Free Web NovelChapter 6: Friend Request
The evening sun painted the city in shades of gold, casting long shadows across the quiet streets of Riverton’s east side.
Sarah sat alone in the study of her townhouse, the polished oak desk cluttered with the remnants of another endless workday.
Her laptop screen glowed with spreadsheets and quarterly reports that refused to reconcile, no matter how many times she crunched the numbers.
Running a mid-sized logistics firm meant the job never really endedit just followed her home like an unwelcome shadow. Board meetings bled into late-night emails, emails into conference calls, and before she knew it, another Friday evening had slipped away.
She rubbed her eyes, reached for the mug of coffee that had gone stone cold, and sighed. A soft chime broke the silence.
Liam Sterling has sent you a friend request.
Hey.
Sarah frowned. The name didn’t ring any bells. She got these constantly pushy salespeople, crypto scammers, the occasional creep who’d dug up her profile through some mutual connection.
Her assistant had been nagging her for months to tighten her privacy settings. She kept meaning to do it.
Still... something about the simplicity of that single word made her pause. No sales pitch. No awkward compliment. Just *Hey.*
She hovered over the accept button for a beat, then shook her head and closed the notification. Not tonight. She had enough on her plate without adding internet strangers to the mix.
Down the hall, the bedroom was quiet except for the soft scratch of pencil on paper.
Sophie sat curled by the window seat, one leg tucked beneath her, sketching absentmindedly.
The golden light caught the loose strands of her auburn hair, turning them almost luminous. On the page, a half-finished park bench rested under the shade of an old oak the same bench she used to sit on for hours, back before the stares and whispers made every outing feel like walking a gauntlet.
She didn’t know why she kept drawing places she no longer visited. Maybe on paper they couldn’t hurt her.
A gentle knock sounded at the door.Sophie? Sarah leaned in, her expression soft with that familiar mix of concern and patience.
"I’m heading out for dinner at that new Italian place downtown. Want to come with me? My treat."
Sophie lowered her gaze to the sketchpad. "I’m... not really feeling up to it tonight."
Sarah had expected the answer she always did but she asked anyway. Old habits. "Alright. If you change your mind, just text me. Phone stays on, okay?"
"Okay."
Sarah crossed the room, gently tucked a strand of hair behind Sophie’s ear, and dropped a quick kiss on the top of her head. Love you, kiddo. Don’t stay up too late brooding.The door clicked shut behind her.
Alone again, Sophie stared out at the fading light over the rooftops. Somewhere out there, people were laughing over drinks, rushing home to families, living lives where their bodies didn’t feel like billboards for everyone else’s opinions.
She used to be one of them. Sometimes she wondered if she’d ever feel invisible again
in a good way.
She closed the sketchbook before the familiar ache could settle any deeper.
Several miles away, the Rage Quit Cafe buzzed with the usual Friday night chaos. Keyboards clacked like machine-gun fire.
Someone cheered a lucky headshot in Counter-Strike while another player slammed his desk in frustration. The smell of cheap instant noodles and burnt coffee hung thick in the air.
Liam Sterling slumped in a worn gaming chair in front of his aging rig, the blue glow of the monitor reflecting in his tired eyes.
It sometimes felt like. Life after high school hadn’t been the grand adventure he and his friends had imagined.
Just rent, dead-end gigs, and the slow realization that the world didn’t hand out second chances.
He opened Telegram and stared at the contact he’d never deleted.
Sophie Miller.
His thumb hovered over the message box. To her, he was nobody just another random request in a sea of them.
To him, she was the girl he’d watched get torn apart by cruelty he’d been too scared to stand against back then. The one he’d failed, even if she didn’t remember his name.
He’d spent years wondering what he’d say if he ever got the chance to do it over. An apology? An explanation? Every draft sounded insane when he read it back.So he kept it simple.
*Hey.*
The request sent. The little checkmarks appeared.
He didn’t know yet that the message had never reached her at all.
Sarah stepped out of the townhouse into the cool evening air, locking the door behind her. The city lights were just starting to flicker on, painting Riverton in that familiar neon-and-gold glow.
She slid into her car, the engine purring to life, and glanced back at the house one more time.
Inside, Sophie’s phone sat face-down on the windowsill, forgotten. The notification light never flashed.
But across town, Liam leaned back in his chair, heart beating a little harder than it should have for a simple friend request. He refreshed the chat again.
Nothing.He told himself it didn’t matter. That this was just another dumb impulse he’d probably regret tomorrow.Still... he waited.
