I hadn’t seen my best friend in over a month and I started to worry because it was very unlike her to ghost us like that. She was the one who’d call me three times a day just to check how I was doing. Then, all of a sudden, I didn’t hear from her for a week which turned to two and eventually a whole month went by without any communication. I knew she was okay because she posted regularly on her social media accounts. In fact, she was more active than usual and her content had taken a more lovey-dovey turn. It got to a point we thought her account was hacked or we were being catfished because Sammy wasn’t the type to post her relationship status on social media.
After patiently waiting, she finally emerged from her social hibernation and we met for brunch with the rest of the girls. Everyone was dying to know who this new mystery man in Sammy’s life was but it wasn’t going to be that easy to make her talk. We shared some laughs and talked about everything until the opportunity to bring up Sammy’s love life presented itself and I jumped for it.
“Sammy, we haven’t seen you in a minute,” I said.
Her face went visibly red as she tried to deflect our attention to the menu.
“I haven’t had waffles in a while.” She mentioned holding the menu firmly.
“It’s not gonna work, girl. Who is he?” I asked persistently.
“Fine. I met him on Facebook. He’s a pilot and I think I have feelings for him.” she admitted.
We all swooned and laughed in unison. Maybe it was that Sammy finally found someone after the longest relationship hiatus in history or that she lit up when she talked about him. However, I was quite suspicious of relationships that happen through social media after my last abusive Tinder date. I couldn’t be completely satisfied knowing that my best friend was falling in love with someone from Facebook and she might get catfished.
“He sounds like a dream,” I said.
“He is.” She agreed to show me his Facebook profile which had a number of pictures thus my suspicions were reduced.
“Whoa, he’s so hot.” One of our friends commented.
Our brunch date came to an end and I drove Sammy to her place as we caught up on life. She seemed very distracted by her phone but I understood how exciting new love can be. The only time she’d look up was to tell me what her Facebook boyfriend was telling her.
Sammy and I go way back to high school days. Even then, she was always carried away by men’s attention. She got so invested in the person that she forgot she had her own life to live. I hadn’t seen it since then but it looked like it was about to make a comeback.
It took me by surprise when she invited me in after ignoring me the entire drive there. However, I missed my best friend and wanted to spend some quality time with her. Her phone was also on low battery which gave us some time to have a normal conversation.
“You haven’t said much about Ken.” She said.
I tried to recall who Ken was then I hit me she was talking about the Facebook guy.
“Well, you haven’t given me anything to work with apart from his Facebook account. Where does he live? What was your first impression of him? Does he seem serious?” I asked.
“Oh, he lives in Kileleshwa but because of his work, he’s hardly in the country. He’s very hardworking, romantic, sexy, funny… He’s just perfect.” She described him.
“No one is perfect, honey. You have to stop with all the fairytales.” I cautioned her since she always dumped her boyfriends because they didn’t meet her Prince Charming standards. “If he’s as good as you say, then give him a fair chance.”
“You don’t understand. He’s really the one.”
Still sceptical, I asked, “So what did you think when you first met him?”
There was a long silence and I knew things were about to get messy.
“We haven’t met yet.” She answered meekly. “His work…”
I zoned out after she told me that they hadn’t met. If it wasn’t already suspicious that he was a handsome pilot looking for love on Facebook, this just confirmed that my friend was being catfished. Since she didn’t know about internet scams, she might have thought that he was legitimate and I didn’t want to be the one to break it to her.
That night, I wore my detective hat and went on the so-called pilot’s profile to take a second look. Everything seemed normal. He even had his place of work listed, a few family friends and other details that disproved my theory. However, I was curious to know which airline he worked for since I hadn’t heard of it. It turned out to be a chartering service company based in New York. Then, I remembered Sammy mentioned that he refused to video chat with her because she wants their first time meeting to be special.
I figured he’d want to video chat with me if I explained to him that I was only looking out for my friend. So, I messaged him and in less than 30 minutes, my message was read and he blocked me. That was the confirmation I needed that my friend was being catfished. I was, however, hesitant to tell her and opted to let her realize it for herself. It will be more apparent once he dodges her a few more times. I’m also the only one in our friend group who knows Sammy’s being catfished. The rest went with the flow and are waiting to meet the pilot when he takes his leave.
Check out more stories on Singlehood Series
The Singlehood Series: Was She An Internet Catfish Or She Was Really In Love With Me?
How I Got Stuck With The Bill After A Date With A Broke Guy
This Great Guy Wants To Be My Boyfriend But I Don’t Have Feelings For Him
I Dumped Him Because He’s A Mama’s Boy
My Date Took Me To A Strip Club
The Singlehood Series: She Placed A Camera In Her Boyfriend’s Bedroom To Find Out If He Was Cheating
