In Love with My Best Friend... What should I do?

[MaximilianK89]

Hello All! Thank you in advance for reading and responding! It means a lot!

Just some quick Background info:
I am a 20-year-old male and she is 20 as well. We are both sophomores at the same college and we met each other in September in a class we had together.
Now we are best friends. There is nothing we do not talk about and we have quite a lot in common very often we find ourselves saying we are the boy and girl versions of each other.

Since the onset of our relationship I have found her attractive she is quite the beautiful girl and over time I have come to love everything about her from her personality to her quirks to her whatever... With that love of friendship I also developed romantic feelings for her.

She got a boyfriend almost a week or two after we first became friends and at that point my feelings were nowhere near as strong as they are now for her. Yes, I was jealous and sometimes devastated most especially when she would confide in me that he could be “the one”. Well that relationship came and gone. Towards the end of the relationship I thought I was on the right path to get over her. I was more accepting of her and her boyfriend and that I was just a friend nothing more and it still remained for some time after they broke up.

However, recently she has been boy crazy and seeking my advice on random hook-ups (which is something I have never even consider doing personally) and possible boyfriends. Well… that has been bringing back the romantic feelings I had for her. I have been trying to stay as neutral as possible, which normally is very easy for me I was reared to act morally and with integrity and eloquence. And I want to be there for her and give her advice because I do love her as a friend with all my heart but while and after I am giving her the advice I die inside. It has been exponentially getting worse. Last night it took me forever to fall asleep felling so awful about the situation I am in. Today I cried numerous times trying to just sort it all out. I am so lost right now.

A few times she has said that since we are best friends nothing can come of our relationship for fear it might be damaged or worse. Which is also a great concern of mine. I am always considered the best friend never anything more. I try to accept it but after a while it hurts. I have never been involved with anyone romantically. I am certainly not the most attractive guy in the world but it would be nice for someone to care for me romantically for once.

I am not sure what to do. Do I tell her how I feel? What are the possible consequences? Do I try to get over her and How? Which has been my approach but I have not gotten very far with it yet. I mean how do you get over loving someone romantically when they are your best friend? How does one separate the feelings?

Any words of wisdom would help!
Thank You,
-M

[irrelevant_89]

K... I'm also a 20-year-old male with no relationship experience, and my opinion isn't worth much, but I'd take a shot at it. You two seem to be right for each other - believing in your words you have a lot in common, which IMO is the first step for a successful relationship. Sure, there are some risks involved, but I think it's worth it.

The biggest problem here might be to get her to see you as more than a friend after such a long time. The longer you stay in the friendzone, the harder it is to leave it. Unfortunately I'm not the guy to help you with that - we need to get the seduction experts here! xD

[BirdFlu47]

Love is all about taking risks, I say go for it. If it doesn't work out then perhaps it wasn't meant to be and if your friendship is strong enough then you should remain friends even if you do break up. I'm still friends with a few of my exes.

When it comes to convincing her to get into a relationship with you, I'm stuck..... sorry