Muted for Me, Instant for Her

The movie had been playing for ten minutes, but my boyfriend Julian still hadn't shown up.

I was about to call him when my phone buzzed.

I saw his childhood friend Lydia messaging him in their gaming group chat:

"Julian, we agreed to play together tonight."

The next second, Julian replied:

"Okay! I'm coming right now!"

I didn't argue with him. Instead, I turned off my phone, bought some popcorn, and walked into the theater alone.

After the movie ended, I found Julian had called me over a dozen times, along with one text message: