#FridayFlash 45: Facebook Friends

Yeah new "Truly Intelligent People"! I'm so excited :) Welcome! Today's story is a work of fiction. Any resembulance to actual peoples or occurances is purely coincidence. >;-P Anybody have any Facebook Friends experiences to share? ------ Facebook Friends She saw him on Facebook. The boy she'd once loved. She did a double-check when his name appeared as a "people you might know" suggestion. Might know indeed. Facebook -- the ultimate highschool reunion. And as she looked at his photo, she realized he'd gotten old. And she didn't want to click because, well, what if he took one look at her photo and thought the same thing? And then she felt foolish because why should it matter? She hadn't even seen him in fifteen years. She was an adult. A successful one at that. Or so it seemed on the outside. On the inside she was still a kid trying to decide what she wanted to do with her life. She hit refresh and his picture went away -- but the memories stayed. The night of her 18th birthday. Their cave, lit by dozens of candles. The sound of the ocean in the background. She was excited. Intoxicated on love and life as much as the wine she'd had earlier. It was the last night of her childhood and he'd done everything he could to make it special. And special it was. That night and the weeks following it seemed as though time stood still for them. Surely it would last forever. But as for so many, forever was just a momentary blip in time. Soon enough they were at different schools on different sides of the country. And life went on. When they met again the next summer, he had changed. He'd grown up. Become a man. While in her heart, she remained the girl who'd loved a boy. Although were she honest, she could see that time had changed her in his eyes too. And so they drifted. Friends with benefits. Then just friends. Then not even that. She heard, at one point, that he'd gotten married. And had convinced herself she was happy for him. And wondered, when she married, if he ever thought of her. And life went on. She got caught up on all the news: Carol was doing laundry, Jason's team had won the football game, Marissa was avoiding reality. And when she'd wasted half an hour learning absolutely nothing of interest she gave in and searched his name. "Send friend request." How pathetic was it to request somebody's friendship? But she clicked the button. She spent a few minutes updating her profile. Not because he might be looking, but because it was time. Relationship: "It's complicated." No it's not, she thought bitterly to herself. Her husband cheated on her with his gorgeous blond secretary. She was living a very bad cliche. Nothing complicated about it. And she felt closure as she changed it to "Single". Facebook was much cheaper than therapy. Deciding she'd had enough of the past, she shut down the machine and went out for the evening. But when she got home she broke her self-imposed rule and signed into Facebook for the second time that day to check for updates. "Friend request accepted." And life went on.