Wow, so that's a thing...
June 12, 2009 1:46 AM
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I'm in love with my best friend's boyfriend. ...Yeah, that's a thing. What to do now?
So, I'm in love with my best friend's boyfriend. And I'm not one to say that lightly. I've known him for a year and a half, and I've developed definite feelings for him over the past six months or so, since we've started actually talking more and having real conversations. I can't stop watching him; all the time, I want to move closer, to talk more deeply, to call him more often.
But my conscience says I can't, obviously. Because he's dating my best friend. Well, I guess my best friend. She's that friend who has been with me through a lot of hard stuff but who I have very little in common with. But we both indebted to each other. Which is valuable in this world. And I don't want to hurt her or to break her. She deserves a better friend than me right now. But I know, in a long run, a friendship where we can both get through our worst together is something special. It's just that I feel like we should both be genuinely there for each other during our best moments, too, and I am just failing utterly at that.
And I don't think he'd even be interested in me anyway. Or rather, I think he is interested, but he (like any decent human) would never stab his girlfriend in the back like that because he is (rightfully) more interested in and invested in her at the moment.
But, jeez, it's starting to make me ache a lot on the inside. To the point that it's hard for me to be around them, or to listen to each person talk about the other one. I keep wanting to just...I don't know. Say something. I get the urge to tell him, not because it would do anything but just so I don't feel like I'm lying all the time. But then I'm afraid I'll lose him. Or both of them. I'm afraid I'll lose them. Or hurt her.
Uhgh. Young, 20s, female. You'd think I could just find any other guy, "other fish in the sea," and move on, but it hasn't been working thus far. This has been developing over the past six months or so, slow and steady, until it is just this bothersome ache. And I know that it's very much my fault because I let him in. I made the decision to keep talking to him and getting to know him, even though I've known there has been potential there for this to develop. My best friend even told me months ago that she thinks he has a crush on me...
In summary:
Sorry for the long explanation, but I thought that with more info, you could offer some advice. What do I do with these feelings inside that just won't go away? Ignore them, find a way to distract myself, tell him but don't make a move, tell him and make a move, tell her? ADVICE, PLEASE!
posted by Alligator to human relations (42 comments total)
4 users marked this as a favorite
Move off, quit talking to him, do other things instead of being drawn into their activities. This is definitely a measure of your character, and if you can't leave your best friend's SO to her, you'll deserve the kind of SO you thusly get.
3 billion+ fish in the human ocean, and you can't find one, much less 10 or 15 for yourself? Please. You're not really trying...
posted by paulsc at 1:56 AM on June 12 [15 favorites]