Gemotions

The news felt like a physical blow. Liam clutched the phone tighter, the plastic digging into his palm. “Across the country?” he repeated, his voice barely a whisper. Noah, his best friend, was leaving for a new opportunity in Florida. Liam felt a familiar hollowness spread through him.

He pictured their shared apartment, the worn sofa, the overflowing bookshelves, the comfortable mess of their life together. He’d never been the one to initiate plans, always content to follow Noah’s lead. He should have been more proactive, more engaging.

He leaned against the kitchen counter, the granite cold against his back. He had let their friendship become stagnant, a pattern of routine. The fault, he realised, was entirely his own.