She had been staring at her phone for twenty minutes, analyzing a single word. He had replied to her long, thoughtful message with a simple "Cool." Not "That sounds great." Not "I'd love to hear more about that." Not even a follow-up question to keep the conversation going. Just "Cool." One word. Five letters. A response that took less than two seconds to type. She had spent ten minutes crafting her message, choosing her words carefully, trying to be engaging, interesting, and warm. And he had responded with "Cool."

She tried to convince herself that it did not mean anything. He was busy. He was tired. He was not a big texter. He preferred to talk in person. She made excuses for him, rationalized his behavior, convinced herself that she was overthinking. But deep down, she knew the truth. The effort someone puts into their texts reveals the effort they are willing to put into the relationship. And his effort was minimal. His effort was "Cool." His effort was emojis instead of words, silence instead of conversation, one-word replies instead of engagement. His effort was telling her everything she needed to know.