Who knew a small lie could do so much damage?

Seven years old
"Look! A cricket!" a cricket sat calmly on my friend's palm as it was shoved into my face.
"Ew! Stop, you know I hate bugs!" I shrieked, jumping from the bench and laughing while running away. That is, until running feet alerted me to the start of a chase. Then I screamed and ran again.
"You two! Again, we do not tolerate this type of behavior. Put down the insect and play nicely." Scolded our teacher. We reluctantly calmed down and sat on the ground, bored expressions immediately taking over our faces.

Present
I chuckled sadly and leaned my head against the wall from my place on the cold apartment floor. Oh, the memories. Where had the time gone? One minute we were little kids having fun and the next we had become tired adults that couldn't work out their problems.

18 years old
"Don't tell me you've been sneaking out to college parties, you only just turned 18!"
"Oh don't be such a goody-two-shoes, it doesn't even affect you!"
"Yeah well, it affects YOU. And it's concerning me." I frowned. There was a new group of friends, that wasn't me, and they seemed like a bad influence. They were the typical bad kids of our high school: skipped classes, smoked in halls and bathrooms, that kind of stuff. I was afraid it would pass onto my friend.
I received a dismissive snort. "Please, I can make my own choices, thank you very much."
I have a feeling this won't end well.

20 years old
"No. This can't be. You're lying!" I flinched as the voice got louder. Were we really fighting over this? All I said was that those bad ‘friends' had gotten into a car accident. The lie that would change our lives forever.
"I'm not lying. Why are you even mad? You should be grateful you're still alive and well."
"You don't understand. They were the only people that understood me! Now I have no one."
I bristled. Did our friendship of nearly fifteen years suddenly not mean anything? I felt our friendship was falling apart worse than a water balloon made of paper. It was quickly dissolving away.

Present
Out of all the lies I've told, this one takes the cake. I thought I was doing something good by separating them, but it only made things worse. When my lie was revealed, my friend was beyond pissed. There was more yelling even more than when I told the lie. I was accused of being controlling and a gaslighter. Maybe it was true, but I'd felt it was for a good reason. I guess I was wrong. The next year, we were no longer friends and we'd lost contact. I moved out of state due to my job and we never spoke again.
Making friends as an adult is hard, but I'll have to face that if I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life.
I never should have lied, that way I'd still have one friend, even if it was a bad relationship. I vowed to never lie again, even if it seemed harmless. I don't want to go through all that again.