This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UCF chapter.

Relationships are hard. And for some of us unfortunate human beings, a relationship that we wanted to last forever instead ends in a goodbye. Sometimes it’s on an amicable note. Sometimes it’s in tears and angry shouts. And other times it’s so awkward and/or horrible that you’d rather pretend the relationship never happened in the first place.

But in most scenarios, not seeing or speaking to your ex after the breakup is not only completely normal but expected. Your relationship ended. You’re not obligated to keep in contact.

Until one day your ex contacts you.

At first you feel completely and utterly confused.

So you double check to see if it really is your ex.

Then you have a mini freak out when it really is your ex.

It occurs to you how long it’s been since your break up and you ask yourself why he thought this was a good idea.

Then you get confident as he must have missed you.

And get even more confident as you don’t miss him.

But you become curious and click on his profile.

You see he’s in a new relationship and you wonder if this is why he decided to “friend” you thereby making you a little pissed.

You click on his new girlfriend’s profile and have mixed feelings about her before choosing to leave her out of this.

You then text your friends to tell them the news with a snapshot of the request.

They all freak out too.

Then you remember that you haven’t decided what to do about the actual request yet.

You could be a saint and let bygones be bygones.

Or delete the request and celebrate with your posse.

But you’re too happy to let the past into your present in any way, shape, or form.

So you leave the request unanswered as you don’t care enough to take action at all.

And you STILL celebrate with your posse.

Photo credit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19

A Friend Request From An Ex, As Explained By Gifs