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Student @ Lagos State University
The Quiet Distance Between Friends
<p>There’s a space between people</p><p>that no one can name or define…</p><p>but somehow, we all feel it in time.</p><p>And lately, I’ve been watching it grow</p><p>in places we used to call mine.</p><p>Lately…</p><p>I’ve been noticing something.</p><p>Not once.</p><p>Not twice.</p><p>But enough times</p><p>to feel like silence has a pattern in disguise.</p><p>Friendships are shifting</p><p>not with noise, not with fight,</p><p>but with quiet edits in the middle of life.</p><p>Small changes in tone,</p><p>smaller updates in light,</p><p>like something once warm</p><p>is learning to dim at night.</p><p>Someone shares good news</p><p>and the room holds still for a second.</p><p>Not loud enough to call jealousy,</p><p>not sharp enough to call tension…</p><p>just a pause that doesn’t belong in the conversation.</p><p>Someone else arrives later</p><p>with progress already done,</p><p>chapters already run,</p><p>stories already won</p><p>before anyone even knew they’d begun.</p><p>And they say:</p><p>“I’ve done it.”</p><p>Simple.</p><p>Clean.</p><p>Done.</p><p>And suddenly</p><p>the room splits in two reactions</p><p>wearing polite satisfaction.</p><p>On one side:</p><p>“How did I not know?”</p><p>“When did this grow?”</p><p>“Why wasn’t I part of the flow?”</p><p>On the other:</p><p>“It wasn’t ready yet.”</p><p>“I didn’t want pressure to show.”</p><p>“I needed it quiet before letting it go.”</p><p>Two truths.</p><p>Same space.</p><p>Different pace.</p><p>Neither wrong—but neither in the same place.</p><p>And that’s where it sits</p><p>this invisible split.</p><p>Because to one person,</p><p>it feels like distance.</p><p>To the other,</p><p>it feels like resistance.</p><p>To one, silence means absence.</p><p>To the other, silence means protection in presence.</p><p>And I don’t pick a side.</p><p>I just notice the tide.</p><p>Because friendships now move</p><p>like conversations half-aligned,</p><p>not broken, just… redefined.</p><p>What used to be</p><p>“I tell you everything I become”</p><p>has slowly turned into</p><p>“I’ll tell you when I’m done.”</p><p>And nobody says it loudly,</p><p>but it echoes in the in-between:</p><p>Not betrayal.</p><p>Not delay.</p><p>Just different ways of arriving at the same day.</p><p>And that is what disturbs me,</p><p>not success, not change, not growth,</p><p>but the feeling that we now reach each other</p><p>after the coast.</p><p>Because maybe nothing broke.</p><p>Maybe we just don’t show up</p><p>in each other’s moments</p><p>the same way we used to scope.</p><p>And friendship,</p><p>friendship is still here…</p><p>just not always in the same rope.</p><p>💥 </p><p>Maybe the problem is not distance…</p><p>Maybe it’s timing</p><p>losing alignment in existence.</p>
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