Perhaps you and your readers can help me. I'm in love with one of my
best friends and I don't know what to do since we have an emotional
roller coaster of a past.
The background: Rachel and I met through mutual friends about a year
ago. Very quickly we grew close and became an important part of each
other's lives. I'm 26 and have a very respectable job in my field, while
she's a few years younger and finishing up school after a few years
off. Since our friendship began, there was always kind of a
back-and-forth between us being interested in one another. It got to the
point where we were practically dating, although she was kind of
oblivious to the meaning of our actions -- spending a lot of time alone
together, confiding in each other, texting for hours on end (we never
did sleep together). Finally I gave her an ultimatum: we have to act on
these feelings or we need to take a break as friends because I wanted
more. She said she wasn't ready to be with me (though she wanted to be
and cared about me) because she had to figure out some stuff about
herself and she was scared of a relationship going badly and
subsequently ruining a close friendship. We were both crushed by this,
but it had to happen. So I cut her out of my life completely for a
while.
Shortly after this, I found out that she started going on dates and
sleeping with a mutual friend, John. My sadness about the state of our
friendship turned into anger and hurt. She could act on her feelings
for John but not me? Especially when EVERYONE that knew both of us told
Rachel she was stupid for getting involved with John because I'm a
better catch than he is in every possible way. I was so angry I never
intended to speak to her again. (The thing between Rachel and John ended
quickly to no one's surprise).
About a month later, I finally lost the energy to be angry and
because we have mutual friends, I asked Rachel to talk. My original
intentions were to reconcile so we could at least stand in the same room
without it being awkward. The talk ended up going better than expected.
She acknowledged that she hurt me and that she should have acted on any
feelings for me instead of putting me in that weird gray zone. I told
her we could be friends again, but that she would have to earn my trust
back, and that if she ever hurt me like that again I would be out of her
life forever. She was blown away by how forgiving I was and promised to
never take my friendship for granted again.
Presently we're back to being close friends. The only difference is
that I don't confide in her because of the lack of trust. However, the
feelings I had for her are slowly coming back. I think about her a lot,
we talk a lot, and we see each other often. She's not involved with
anyone right now, but I can't stand the thought of her getting involved
with someone else at some point. I told myself (and her when we
reconciled) I would never pursue her again, and I feel like talking to
her about this would ruin the friendship we just got back. I tried using
dating to get over these feelings, but it's either a one night stand or
doesn't go anywhere. I don't know how to view our friendship without
any romantic thoughts.
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