The Green Ring

I got removed from his Close Friends. Now I know where I actually stood.

Close Friends. The little green ring. The one that said, "You get the real version of me." Three months of late-night stories, stupid memes, a shot of his ceiling at 3 AM with the caption "can't sleep." I thought I was special. I thought I'd earned the green.

His name was Reece. We never defined it. A situationship with great lighting.

Then one Thursday, his stories stopped appearing. No green ring. Just a normal profile with a smiling picture, a gym selfie, nothing interesting.

I panicked. Asked my friend Jess to check on her phone. She still had the green ring. She sent a screenshot of his latest story. "Missing someone who doesn't text back."

I felt sick. Who was he missing? Who was he awake for?

So I did it. I sent the message. "Hey, are you okay?"

He replied at 3:12 AM. "Who's this?"

Who's this. I'd been in his phone for four months.

I told him my name. Silence.

Then: "Oh, hey. Sorry, I thought you were someone else."

I put the phone down and stared at the ceiling.

Then I realised. He hadn't removed me from Close Friends.

I'd never been on the list.

I was just the one who'd believed the ring was meant for me.