text: A continuation of “My Night with my Bestfriend’s Girlfriend” (located on my Reddit Profile Page). After I dropped Ashley off at her house, I spent the next hour or so aimlessly driving down backroads; searching for clarity. I tried to avoid the truth, but with each passing mile; I found myself falling deeper in love with my best-friend’s girlfriend. Then, an early phone call broke my train of thought. It was Tommy, asking how the rest of my night with Ashley went. Tommy was the only one that knew that I had a “thing” for Ashley, but he had no idea just how deep my affection for her really went. He opened with the inevitable question of how far did we “go” and was shocked when I replied with a puzzled “nowhere”. He let the topic go but not before asking how I was going to tell Bobby that I spent the night in my car with his girlfriend. Tell Bobby? Tell Bobby what? I tried my best to normalize what was clearly erratic behavior, but there was no getting around it. I had to come clean, but not fully clean just yet. Later that night I called Ashley and brought up the idea of telling Bobby about our “harmless” sleepover. Normalizing it herself, she minimized the act but ultimately decided that she would tell Bobby. She would tell Bobby, not me? I felt very uneasy at that point. After 10 years of friendship with Bobby, I wanted to be the one to explain the night to him. After a brief back and forth, I decided to let Ashley speak to him first. As I waited for Bobby’s furious phone call, the minutes passed like hours until...the phone rang. It was Ashley. She told me that Bobby didn’t seem too bothered by the night. Didn’t seem too bothered? I was speechless. It took everything for me not to call him myself, but I didn’t want to macro what was apparently a micro issue; so I let it go. Weeks passed and Bobby still hadn’t mentioned anything to me about the incident. We made small talk, but no longer covered anything significant. At that point, our talks seemed more like a chore and less like two old friends catching up. Bobby was still on House Arrest for our crime, so he was also absent from the picture. Either way and intentional or not, I found myself drifting further away from Bobby as I grew closer to Ashley. Ashley and I became inseparable. A day wouldn’t pass without us going to breakfast, dinner, seeing a movie, taking a day trip or just parked in a lot for hours; listening to music and finding ourselves in the lyrics of our youth. Life carried on that way until i was faced with a sobering question from Ashley. She asked if I wanted to go to the Winter Formal with her (since Bobby still couldn’t leave his house). The Winter Formal was a big dance at our high school where everyone got dressed up in fancy clothes and celebrated the coming holiday season. After giving my transparent but obligatory hesitation...I agreed. Fast forward to the night of the Winter Formal. I can still remember the anxious feeling that I felt as I knocked on her front door. Her mom let me in and we made small talk until I saw Ashley walking down the stairs. She was the definition of beauty, draped in a black shoulder-less gown. I walked her to my car and we made our way to the formal. Everything was going as you would imagine until the DJ played a slow song. I couldn’t NOT ask her to dance. So I asked and she eagerly agreed. As I held her against my chest and felt her breath on my neck; it was over. I was head over heels in love. The rest of the night carried on like a blur as time seemed to stand still. Then in a blink, I was walking her to her front door. As we stood under her porch light (her hands holding her heels and her arms warmed in the sleeves of my suit jacket); I found myself just starring at her. It was at that point that I no longer cared about the last 10 years of friendship with Bobby. I was enamored with the dream of a future with Ashley. So I told her...I told her that she was unlike anyone that I had ever met. I told her that her presence made me a better version of myself and that I couldn’t imagine a life without her laugh, her smile, her friendship. I asked her to give me a chance, to give “us” a chance. Then we just stood there, starring at each other, sharing the deafening silence. Then, she broke the silence as she began to cry. I felt lifeless and crippled. Through the tears, she told me that she didn’t want to lose me. I didn’t understand what she meant at the time, but I was sure that it meant that she didn’t love me back...