She had left him on read.

The white light of the phone shined across his perplexed features. Night had spilled into his bedroom through the open window.

He could feel the chill from the autumn breeze, reminding him of his singleness and empty bed.

He had school tomorrow, but stayed up waiting… hoping that she’d respond.

Like a fool, he didn’t bother rereading his long paragraph of his love confession to Riley. So he waited, then finally she replied.

“Don’t ever speak to me again, Jack.” He read allowed to himself from her message.

Jack didn’t understand.

This was his best friend of seven years, and they had directly chosen to go to this same college together, just so they couldn’t be apart.

In his mind, he had built a whole future ahead with her in it, only to have it wasted and spilled like the tears from his eyes.

He set his phone down, preparing for the long day ahead.

The morning came quickly, and he left his dorm for his first class. Jack could feel his heart rapidly beating, as if it were trying to push the anxiety away like blood.

There she was.

Riley entered the class, her ginger hair tied up in a messy bun, with dark circles under her eyes. It was clear that she hadn’t slept a wink either.

She sat on the other side of the room, her eyes fixed upon the blank white board between her and Jack. He let out a long sigh.

“How did it go?” Asked the boy he sat behind.

“How did what go?”

“Asking the girl out?”

Jack clenched his jaw, remembering the dare from that night. The boys had convinced him to text her, to confess his love. And he gave in.

The guy crossed his arms, “Not well I assume? Who was this girl anyway?”

“It’s none of your business.”

Suddenly, a girl sitting beside Jack intervened, “Jack had sent a long paragraph to Riley about how much he despised her.”

“What?! That’s not true!” Jack jumped, “who told you that?”

“Riley did…”

“But I never said I despised her!”

“Read it again, idiot. You clearly typed it out wrong!” The girl laughed.

Jack grabbed his phone, ignoring the introduction to the lecture that his biology teacher was giving.

He read over the text for the first time:

“Riley,

I know I haven’t been very open lately. The truth is, I loathe you. I’ve been your best friend since we were younger, but I’m tired of pretending. I don’t like you. I loathe you. I don’t want to be friends anymore. I think we should consider taking our relationship to the next stage. Please know that if you don’t feel the same way, I understand, and for all I know this could be the last time we speak, but I felt this was the right thing to do… to tell you the truth.”

It dawned on Jack: autocorrect had made a big mistake.