I've liked my best guy friend for two of the three years I've known him, so I was elated to hear a few weeks ago that he feels the same after all this time. We're in the 10th grade now, but he'd moved a little far during 8th grade, so I haven't actually seen him in person besides Skype for almost three years, but just recently, he's moved close to us, so all of this just sort of seemed like it was falling into place -- I've got the guy that gets me more than any other guy I've ever met and treats me extremely well, and we already know eachother, so things aren't supposed to be awkward, right...? Wrong.
When we were in middle school, I was a tomboy -- I still am, though SOME things have changed a little, like how I make more of an effort to dress nicely instead of my usual T-shirts and jeans (though I still throw those on sometimes) and I was always his "bro" -- I was one of the only GIRLS he could talk about his interests with (video games, sports, yada yada), and I wasn't really fake or superficial, so as time went on, he started to confide in me about alot more stuff, and I, him. We could talk about or make jokes about ANYTHING without many barriers, from innuendo-filled puns to racial jokes. But in more recent years, he'd been complimenting me more, and I guess that all led up to the night he told me he likes me. But since then, he's been slightly awkward about some stuff that he wasn't before. For instance, I'm black, and he's white, and I KNOW he's not racist, but he's been really hesitant about making black jokes. He knows I don't want to have sex before marriage, and he's known that for years, yet now it seems like he's afraid of making any jokes about it at all -- he said "That's what she said" once, and I laughed and thought nothing of it, but the rest of the conversation, his voice carried a little "Holy crap, did I just say something wrong?" nervousness.
He's been set on assuring me that he's fine with my decision, and that he'd never force anything on me.
My point is, he's been working super hard not to mess things up with me, and I think that is just the sweetest thing a guy has ever done for me, but really, I know him -- we've been friends for years, and nothing he's ever said has offended me. We've never had an argument, he knows some things before I even say it, and quite frankly, I'm just as nervous as he is -- he's dated more people than me, and I've only had one boyfriend before him, and I'm not ANGRY at him for acting any different, because I understand he's trying NOT to be offensive. But I'm not acting any different from before. I just see our new relationship as a "status" -- in all honesty, it seems like we've been in a "flirtationship" at least a year before he actually told me he liked me.
NOTE: The reason why I say we're "sort of" dating, is because he's told me he "wants to make things official", so while he's asked me out, we haven't had our date yet, since we're going to get situated with school since It's just started, then we'll be going out (probably in a month or so).