Tissues 4 Issues

Here's a little piece from the magazine project I'm working on. (Said project being the reason I'm not so active right now). The magazine is called NEON, and is aimed at young, gay, emo boys. The piece is from my problems segment, which is there to help them deal with issues they might face, first issue being: when you're in love with your best friend. ENJOY :)

Tissues for Issues



You hang out, you play games, you do almost everything together. But can there be more?

It’s an average afternoon. You roam the local town centre together, you grab a burger. Maybe you head home together to play video games. You laugh. You smile. Then suddenly everything changes. You’re noticing the way the sun reflects on the beaded sweat at his Adam’s apple, and noticing the way his nose wrinkles when he laughs. You’re wondering what it would feel like to kiss him.
Falling for your best friend can be the most confusing thing in the world. One minute you see him like he’s your brother, someone to blow stuff up on Xbox with, someone who you share private jokes with and who you can always call and just hang around on your doorstep when there’s nothing else to do. The next minute you’re giddy as a schoolgirl every time you’re around him. It’s embarrassing. But what can you do?
If you don’t tell him you feel like you’re heart might explode. But if you do, you run the risk of opening the door on a whole new awkward situation.
Alex*, a student from Reading, knows the feeling of falling for your best friend all to well. He knows all too well what it’s like to open the Pandora’s box of awkward silences and strained conversations. “Over the summer, I found myself becoming more and more attracted to my best friend James. One evening we went to a house party, and after a few beers I got a bit too brave and told him how I felt. He had never had a problem with my sexuality before then, but it was just like everything changed. I tried to tell him I didn’t mean it, but I could tell he knew I did. I think we both tried to pretend I hadn’t said anything, but got so weird and after a while he stopped calling me. I sometimes wonder what things would be like if I hadn’t said anything. I can’t help feeling that if I’d kept it to myself, he’d probably still be my best friend.”
Not every situation ends in tears. Jamie*, a student from Wokingham, tells a story that’s slightly less disastrous than Alex’s. “When I told my friend Sam that I had feelings for him, he was really understanding. He told me he just didn’t feel that way about me, especially as he was straight. But he told me that he would always be my friend no matter what went on. We’re still friends now, and I got over the crush eventually.”
So I guess the moral of the story would be that, if you have a crush on your best friend. Tread very, very carefully. You have to really think about just how big a risk your taking. Is getting everything off your chest worth potentially losing your friendship? If you’re friendship is worth having, whatever you say shouldn’t matter.
Because you’ll probably get over the crush eventually. Friends should be forever.

Hope you enjoyed it
xoxo