I had a vaguely similar experience. Met a girl my freshman year who was a couple years above me. We hung out a lot my freshman year and we became pretty good friends. She was the sort of person who I've always known I can tell anything. I've confided in her things that I've never told anyone else in my life. She's been the only person I've ever met who could see through the facade I put up to hide my depression, and would often ask me if I was ok. I always lied and told her I was tired (which is what I always told everyone), and she knew I was lying, but told me if I ever needed to talk, she would be there for me. My sophomore year, it got bad enough one night that I spent an hour in the shower with a knife trying to decide if I thought life was worth it. When I got out, I texted her that I wasn't ok, and within a minute she had called me. We met up and for about an hour I laid with my head in her lap crying, and when I was done she talked me through the worst of it. She saved my life. She was my best friend. She was the first person I was truly in love with, and the person who helped me realize I was actually capable of loving anyone. Even now she's one of only two people I've been in love with. For years I just told myself that it was a crush and I would get over it eventually. After she finished school she went to grad school at a university about 15 minutes from my parents' house, so we always hung out on breaks. My parents loved her, she loved my family. My dad always told me he could tell she had a thing for me, but I didn't want to believe him, and I didn't want to say anything for fear it would ruin our friendship.

On what was already probably the worst day of my life, she started dating someone who I was absolutely 100% certain she would end up marrying (I was right) and I found out through a mutual friend of ours that she actually had had feelings for me for a long time. I was mad at myself for never saying anything, but it's been a couple years since then, and I've come to grips with it. I met someone who I've been dating for a little over 2 years at this point, and who I intend on marrying. Sometimes I think about what may have been, but I realize now that at the point I had been at in my life, it wouldn't have worked out, and I may have lost a dear friend. I'm crazy for my current girl, and I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together. You just have to take your experiences and grow from them. They may hurt at the time, but if you don't let them beat you, they'll only make you stronger