Losing a friend to love
The story
I'm not the one who's hurting here—at least, not the one that's hurting the most in this situation.
A good friend of mine has recently told me that they can't keep being around me because they've fallen in love with me. I've had a few instances of suspecting this during the past few years but I always brushed it off as me misconstruing things. No other friendship has compared to what me and this girl have. She's my best friend.
I grew up with very little close friends. Most of the time, I was the floater friend and so when it came to the rare occurrence of me developing really close friendships, I'd hold on to them like they were my lifelines.
Then I met this girl. It was 2022, I believe. We've been through a lot together, confided in each other during the darkest points of 2022-2025. And this year, I felt like our friendship was really developing as we'd see each other more often to hang out. We were initially online friends and circumstance has led us to living in neighboring cities.
She's one of the greatest people I know, genuinely. When I say that there's goodness in this world, she has proven that to me.
Earlier, she texted me earlier saying that our friendship has been weighing on her because she's known for a long time that she's developed feelings.
I told her that I understood if she's taking a break from talking to me or if she's completely cutting me off because clearly, if I keep being friends with her, she'd be operating at an expense. Being friends with her will only hurt her even more. I cannot be more than a friend even if I tried. And I'm feeling like I'm losing someone who's been an integral part of my support system. I don't want to lose her but I know it's selfish of me to want to keep being friends because her needs are clearly not being met in this situation.
She's said that nobody has ever understood her the way I do and that she's struggling to see anyone else who'd reach my level of understanding of her. And objectively, I know someone else is out there that can be just as good a friend as I was to her. But she likes me. And there's nothing I can do about this.
I know that this is something she has to deal with internally, that maybe time will bring us back together. I cannot stop her and I only want her to have peace of mind even if it's at the cost of cutting me off.
But she's my best friend. I'm in a dark spot right now and my support system is literally just 3 people including her and she's the person I'm closest to. Lmao not the best, I know.
I know what will happen when she does reply to my text. I just hope it won't be goodbye.