> N. wasn’t a particularly close friend, and we didn’t have a falling out per se. The friendship just fizzled, until eventually he decided to unfollow me on Twi

> N. wasn’t a particularly close friend, and we didn’t have a falling out per se. The friendship just fizzled, until eventually he decided to unfollow me on Twitter, to put a final nail in a slow process of undoing. > A flaccid “what happened?” text went unresponded to, and just like that, the relationship was over. > Rationally, I know there was no reason for him to respond to a text asking for closure. Our friendship was brief, just over a year, and for the last six months, not much of a friendship at all. It amounted to a mostly barren Signal thread, with the odd message here or there about astrology, or a podcast neither one of us listened to completion. The author didn't lose a friend here. They never had a friend here. I wonder how much of the author's problem is about a mistaken expectation. The expectation that you can meet someone, make contact, and then file that person as a friend forever who will never leave you.