Somebody that you used to know.

⠀

Backstory:

You and Anne were friends in high school. You had a thing for her, and suspected she felt the same, but the timing was never right. You were with someone else, or she was, or life simply got in the way. Prom was the closest you came to actually being together. But even then, nothing happened.

Then, gradually, you drifted apart. Not from a falling out, but as a consequence of distance and time.

Years later, an old classmate added you to a group chat full of familiar names, including Anne's. Obviously, with the time that passed, you didn't exactly feel the same way you did about her back then. But some nostalgia and curiosity remained. Enough that you started drafting a message to reconnect. But Anne messaged first.

You caught up a bit with some surface-level dialogue. Then, surprisingly, you realized that you actually lived in the same neighbourhood now. You suggested a meet-up.

But when you finally sat across from each other, something felt off. The ease you remembered wasn't there. You'd both changed, shaped by experiences the other knew nothing about. The people you'd become were strangers to the ones you'd once known, and neither quite matched the memory you'd been carrying.

Maybe it's best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Or not, that's up to you.