Lockdown brought me back my best friend

In July 2013 I went on holiday with my mum to Turkey. My mum and I would go out for dinner each night and come back to the hotel bar for drinks. One night we came back to the hotel and started to talking to this family. This is where I met him. We would talk for hours, drink cocktails and sneakily have a cigarette behind our parents’ back. As we got to know one another, I found out that him and his family were from the next village to the town our family live in, in Bristol. After that night, it became a routine that as families, we would go out for dinner and join together in the evening for drinks. He and his family left before us, we did the usual add each other on Facebook and say we would stay in touch after. The following day, I had a Facebook message from him, saying it was lovely meeting and we should stay in touch. We did, and became the bestest friends. We ended up applying to university and both got into the same one. So excited for us to be in the same city together, we still spoke all the time and were planning our first year as students.

We both got dropped off at University and started our freshers week. Our first night out, we drunkenly kissed, but never spoke about it. As first year continued, we would spend our time together and go out all the time. He didn't live far from our university and would go back to his family's house for Sunday lunch and home comforts from time to time. First year was ending and it came to summer ball, I had a lot to drink and told him I had feelings for him, to which he said he felt the same. The next morning, I woke up in a panic and ignored his messages. I went home for summer and continued to carry on ignoring him.

We lost touch after this and went on with our lives. He removed me off everything but I still had his family on Facebook so would see where he was in life.

A few years went by and I had always regretted how I dealt with the situation, running away just because I was scared of how I felt. I messaged him on Facebook and apologised, said I was wrong and he did not deserve that and that I did not expect a response but I just wanted to tell him how truly sorry I was. A few days went by and he replied saying thanks for the apology, but he didn't want to re-kindle any form of communication or friendship. I understood and didn't press further.

A year went on and he messaged me out of the blue, saying that he had been looking through old pictures and that he was sorry for being blunt with me before, he was just surprised to hear from me. We messaged back and forth for a bit but that was it.

In the summer, Lockdown 1.0: I was on Instagram and came across him. I decided to follow him and he requested to follow me back. He messaged me and we spoke on the phone a few times. We were both going through tough times and would try and help one another. In December it was his birthday, so I decided to head to see him. We went out for drinks and dinner and I felt exactly the same as I did when I was 19 at summer ball, but this time 25 and not scared, just safe and happy. When I left, he said, 'Don't be a stranger this time'

We haven't had a day where we haven’t spoken since I saw him. We have openly spoken about things and have not hidden our feelings like we did all those years ago. We spent NYE together and have decided to see what happens. Although I am based in London, and he’s in Bristol, we want to see what happens. I don’t know when we will be able to see one another again due to Lockdown 3.0 or where this is going, but I have never been this happy and can't wait to see what the future holds.