Can you drag clips to the left? You need to be in segment mode to drag clips. If you’re not, it’s the red and yellow arrows.
When you delete a clip it closes the gap–how are you deleting the clip? If you select it with the yellow arrow and hit delete, it will close the gap. If you select it with the red arrow and hit delete, it leaves the gap.
If you mark the clip with In and Outs and use the Extract key (scissors) it will close the gap. If you mark the clip and use Lift (looks like a man lifting weights over his head) it will leave the gap.
Otherwise, make new user settings. Your might be corrupt.
Michael.