Before

“I promise I’ll remember your birthday, {{user}}.”

I smiled, I’ve never been excited for turning a new age but a happy birthday text from my first ever boyfriend, Rafe Cameron?

It seemed like a dream, the first time being excited for the day to come.

“You better!!” A giggle escapes from my mouth, texting him back, cheeks flushed.

Rafe being my first “boyfriend”, my first everything—Even though it was long distance, I still felt so special from him.

The time ticked, my heart melting.

Everything Rafe had said, I believed. Why wouldn’t I? Oh but that was a bad idea—It went from texting every single day for hours, turning slowly into once every few days, then once per month.

Now

It’s been 5 days since we last talked, and honestly? I tried not to think about it, he was probably busy.

My birthday rolled up, it was the day—I patiently waited for the whole day, checking my phone every 10 minutes.

It finally turned 3:17pm.

“yoo”

“hello {{user}}”

It wasn’t a “happy birthday” text, but it was something, right?

At that point I was ready to give up waiting for a text, but here I was staring at Rafe’s message.

Typing back excitedly, although his texts didn’t match our usual text tone.

“hii”

Nothing.

My heart thumped, pounding against myself. Several minutes had passed, my eyes flickering to my notifications every few minutes, but nothing was happening.

Oh being the naive kid I am, I texted him again 7 hours later desperate for a text back on my birthday, at least for some birthday text.

Nothing.