The Group Chat That Ended Us

I've been with Sebastian Radford for five years, and I assume there are no secrets between us. Then, the night before our engagement party, Sebastian says, "Cece, check the group chat." I open the four-person group text, confused. "Nobody sent anything." Sebastian goes, "Oh. I misread it." When he heads into the bathroom, the tablet on the coffee table lights up with two new messages. My friend, Noelle Frasier, texts, "You scared me to death. You almost gave away our trip plans." My childhood friend, Wade Kirby, writes, "I really don't want Cece to tag along. I can't even cut loose with her around." Sebastian replies, "I'll be more careful next time." I glance at the group name. "No Cecilia Ward Today!" I scroll up. There are over 2,000 messages, documenting an entire life I know nothing about. Just last week, on the night of my promotion dinner, they're all texting about that barbecue joint on the west side. I ask Sebastian why everyone seems so unenthusiastic, and he tells me, "Everyone's got their own stuff going on." It turns out "their own stuff" is figuring out how to do everything without me. I don't make a scene. I quietly set the tablet down, pick up my phone, and call to cancel the engagement banquet. Then I walk into the bedroom and start packing. Chapter 1 By the time I came out with my bags packed, the chat on the tablet was still blowing up. They'd moved on from how boring I was to barbecue plans for the next day, then to which spots had the best food. There were 99 new messages and counting. After that thread died down, Wade Kirby sent one last message. "This is what life's supposed to feel like. The air's literally fresher without Cece around." Noelle Frasier replied, "Cece's such a buzzkill. Hanging out with her is no fun." Sebastian Radford dropped a link to a barbecue place. "Take a look at the menu and see what you want." Wade wrote, "I want grilled calamari. Cece's allergic to seafood, so every time we eat with her, I can never order half the stuff I want." Noelle followed up, "If Cece's not coming, I'm ordering everything extra-hot. Nobody has a problem with that, right?" Sebastian replied, "Go for it." I stood in front of the couch, staring at the tablet. Noelle and Wade had been my friends since we were kids. Because our preferences never lined up, I was always the one adjusting. I was allergic to seafood, so whenever the group went to a seafood buffet, I'd just pick at the fries on the side. I couldn't handle spice, so every time they wanted heat, I'd spend the whole meal picking around the mild options and drowning everything in water. I always thought that's what friendship was. We'd meet each other halfway and make small sacrifices. But in the end, in a group of friends, I was still the one left out, the one who never quite fit. The messages kept rolling in. Noelle wrote, "Oh, and Sebastian, make sure you hide your posts from Cece this time. Last time she almost found out." I froze. A week ago, Sebastian had posted a photo on Instagram. The background was that barbecue joint on the west side, and front and center were three glasses clinking together. One of the hands in the shot was wearing a bracelet that looked a lot like the one I'd given Wade for his birthday. The four of us had been playing cards together at the time. I asked casually, "Is that you and Wade in the post? Who's the third person?" All three of them went still at the same time. Noelle's eyes darted to Sebastian before she could stop herself, surprise written all over her face. Sebastian didn't look at me. He just tossed a card my way, one I happened to need, and said flatly, "No, just a coworker. You don't know them. Focus on the game." I'd just won that round, so I let it go and didn't think about it again. Looking back now, the signs had been so obvious. I just trusted them too much to believe they'd ever lie to me. My phone buzzed. It was a text from the venue coordinator. "Ms. Ward, once the engagement venue is canceled, the reservation cannot be reinstated. Are you sure you'd like to proceed?" I didn't hesitate. "Yes. Cancel it." If they thought having me around made things feel crowded, then I'd just remove myself from their lives. I took the tablet back into the bedroom. The moment I shut the door, a message from my boss, Max Delaney, popped up. "Cecilia, are you sure you don't want that regional lead position in the Belcourt office?" I paused. But two more messages came through right after. "I know it means relocating overseas for two years, but the compensation package is excellent." "You seemed pretty interested when I first brought it up. Think it over." Chapter 2 I stared at those two messages for a long time. The first time Mr. Delaney had offered me that position, I turned it down without hesitation. Sebastian said the four of us should stay in the same city so we could always be there for each other. He said friends who clicked on every level didn't come around often. So I turned down the transfer from headquarters twice and stayed. Now I realized I was the only one who'd stayed for the sake of a future together. The three of them already had a future that didn't include me. I snapped out of it and texted my boss back. "I'll take it." Mr. Delaney replied instantly. "Good. Once your engagement is done, come in anytime to start the paperwork." I stared at the word "engagement" and let out a bitter laugh. There wasn't going to be an engagement. After I finished replying, I picked the tablet back up. The messages were still refreshing. I tapped into the chat history and scrolled all the way back, past over 2,000 messages. The earliest one was from four years ago, when Sebastian and I had been officially together for less than a month. Wade had sent the first message in the group. "Seriously, what do you even see in Cece?" Noelle followed up with a laughing emoji. "Right? She's so boring. All she does is work and study. Isn't it dull dating her?" Sebastian's reply didn't come until a while later. Based on the timestamp, we'd been on a date at the movies. His response was short. "It's fine. She's a good fit." The chat went quiet for a minute before Wade sent back a question mark. "A good fit? What does that mean?" This time Sebastian replied fast. "She's low-maintenance, doesn't cause drama, and has a stable job. My parents like her too." Noelle jumped in right away. "Hahaha. So basically she's easy to keep around?" Wade lost it. "That doesn't sound like dating at all." Sebastian sent a shrug emoji. "Might as well marry someone. Finding the right fit matters more than anything." I stared at those two lines for a long time without saying a word. It hit me that Sebastian really had rarely ever said he liked me. He almost never said he loved me. He'd barely ever posted a single photo of us together on social media. Back then, I told myself he was just the slow-to-warm-up type and that some people just weren't good at showing affection. Now I knew it wasn't that he couldn't say it. I just wasn't worth saying it to. Further down, Noelle had posted a photo of the three of them at an amusement park. She was hanging off Sebastian's arm, and Wade was throwing up a peace sign next to them. Noelle had written underneath it, "No Cecilia Ward today!" The other two replied one after the other. "Bliss." "When's the next one?" I glanced at the date. That day, I'd texted Sebastian asking why he didn't want to go out that weekend. He told me he was swamped with work and had to go into the office. I kept scrolling in silence through more threads, more photos, more hangouts I never knew about. They'd gone camping by the river, road-tripped to concerts out of town, rang in the New Year together, and celebrated birthdays together. And every single time, the thread ended the same way. "No Cecilia Ward today!" For five years, I hadn't been excluded from just one outing. I'd been excluded from all of them. I set the tablet down and let out a long breath, then booked a flight to Belcourt for the next morning. The moment I finished paying, a private message from Noelle popped up on my phone. "I'm so sorry, babe! Something came up tonight and I can't come with you to try on engagement dresses!" I'd just typed back "Okay" when Sebastian pushed open the bedroom door. "What are you looking at on the tablet?" "Nothing." He hummed. "Something came up at work tonight. Let's push the dress fitting to tomorrow." I blinked and glanced down at the tablet. Sure enough, in the three-person group, Noelle had just written, "I'm out! It's all on Sebastian now! Barbecue night, let's go!" Chapter 3 Wade followed up underneath. "Relax. I know Cece. She trusts Sebastian more than anyone. Turning her down is a one-liner for him." I didn't say anything. But piecing together the truth buried in those chat logs, I realized he was right. Turning me down really was a one-liner for Sebastian. I'd wanted to see the latest movie with him. He said, "It doesn't look that good." Then he turned around and went to see it twice in one night with the other two. I'd wanted him to take me to the coast for our anniversary. He said, "It's the wrong season for the beach." Then he booked three tickets to Clearview Shore the next second. On the anniversary of my mom's passing, I called him in tears. He tossed out an "I'm busy" and hung up without hesitation. Every single time I wanted him to do something with me, all it took was one sentence to shut me down, and then he'd go off to live his "good life" with the other two. By now, turning me down was practically second nature to him. Sure enough, when I didn't respond, Sebastian added casually, "The engagement party isn't for a while anyway. You can try on dresses whenever." Something deep inside me finally gave way. I smiled at him. "Don't worry about it, Sebastian. I canceled the engagement party." The room went quiet for two seconds. Sebastian glanced at me. "Don't be ridiculous." I stopped him before he could leave. "I've already given up the venue, and I've let my dad know. You should tell yours too." Sebastian paused mid-step at the door. He looked down at his phone, probably seeing the cancellation notice from the venue. When he turned around, he was finally frowning. "Just because I won't go try on dresses with you? Cece, what are you throwing a tantrum about now?" "I'm not throwing a tantrum," I said. "Then what is this? You just cancel the engagement party on a whim? You think this is a game?" "Every time you canceled something on me, wasn't that just a one-liner for you too?" Sebastian faltered for a second. His phone buzzed again, and I glanced at the tablet. Noelle had sent new messages in the three-person group. "What's taking Sebastian so long this time?" "Don't tell me our barbecue trio night is getting canceled." "No way. I was going to suggest we hit a bar after. I could never suggest that before because Cece always had Sebastian on a leash." While I was staring at the messages, Sebastian sighed. "Cece, I'll say it one more time. An engagement isn't something you just cancel on the spot. Don't put me in a difficult position." "Then I'll say it one more time too, Sebastian. I'm not being ridiculous. I'm not doing the engagement party, and I'm not getting married." Sebastian's temper finally flared. "What the hell is wrong with you? With a personality as dull as yours, who else is going to want you besides me? Cece, don't overestimate how much you matter." I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Sebastian spent a minute doing something on his phone before sparing me another glance. "I've rebooked the venue. It's next week. Tomorrow I'll go with Wade and Noelle to help you try on dresses. "And don't let me hear that nonsense about not getting married again. I don't have the patience for your theatrics." Theatrics. I watched him walk away and nodded quietly. Fine, whatever. By this time tomorrow, I'd already be gone. What they did after that had nothing to do with me anymore. I sat on the edge of the bed for a long time. In the middle of the night, the tablet lit up with a new post. It was Noelle's, on her social media feed, and my phone showed absolutely nothing. The photos were of the three of them grinning over barbecue and a candid shot of Wade hammered at a bar. The caption read, "Best trio night ever!" Two hours later, the four-person group chat finally got a new message after its long silence. Noelle tagged me. "Babe, what time are we meeting at the dress shop tomorrow?" Sebastian posted the address and time underneath. The whole thing looked like two people who'd just happened to be busy with their own separate things, casually checking in. Chapter 4 I didn't reply. Instead, I tapped "Leave Group". Sebastian didn't come through the door until the next afternoon. Noelle and Wade trailed in behind him, all three of them in fresh clothes, not a trace of barbecue smoke or alcohol on any of them. They all froze for a second when they saw me walk out of the bedroom. Noelle spoke first. "I asked in the group chat last night what time you were heading over, but you never answered. I figured you'd already gone ahead to the dress shop." None of them had noticed I'd left the group. Wade sprawled across the couch. "I was up half the night looking at invitation designs for you two. That dri… that invitation selection is brutal. You guys better give me my own table at the wedding for all this effort." Noelle laughed and hooked her arm through mine. "Then I'm calling dibs on the bouquet! You'd better aim right at me when you throw it!" Sebastian smiled as he poured them water. "If you really want it that badly, just have Cece hand it to you." "No way, I want Cece to throw it to me herself!" The three of them went back and forth, the picture of warmth and ease, as if the four of us really were as close as we'd ever been. Only I knew that all of it was fake. The only life they actually wanted was the one without me in it. I went back to the bedroom and gathered my passport, my ID, and my visa paperwork. When I wheeled my suitcase out, the living room was already empty. A text from Sebastian popped up on my phone. "Noelle was dying to see the new dresses, so we went ahead. Just grab a cab and meet us there." They weren't dying to see dresses. They just thought the car ride was more comfortable without me. I looked around the empty bedroom and smiled, the kind that came with letting go. "Okay." After the cab dropped me at the airport, two more messages from Sebastian came through. The first was a photo of Noelle wearing my dress, beaming at the camera. "You were taking too long, so I let Noelle try it on for you. Wade and Noelle both think the second one looks better, so we're going with that." I didn't reply. I deleted Sebastian from my contacts. Since he needed everything to be the "right fit" so badly, then a life without me was the most fitting thing I could give him. I put my phone away and walked toward the international departures check-in. … On the way home, Sebastian's phone kept buzzing with messages from the "No Cecilia Ward Today" group. Noelle sounded surprised. "Seriously? Cece was actually throwing a fit at you last night?" Wade replied, "Doesn't she usually do whatever you say? How bad was it that she's talking about calling off the engagement? Was it pre-wedding jitters?" Sebastian sent a voice message while he drove. "Who knows with her. She's been making a fuss over nothing lately." Noelle laughed. "Good thing you can vent about it in here. If Cece ever found out what you say about her behind her back, she'd really call off the wedding." Wade cracked up. "You think she wouldn't be mad about what we've been saying too? Can't help it though, we're just telling the truth. And she's so sensitive about everything anyway. "Alright, alright, you're almost home, aren't you? Let's drop it before Cece sees." The group went quiet. Sebastian turned off his phone screen and unlocked the front door. He kicked off his shoes and called out, "Why didn't you answer my texts? What did you think of the dress?" No one answered. Sebastian looked up, and something about the apartment felt hollow. "Cece?" He walked further inside, frowning. "Why aren't you answering me? What's the attitude about this time? Is it because we didn't take you along today? You were the one being slow." He shoved the bedroom door open, and it was empty. The only thing left was his tablet, sitting on the bed. The screen was unlocked, still open to the three-person group chat called "No Cecilia Ward Today", messages scrolling quietly down the screen.