Woah. Good form, Twentyeight, good form.
Mm, anything I post now would just detract from Twentyeight’s story. I’ll just sit and be nostalgic for my own experiences.
Yep Mark, that was a real nice story.
???
Just saying that Twentyeight is looking REAL familiar, bdgr.
Oh I can be blatant now, he got banned!
Twentyeight was the LATEST reincarnation of Mark Serlin.
Thanks mods and admins! 
Falcon,
Ok, I’m stumped. I did some checking around, and couldn’t find a Mark Serlin in the archives here, on Amazon.com, or on google (well, there were tons of Mark Serlins on google, of course, but which are you referring to?).
I’ve missed something somewhere. Of whom do you speak?
Do a search for MarkSerlin (no space) and be sure to change the date searched to “any date”–you’ll find more than you wanted.
I had a very good male friend that I spent a lot of time with. We worked together, and hung out together. There was never anything between us–I know he had some crushes on some girls (he’d rarely mention it) and they tended to be on people that were unattainable. I think he liked the fantasy without having to act on it, be brave, risk rejection. And I was dating other people. He was great, I felt totally comfortable around him, loved being with him. Like the brother I never had.
Then I started to realize I was feeling attracted to him. Very different for me–I usually got mad giggly crushes on people I barely knew or had just met–the typical romance/swept off feet thing. It was odd to have it develop in this way, with someone I knew so well. Yet I felt like this would actually LAST, unlike other romances. I knew we got along. I knew what we had in common. I’d seen him without the rose colored glasses. I was sure I’d be happy with him for the rest of my life. BUT–I had no idea whether he felt the same way.
I thought long and hard about it. I knew (because of how he was) that if I admitted it, and he didn’t feel the same, we could never be comfortable together again in the same way. I would ruin this great friendship. I couldn’t risk that. So I never told him.
We continued an excellent friendship, and I had more passionate/swept-off-my-feet affairs with other guys. Eventually I moved away. Eventually married someone else. Am very happy. Life went on. I don’t talk to him much now, and nearly never see him (we’re 750 miles apart) but when we do it’s like nothing has changed. He’ll be a friend for life. If I weren’t happy, maybe I’d wonder about the “what ifs.” But I don’t. I’m so glad I still have him as a friend. That’s MY unrequited crush story.
About three years ago, I endured a very trying breakup with the girl I thought I was going to spend my life with. I’d been with her back in high school (92-93), and we had gotten back together in 98. She left me to get together with a friend of mine, with whom she’s still living. I was basically shattered. At the same time, a close friend of mine, JC, was experiencing a similar breakup with her boyfriend of two-plus years. We found ourselves in the same boat, as it were, and took to spending a lot of time together, commiserating. Before long, we were all but inseparable. Over the next few months, I realized I was growing more and more attracted to her. But I kept quiet about it. I figured that I’d just wait a bit and see what happened. Sure enough, JC began broadcasting signals that indicated she was into me the same way I was into her. I didn’t say anything, I merely acted. I put my arm around her when we were on the couch together, small stuff like that. She took to kissing me on the cheek frequently. A couple of weeks of this passed, and having mustered my courage, I confessed that I had fallen in love with her. To my stunned shock, she claimed to be taken aback. We were just friends, she insisted, but her behavior suggested otherwise, and the mixed and contradictory signals started to drive me nuts. In fact, nothing had really changed; Previously we had discussed topics lovers might but that friends probably wouldn’t. This continued until one night, in the course of talking about something I can’t quite recall, she asked me why I often touched her cheek when I had an arm around her. I explained that it was reflexive. When I’m about to kiss a girl from that position I’ll brush her cheek lightly with my palm in the act of guiding our mouths together. She asked me to show her what I meant, and I did, stopping just short of kissing her. We both realized what was happening, and she left abruptly. I followed her into the parking lot, where we had it out. She admitted that she did have deeper feelings for me but felt it was wrong to pursue them. Just before she left she told me that she would have allowed me to kiss her. I literally kicked myself as I watched her red taillights fade into the night.
The next day she called with “great news.” She was moving to North Carolina in a month to work at another of her company’s stores in the Outer Banks. I was happy for her, but also very frustrated. I knew that if she stayed here, things between us could eventually be worked out. If she left they probably could not be. And so far they haven’t. Since then she’s met a guy, B, who has become her boyfriend. They’re living in yet another state and have been together for more than two years. I’ve long since returned to my role of JC’s best friend. The problem is that I’m still as in love with her now as I was then. I have managed to hide the way I feel, even to the point of becoming true friends with B. Deep down though I really wish I were in his shoes. I wouldn’t call it jealousy, but there’s definitely some very deep seated envy there. And I just can’t escape it. I really feel that JC is my soul mate; no other girl I’ve met since measures up to her, and I’m starting to feel like I should just wait for her to be available. But that’s just horrible.
So that’s my sob story. Soon to be made into a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt as me.
Well let’s see…love story, eh? Hmm…searching…
Well, there was a girl in 9th grade…wait, that didn’t work out…neither did the ones in 10th…or 11th…
Sorry, I guess I don’t have any love stories to tell, other than nothing has worked. I guess I can relate with you, Varloz. Let’s go get a beer or two (Even if I’m not 21).