how to respond to a message reaction

So I (20F) have been talking to this guy (21M) since the summer after going on 2 dates. We haven’t met up again since the summer because he goes to college in the midwest. Usually our texting flows easily but recently he left my message with a reaction. Granted, I didn’t send the most compelling text to reply to but that’s never really been a problem before. Should I “double text” and add to the conversation we were having or should I just let it go?