Apologizing first doesn’t mean you lost. It means the friendship mattered more than the score.

Waiting it out treats the argument as a contest with a result, and the person who speaks first as the one who conceded. That framing is what keeps two people who both want it over sitting in silence for a week. Going first is a decision about priority rather than fault. You can be the one who ends it and still think you were largely right.

If something is sitting between you and somebody, send the first message and keep it short. Say the part you did badly without a sentence about what they did. The argument about who was right can happen later.