A Truly Sad Story

They were best friend since seventh grade, always texting, always together, and always making each other laugh, even when they weren't always happy. It was the best kind of friendship, the kind where it had just the right amount of joking around that was balanced with all the deep late night conversations that lasted until one or both of them fell asleep talking. The cute and innocent kind where when one fell asleep on Facetime, the other didn't hang up.

It was the best kind of friendship that seemed it would last forever, even throughout the awkwardness of that one week in eighth grade where they tried dating but inevitably broke up because it was just too weird. Also because (they did not know it at the time) they were too immature for a "relationship." Even after "that week" (it's what they always called it with a laugh that masked their embarrassment), the two went back to being best friends.

Even when he went to high school, and she was left alone in middle school, it seemed like a long distant relationship sprung to life, texting in class coupled with those late-night phone calls drew them even closer together. All their mutual friends made fun of them whenever they were around each other, but it did not matter, all that mattered was them.

Then she joined him in high school the next year and things were fun, and new, and totally overwhelming all at the same time. But still he helped her with school work, and she helped keep him company through his. And things were good. Friends always asked when they were going to get together, but they always laughed and brushed off the question as if they both already knew the answer. And with the help of all that texting, Facetiming, and hanging out, they were as close as they thought they could be. And things were perfect.

She moved her sophomore year and his junior year. She traveled halfway across the country, and this was when friends thought it was the end for them, but they were wrong. In fact, this hardship seemed like a blessing in disguise, making them closer than ever before. They talked more often and understood each other to such a deep level that just by the way that one was texting, the other could tell if something was up. This friendship connection did take work, though. They both tried hard from each end to keep up their once in a lifetime connection. And that connection was so deep, that although they both did not consciously know it, their flirting was at an all-time high. Both obviously would 100% deny this, though. And even if they did not know it, they were already deeply in love with each other.

Summer of her junior year and his senior year she visited once or twice. and it was those special weeks that both of them most looked forward to. They talked about everything under the stars and beyond, even crushes. Even though it killed the other to hear about it, they were both too proud, or as they would put it (just being a good friend) to do anything to jeopardize that friendship that they both had worked so hard for. But she went on dates, and he ended up falling in love with someone else and talked about his new girlfriend his best friend all the time. And through all of this the best friend assured herself that the only reason she was jealous was that she was worried he would abandon her, but then she realized... she was in love with him. And it only took a small spurt of jealousy to recognize her feelings for him were nothing but true and much stronger than anything she felt for her meaningless dates. But, as life is harsh, so is love. He started falling in love with another, and there was nothing in the world that she could do or say to change that. Soon he started blowing her off, not texting as much, not being able to Facetime because he's "busy" but she's trying to be OK because his happiness is too important to her to be able to say anything or even reach out because she does not want to seem clingy. This tore her apart, ripping up her insides especially during the rare times that he rejected her attempt to recreate the connection that they once had. There was no closure whatsoever, for the long-distance prevented that, and she doubts she will ever be truly over him. But life goes on, even those that have an unhappy ending.