Girls, I love my best friend and I can’t get my feelings to go away and I don’t know what to do/say to tell her about it?

[Anonymous]

I asked her out and told her that I had feelings before but she only wanted to be friends. thing is she said she didn’t want to lose what we had and I know she has attachment issues so I don't know what I should do because I don’t want to hurt her bc she’s said I’m important to her multiple times. I love this girl and I know she’ll never see me in the same way and I wish I could just stop having feelings for her bc I don’t want to lose her and our friendship is something that we both said is special. I accept she doesn’t like me but I also know I can’t be a true friend when I do have feelings cause I only think of the what ifs from when we met on how this could’ve been different bc of events that happened in her life that pushed me to be how she said a “shoulder to cry on” when I saw she desperately needed someone there for her. I’ve been trying to ignore how I’ve felt for a few months since it but now it’s getting a bit to hard. Any opinions on what I should try to do?

[Anonymous]

Sorry to hear this, I actually had to part ways with my guy best friend some years ago because of this exact predicament and it was hurtful for both of us, but it was that right thing to do. Having been in her shoes, let me just say that if you need to take some space from her so that you can get over your feelings, it’s gonna suck but if she cares about you she will respect this decision. It’s not an easy choice but we recognize how hard it is for you to still be our friends and ultimately don’t want you to suffer. It’s a testimony to how much you love her that you put yourself through such agony every day, but you’ve got to take care of yourself as well.