My heart is courageous and loving.

Saying I missed you first costs something. So does being the one who asks whether things are all right, or admitting out loud that a friendship matters more to you than it apparently does to them.

Courage in this department never looks like courage. There's no crowd and no clear decision point — only a small, repeated willingness to be the more exposed person in the room. People who manage it aren't less afraid of rejection than you are. They've worked out that the alternative, a life of carefully matched and guarded affection, costs more.