So, you’ve made The Call, but what happens next when you realize that you’re falling for your best guy friend?
Have you ever had that one guy friend, you know the one you can talk to about just about anything? Well, I do and his name is Will. I met Will at the beginning of the semester, and we’ve developed a close friendship over the past few months. I thought that through all of this we were building a solid friendship that would last well beyond our college years, but somewhere between all our laughs, long talks, stupid little fights and silly jokes I fell for my best friend. Now, it’s not like I’ve never had a crush on a guy before, but with Will it’s different. So, what’s a girl to do?!
Now, for some collegiettes™ the idea of talking to him might seem rather daunting. What can you do when you see the guy that you like and all you can do is smile because you completely forgot what you were about to say? Well, I came up with a simple alternative: write him a letter. Personally, I’d like to think that I am a confident person, but I have realized that in this situation I’m more comfortable writing my feelings out than trying to verbalize them.
My best friend, Allisa ’13, offered me some pretty solid advice in the matter.
“I get that it’s scary to reveal a part of yourself to someone else because you don’t know how they’ll react,” she told me while we were sitting in the library today. “But, at the same time if you never take a chance then you will never be able to experience life.”
But when it came to Will, I felt like I needed a second opinion, so I talked to his best friend, John ’14. I asked him about what he would do if he liked his best girl friend but was afraid to tell her.
“I’ve had less success than failure, but the one time it worked it was awesome for a bit,” John said, completely unaware that I was talking about Will. “My bet: just man up and do it because if you truly care about them and they are really a good friend, it should be fine even after if it doesn’t work.”
So, after much mental deliberation, I sat down and wrote Will a note. Like many a movie-inspired note expressing one’s true feelings, my note had a semi-cliché beginning: “Dear Will, I’ve tried to write this note so many times, but every time I try I just can’t find the words.”
After borrowing a line from one of my favorite songs (“Can’t Find the Words” by Karina), I knew exactly what I wanted to say. So, collegiettes™, here is my secret to writing “The Letter.” I started by telling Will why I consider him one of my best friends and that he is very important to me. Borrowing once more from another one of my favorite songs (Fallin’ For You by Colbie Caillat), I finally said what I didn’t think I had the confidence or courage to verbalize before.
Revealing your emotions can be very scary because sometimes you come to the harsh realization that the person you like so much doesn’t share your feelings. So, take comfort in knowing that even if he doesn’t feel the same way, the fact that you told him how you really felt is awesome. You showed that you are confident and willing to be vulnerable and put yourself and your emotions out there.
So, I have this letter sitting in front of me and I have two options: I can either stash it in a box under my bed all summer long à la Taylor Swift’s song “Tim McGraw” or I can do what John said and man up. I’m not sure what I’ll do, but I do know one thing: before I met Will, I never knew what it was like to look at someone and smile for no reason. Now I do.