[bobthecockroach]

Originally Posted by OctaviusIII

And not talking is not something I'd recommend. It usually makes the other person feel left out in the cold.

Agreed again.

I think it's totally possible to maintain a friendship but stop feelings from developing more. It justs takes a conscious decision to not let the feelings affect how you act and to not dwell on them.

[AllSaintsCry]

I apologize for my random jumping in here, but I couldn't help but marvel at your use of Kyle Mohr's lyrics in your signature [to the thread-starter]. I hardly ever come across others who have heard of Gray Lines; it delights me.

Anyways, I know that through God you can get strength for this situation. Just a matter of bringing it to Him, which I'm sure you've done. Wish you the best in this trial right now.

[Caldur]

Okay, I have first hand experience with the same situation. Sadly, I don't think you're going to like what I have to say. For the record, I'm 18.

I dated a girl for awhile. She broke up with me. I still really, really liked her. She said she liked us better as friends, etc. So we stayed friends from then on. Best friends, actually. We did a lot together, we talked every day, quite frequently. When I would see her, though, my feelings for her were still really strong. I couldn't get her off my mind, frankly. I moved to college, and eventually it seemed, I got over her. We still talked, it just wasn't as frequently. Then, it seemed like out of nowhere, I started to get really annoyed with her. I didn't even like talking with her. That's when I realized that I still had really strong feelings for her, I had just repressed them so much that.. it went too far the other way.

That's when I realized just repressing my feelings for her didn't seem like such a good idea. Well, anyways, my relationship with her right now is... complex. I won't even get into that, because frankly, this isn't my thread. But, I guess I'll just let you know that I wasn't able to just "will away" my feelings for the girl. We were/are best friends, but I still liked her more than friends.

I don't want to tell you that you can't be really good friends with her. That would be a shame in most cases. In my case, it would've been unthinkable. Neither one of us wanted to lose touch with eachother. I'm sure you're probably the same way.

Hope you have better luck. Not sure if you gathered anything from this post, I don't really have any better ideas though. Sorry. God bless.