Stupid Love (Stumbling into Love 1)

“Hey, how ya been?”

We talked for a bit before he asked, “You free tonight?” I knew Will would never ask me not to hook up with someone. That wasn’t how we worked, but I also knew he was feeling weird about the whole Lisa thing. I didn’t know if he really did have feelings for her and didn’t realize it or what, but it was obvious he needed some friend time. Maybe Lisa thought I was a dick, and maybe I could be, but I also knew how to be a friend, and it was important to me to be a good one.

“Sorry. I’m gonna have to pass this time. I’m with Will tonight.”

José shook his head. “All right. Just thought I’d ask.” He winked and walked away.

“Thanks,” Will replied softly.

“No problem.”

CHAPTER THREE

Dear Anonymous,

I can’t believe I’m doing this. Honestly, I don’t even know how I feel about you. How can someone give love advice if they don’t believe in it for themselves? It’s just weird. And how can that be a thing? Not believing in love for yourself. I don’t understand. But I’m desperate, and this is anonymous, so I figure it can’t hurt.

Here goes: I’m in love with my best friend. He’s everything to me. We’ve been friends for years. He supported me when people gave him shit for it. He’s never wavered in that. We have fun and laugh and I know everything about him. He knows everything about me too, other than the fact that I’m in love with him.

I’ve been biding my time, ya know? He’s not the type who’s looking for something serious, and I am (though he doesn’t not believe in love. I mean, what is that?! I still don’t get it!). He’s the type who thinks we’re young and might as well have fun while we can. But then, he ditched me for a guy the other night. He said it’s not serious, but he bailed on me to get laid, and that’s never happened before. It’s freaking me out some, obviously, since I’m writing you.

What do I do? How do I get his attention? How do I make him see me as something other than his friend or at least, figure out if he does? Before I do something stupid like spill my guts to him and change our friendship forever.

Sincerely,

In Love with My Best Friend.

Dear In Love with My Best Friend,

You do realize you insulted me more than once and asked for my advice in the same email, right? I sure hope you don’t treat your bestie that way .

But I’m a nice guy, so I’ll give you advice anyway.

Why are you looking for something serious? That should be your first clue to step back, if you ask me, which you did, remember? So you can’t get mad at my answer. In my experience, people looking for love are doing it wrong. You’re setting yourself up to get hurt and to accept behavior you shouldn’t, simply because you want someone to look at you with hearts in their eyes. Personally, I think if love happens for people, it’s spontaneous. One moment it’s not there, and then suddenly it just is, and you set off down the road of all the work and heartache that comes with a relationship.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I want to say I do understand your situation. I think a lot of people fall in love with their friends, and there’s the extra worry about what it’ll do to the friendship when it ends. I feel for you. But if you’re so close with this guy, it should be something you can get past if he doesn’t feel the same. It might be awkward for a while, but a real friendship will be able to withstand it.

So, I say tell him how you feel. I’m a big proponent of the truth. But if you’re not willing to do that, then we get into games like being flirty with him or doing things you know will catch his attention. You’re his BFF, you know what he likes. Use that to your advantage! Play the game. Make him jealous (again, I’m on Team Truth, but this is if you’re not). Just make sure you play the game with someone who knows you’re doing it. The last thing you want to do is risk hurting someone else on your quest to score your man.

I hope this helps. See how nice I am? I might not believe in love for myself, but I’m a super guy .

Anonymous

Anonymous,

I didn’t insult you! I said I don’t understand you, that’s all. And it sounds like you were trying to say I’m not a nice person. I’m a “super” guy too, thank you very much. Oh my God! Now you have me worried I’m a dick! Never mind. I’m not. You don’t know me.