Being lonely and being alone aren’t the same. Even an empty dorm room has Company.

Alone is a fact about the room and lonely is a fact about how it feels, and the two overlap often enough to get treated as one thing. You can be surrounded and lonely, or by yourself and perfectly all right. Being by yourself is not the same as being unaccompanied.

If tonight is heavy, work out which of the two it is before deciding what to do. Loneliness generally needs a person, so message the one who is easiest to message, even briefly. And if nobody is available right now, let the quiet be company rather than proof of anything about you.