Day 14: The Story of Us Part 2

STORY CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

All summer long, Alvi and I remained close friends but we couldn't hide the fact that it was slightly awkward now. He and our entire friend group were aware of my feelings. I started to question my choice of  telling him. In fact, telling him did exactly what we were scared would happen: it started to tear us apart. Alvi had never been the type to have a girlfriend and I think the thought of it really freaked him out. He started to distance himself because he didn't want to hurt my feelings. I started to distance myself because it was hard to be around him when I thought that he "didn't want to be with me". It was tough, really tough. I thought for sure that I just ruined one of the best friendships I had ever had. 

Finally, in August, while spending the weekend at a friend's cabin up north Alvi and I had a very serious and necessary talk. He admitted to me his fears and why he had been acting so different. I completely understood and told him that no matter what my heart might be feeling at that moment that it will never affect our friendship. I told him that eventually my feelings would fade and we would be back to normal. It definitely helped to get us back to where we were before. Now that we were back at school (in separate cities), we continued on as if nothing had happened. We talked on the phone, visited each other, blah blah blah.

Now fast forward the entire semester to Christmas Break. A group of us spent an entire week at a friend's cabin for New Years Eve. By now, Alvi and I no longer had weird tension between us. In fact, I felt like somehow our friendship was even stronger! One night, we were enjoying some adult beverages and he spilled his heart out. I won't go into big detail but basically the talk was about how he felt the same feelings I had but was too scared to admit it. Not wanting to ruin our friendship, he had been hiding his feelings this entire time. Honestly, I was upset by this. I had been embarrassingly wearing my heart on my sleeve for over 6 months, thinking that I was alone in this. I told him that I needed to continue focusing on myself and maybe we really weren't meant to be at all.

Well, long story short, we couldn't avoid what our hearts were telling us. From that moment on we were together 24/7 and a month later, we were official. BEST. DECISION. OF. MY. LIFE. We've been happily in love now for 3 years. I know in my heart that Alvi and I are, and always were, meant to be together. I would be nowhere without him. He has been my rock through so many hardships and I owe him a lifetime of thank-yous because of it. I now know what people mean when they say "you'll know when you're really in love." I thought I "loved" all of my exes.. but now? this relationship? THIS is true, unconditional love. This is what people search their entire life for and I'm lucky enough to have found it early. I will never, ever, ever let him slip away. I'm so happy that I took the chance to admit my feelings to him back in freshman year. Had I never done that? I wouldn't know what it's like to be this happy.

Day 14: The Story Of Us Part 1

Happy Valentine's Day, love bugs! Today is a slightly sad day because this is the conclusion to our 14 Days of Love feature. It's been so much fun sharing all love-related posts with you guys. I just want to thank anyone who participated in this feature, as well as all of you readers :) I hope you enjoyed at least some of the information I threw atchya.

Today's post is supposed to be about my plans for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, Alvi and I are currently in a long-distance relationship. Being that today is a Tuesday, we are unable to make it work for some Valentine's loving. School is much more important! SO, instead I thought I would share with you guys a little bit about us.

WE LOOK LIKE BABIES! (we pretty much were babies)

Alvi and I met while we were both attending separate junior highs in the same city. We had mutual friends and would often see each other on the weekend or at school events, such as football games. It wasn't until high school when both junior highs combined that our friendship really... flourished. We instantly became best friends. He would be the guy I would call when I needed advice and vice versa. We were such good friends that the thought of a relationship never really crossed my mind. I was always with a boyfriend and he was also that "I'm never getting girlfriend or married" friend.

During our senior year of high school and into freshman year of college, I found myself in a relationship that was slowly becoming very toxic. I was constantly getting my heart stomped on and it was Alvi who was there for me through it all. To be honest, I talked to Alvi so much that my girlfriends in college actually thought I was dating him instead of my boyfriend at the time. Once that relationship ended that fall, I told myself that I was going to be boyfriend- free for awhile. After being used, cheated on, and losing all of my trust and confidence, I vowed to focus on myself and no one else.

Alvi and I continued to talk on a weekly-basis and I even went to go visit him at college a few times. That spring break I was sitting poolside in Orlanda, Florida (rough life) reflecting back on my choices, mistakes, and regrets about past relationships. And it hit me: it's always been Alvi. How could I have been so blind? This amazing man right in front of me was exactly what/who I've been looking for. But, since I didn't want to get caught up in another relationship (or ruin my extremely close friendship with Alvi) I pushed it to the back of my mind.

Before I knew it, my feelings (and Alv) were ALL I could think about. So, impulsively, I contacted one of our mutual friends (who has also been Alvi's best friend since childhood). I told him that I thought I was falling for Alvi and his exact response was "Well, duh. We've been waiting for this to happen." WHAT? I was seriously so oblivious to the fact that our entire friend group thought that Alvi and I were eventually going to end up together.

I couldn't ignore this... I HAD to tell Alvi how I felt. I finally mustered up the courage after a couple days and spilled my heart out to him. His response was.... not what I was looking for. Naturally, he was worried about it ruining our friendship. We were such good friends that if "we" didn't work out both of us would be lost without each other. I, although sad and disappointed, agreed with him and dropped it.

But, my feelings never changed.

STORY CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

Day 9: Date Ideas That Channel Your Inner Child

Here is Southern Living's 20 Best Homemade Ice Cream Recipes. 

What kind of dates speak to your inner child?

For some more inspiration check out:

Ways to Create a Romantic Evening

Romantic Winter Date Ideas