Her Thoughts

BYE OLD FRIEND

Hey.

I’ve thought about this once, not twice, but many times before, and I keep coming back to the same question: Were we ever really friends?

I never truly knew you, and you never truly knew me. We were simply two strangers who happened to be in the same class and got along well enough that, eventually, we concluded that we might be friends. Whenever I listed my friends, you were always there on the list. But whenever life presented moments that required the presence of a friend, you were nowhere to be found.

Not when I needed someone to confide in, someone I could trust with my deepest secrets, or simply someone to be there when I needed a shoulder to lean on. You always seemed to have a reason to miss every event, occasion, or outing that could have given us the opportunity to create beautiful memories together.

I called, and you answered on the other end, but the conversations would end almost as soon as they began: “Hey.” “How are you?” “I’m fine.” And that was it.

As time went by, I slowly came to the realization that I was the third person in a friendship between two people who already had a bond long before I came along. You already had your friend, someone you knew and understood so well, and I joined later, but I could never really blend into something that had already existed for so long.

Eventually, I realized that perhaps I needed to find my own friend—someone who was truly mine, and whose friendship I could truly call mine too. Someone with whom I could have the kind of bond I had always yearned for, especially whenever I saw the friendship you shared with your friend.

Because, truthfully, I don’t think there is much of a bond between us.

I know I tried my part, and I believe you tried yours too. But somehow, neither of our efforts was enough to turn what we had into the friendship we thought it was. And I think that’s okay. Not every person we meet is meant to remain a part of our lives forever.

So, I think it’s only fair that we let go of each other and embrace the life that comes after high school—not as enemies, not as strangers with resentment, but simply as two people who once knew each other and shared a chapter of their lives.

Maybe that is all we were meant to be.

And perhaps letting go is better than continuing to hold on to something that neither of us has been able to make into what we once thought it could be.