For the majority of my high school years, I sat in the uncomfortable "friend zone" with a girl who I was convinced was "the one". The two of us did what most high schoolers from that era did: daily conversations on the phone for hours at a time. It was in these conversations that she usually shared how poorly the latest guy she was dating treated her. With each story of how each dude (mis)treated her, I grew incensed. Why couldn't she see how different things would be with me?
Despite her telling me she loved me "as a friend", I worked feverishly to change that. She knew how to say the right things when she thought she lost me, but also took advantage of my feelings and knew that I'd do anything for her or her friends (even driving the barren streets of Dyer, Indiana to find and then drive home her friend who decided to make a 4-mile walk home early one Sunday morning). In the end, nothing mattered -- I remained in the dreaded "friend zone" and it was up to me to push the eject button.
During my senior year, I started to gain self-confidence. I finally shed my ugly duckling stage of braces and acne and started to like who stared back at me in the mirror. Slowly, I started to believe I deserved...better. Following another patented and all-too-familiar phone conversation where she spoke to me with complete disrespect, I finally reached my breaking point. I snapped. While she was mid-sentence chewing me out for something stupid, I hung up the phone. My hands trembled in the moments afterward as I fully awaited her return phone call to bitch me out some more. She never called back. In fact, I didn't hear from her for weeks. After the initial shock wore off, I felt elated, refreshed and freed.
Our relationship changed after that. I no longer looked up to her on the pedestal where I bowed before her in worship. No longer was I chasing her. No longer was I catching her after every fall. No longer was I sitting around waiting for her.
Years later, she would apologize to me in a late-night email for her poor behavior. In fact, her apologies continue every year or so...