[Kid Presentable]

I guess you can only rely on the experiences of others, so here's mine:

Two occasions have passed where I wanted to be more than friends with female friends; I was under some illusion that we would be perfect because we talked well, hung out and joked and so on and blah blah. Each time I revealed my feelings, it was a roaring failure. One girl said that the thought to her was 'weird', that she'd fancied me when I was 16-17 (when she was 19 - 20) but thought an age gap at that age would be hard to overcome. And so her feelings subsided just perfectly to coincide with my humiliation. Awesomes.

The other time, we were friends, I knew she was into one of my buddies, I fucking acted like a knob-end trying to be 'right' for this girl and she said she couldn't do it. Maybe at one time, but not now or some shit. Fucked.

So I was pretty forlorn both times. Self-doubt, self-loathing and so on. I have to say being a married dude now has given me two perspectives on this shit, though. One, I would never have met wifey had anything been different, so I'm glad those two never happened. Two, even if you got together with one of these chicks, the odds are stacked in favour of it ending like most relationships (I mean, are you wanting to marry this girl?), either badly and with much hostility, or just fizzling out and being back at square one.

So I guess you have to think about what happens after the credits roll on your romance story. Even if you get together, it's note to being just another relationship. In that sense, if she rejects you, think about it as no big loss because it really isn't. I'd avoid telling her your feelings, but as I've pointed out, you don't learn what it's like to be emasculated unless you open your mouth on these things.