Streak Freeze

Duolingo sent me a notification. "Ana hasn't practised in 41 days."

Ana and I were learning Spanish together. Her idea. We were going to Barcelona in the summer. Order tapas without pointing. Say "gracias" like we didn't sound like tourists. She added me as a friend on the app, and we competed over a leaderboard, a tiny green owl screaming at both of us.

We broke up in April, before we ever booked the trip. A stupid argument about a stupid thing, and then a bigger argument about a bigger thing. By the end, we were just two people who couldn't remember why we were yelling.

She stopped practising immediately. I watched her streak vanish. Fifty-eight days, gone.

But I kept going.

I don't know why. Muscle memory? Spite? Every morning, ten minutes, same lessons. "El chico bebe agua." "La mujer lee un libro." Learning to say sentences about people who weren't me.

Last night, 2 AM, the app showed a new unit. "Feelings." I tapped it out of habit.

Lesson one: "Lo siento." I'm sorry.

Lesson two: "Te extraño." I miss you.

Lesson three: "Todavía te quiero." I still love you.

I got every answer right. The little owl clapped. Confetti. A gold star.

Two hundred and eleven days. I'd become fluent.

I can now say everything I should've said in two languages.

And there's no one left who'll listen in either.