I got a random wrong-number text at 1:04 AM:
“is the green one better or the gold one?? pls answer fast”
No name. No context.
I was half asleep but replied anyway:
“Green.”
Two minutes later:
“ok thank you… i think i love him?? this might be a date??”
I told her:
“Then wear the green. Go all in.”
She replied:
“You’re a stranger but I love you.”
A week later, she texted again.
Green was right. It was a date. His name was Eli.
And somehow… we kept talking.
She started calling me “Text Goblin.” I became her anonymous hype person for everything dates, heartbreaks, life.
Months passed like that.
Then one day she stopped replying.
I thought that was it.
Two months later, she texted:
“I found out who you are. Spotify gave you away.”
My stomach dropped.
Then she said:
“I’m getting married. Will you come? As my Text Goblin.”
Last month, I flew to Arizona.
A stranger I’d known for a year walked down the aisle wearing a green ribbon.
She spotted me, smiled, and winked.
After the ceremony she hugged me and said:
“Thank you for picking green.”
And I said:
It was always green.