Blocked 101 Times: I'm Done

Synopsis

It was Thanksgiving Day, the day Alex Carter was supposed to meet my parents with me. I stood waiting for him at the train station for a full three hours. With my train's departure time fast approaching, I typed out a message to him: [Why haven't you shown up yet?] The text went through, but only a single grey checkmark appeared. His profile picture vanished, replaced by a blank gray icon. He'd blocked me. Again. I hadn't noticed until now. Over the past two years, Alex had blocked my number 101 times. It was his go-to move whenever he needed to devote his undivided attention to comforting Julia Grant during her depressive episodes. I was about to call him to ask him to unblock me when I saw Julia's Instagram: [Mentioned I wanted to see the tide, and my knight drove me 1025 miles to get here. Thank you for always being my savior.] The attached photo showed Alex behind the wheel, wearing the exact shirt I'd ironed for him this morning. My hometown was only 310 miles away, but Alex had complained that driving there was too exhausting, making me book train tickets instead. Yet, simply because Julia had a whim, he gladly committed to a 2050-mile round trip. I calmly canceled his ticket, walked through the gate, and boarded the train alone. I was done chasing him. There would be no 101st plea to unblock me.