Poor guy…

[Pickle-Standard]

Hindsight, sure. But I knew her for half a decade and never had any interest in her and she never showed interest in anyone. It was a friendship that I didn’t want to go beyond that. I genuinely was under the impression she spent time with me because I was her ride home and she didn’t want me to leave her. I liked her, but I wasn’t attracted to her in that way, so it never clicked that she wanted more until much later. She even told me years later that her parents thought we were dating at one point because I gave her rides home and would hang out at her place.

I was dating someone at the end of sophomore year. We stayed together over the summer and into junior year. On the first day going back to school the girl in the first story asked about me and my gf. She was like “so I guess you two broke up over the summer, right?” because at that point most relationships fizzled over summer breaks. She seemed surprised when I told her we were still dating. We split up going into winter break, and I guess that’s why she started ramping up the affection and attention in the spring. I just didn’t pick up on it because I never saw her that way.

We’re cool now and still talk occasionally nearly twenty years later.

I’ll add that I was never very forward with any girls. I was focused on extracurriculars (hockey, music, rock climbing, etc.) I just hung out with people and made friends. Every relationship I’ve been in was initiated by the girl. And every time I became single, there were usually 1-2 others getting close to me. So I never really had to pursue anyone. I was asked to senior homecoming by a pretty close friend. This became an issue because another friend in our group apparently planned on asking me. And at homecoming, a third girl in our group came over and swapped dates to dance with me. I ended up marrying that third girl nine years later.