three.

I had made up my mind.

I messaged the real girl first. Making sure she hadn’t got a second account, that my girlfriend really had been stealing the photos and painting them as herself. I got the real girl to send me a casual picture of herself as proof, screenshotted the whole conversation. She wanted to confront her right away, but I warned her off it. Said I would get evidence first, and confront her myself. Then she could do it.

I wanted my revenge.

So I did it. I screenshotted as many conversations that I could find- as many of the “I don’t feel like talking right now”’s and “I can’t send a picture right now but could you send one of you”’s as I could get. It took days and days of scrolling, and filing all the screenshots in a folder, and planning and writing out what I was going to say.

I was nervous at the time, you can imagine the sort of thing I was going through, and still having to act like I still unconditionally loved my fake girlfriend, but in hindsight, it was the most healthy thing I could’ve done. With the evidence, I didn’t have to doubt myself. And she couldn’t make me doubt myself either.

My timing couldn’t have been better. She handed me the opportunity to confront her on a silver platter.

“Hey, so I’m coming to your town this weekend, wanna meet up?”

I definitely didn’t want something to happen to me, meeting with someone that hadn’t even shown me their real face. So I threw the accusation at her, right there and then.

“I don’t think you are who you say you are. I think you’re catfishing me.”

I’ll never forget the few moments while I waited for her to respond. The nerves that twisted at my gut, the tears that formed in the corner of my eyes that I choked back with all the anger in my soul. I watched the typing bubble flicker on and off as she formed a reply, taking way longer than it should have.

“Don’t be silly, sweetie! I could never lie to you :3 Why, where’s your proof?”

She wanted proof? I’d give her proof.

I spammed her. All the evidence I had painstakingly gathered over days, all the conversations I had screenshotted… I sent them all, each with a detailed explanation of why it was the proof she desired. Why it seemed she was catfishing me.

She kept trying to interrupt.

“I just wasn’t feeling too good that day!”

“Why are you doing this to me? You’re so selfish, you can’t expect me to always send you pictures.”

“Why does it matter that I only send you pictures of me at my best? I want you to see me at my best, sweetheart”

It got worse. She started calling me names. She started begging me desperately to stop. She started trying to make me doubt myself, to just stop.

At that point, I just ignored everything that she said. I knew she was in the wrong. And I had the proof why.

I delivered the final blow.

I sent her the screenshots of the conversations of the real girl in the photos. She went silent.

I watched as a notification popped up at the bottom of the screen saying: “You can no longer send messages to this person.”

I just stared.

I felt empty at that moment. Can’t say I expected that, I thought I’d be having an immediate celebration. But as all celebrations do, it eventually came, as I was having a drink with my best friends. It was the most relieved I’ve ever been.

I heard from the real girl afterwards, to say that she called her out, and to thank me. We’ve been talking lately. I found out that she likes girls. She’s kind, and sweet, and from what I know, definitely not a catfish out to get me. She sends me casual pictures, and helps me with my homework, and listens to me. I’m not sure if I’m ready to go back into an online relationship just yet, but…

Maybe someday.

And if that someday comes, it’ll definitely be with her.