Telling a friend “I miss you” after months of drifting can feel like groveling. Often it feels like relief to both of you.

Drifting rarely happens because of a decision. It happens because two people got busy, and then the gap itself became the reason not to reach out, since going first looks like admitting you minded more than they did. In practice the other person is usually sitting in the same silence, assuming the same thing. Nobody is keeping score the way you imagine.

Send the message without explaining the gap or apologising for it. One line about missing them and one specific suggestion is plenty. If they take weeks to reply, let them, because the point was ending your own waiting.