I poured my heart out on Snapchat to our downstairs neighbor, got left on read, and died inside every time he walked past my door—until I found out my mom intercepted and deleted his instant reply off our shared iPad. How do I even salvage this without dying of pure cringe?

Deep breath: you didn’t get ghosted, you just got hit by parental cyber-espionage. First rule of damage control: log out of that shared iPad right now and change every single password. Your mom playing editor on your love life is completely out of line. But here’s the massive silver lining: he didn’t leave you hanging. He answered immediately. Right now, he’s probably downstairs wondering why *you* went ice-cold after confessing your feelings. You need to clear the air before both of you develop neck strain dodging each other by the mailboxes. Next time you see him—or via a strictly private text from your own phone—cut straight through the mortification with dry humor: "Total tech disaster: my mom accidentally intercepted and wiped your reply off our family tablet before I woke up. Any chance I can get a rerun?" It explains the radio silence, deflects the blame to sheer family chaos, and gives him an easy opening. Now go lock down your digital life.