Try SugarCube format in the future. It has some user-made code for popup dialog boxes (and other nifty features) that will make open/close dialog box messages easier, and they don’t add to the game history (aka don’t need to “go back” to story). :)
Yeah, I wish I'd known how much better SugarCube was when I started! When I give that game its total overhaul, if I stick with TWINE, I'll definitely be converting it to SugarCube from Harlowe. (Honestly, I'm not sure why Harlowe is the default format in the first place. If it had defaulted to SugarCube, I'd never have wasted my time with Harlowe...)