When “Just Friends” Isn’t Enough, But You Hold On Anyway: Exploring This Concept in Teen Romance

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Have you ever been just friends with someone but wanted more from the relationship? If you have, what were the dynamics of your friendship? Did your crush know how you felt? Did you confess your feelings to them? Or were they in the dark about your feelings?

If they didn’t know, why didn’t you tell them? Were you afraid of ruining the friendship? Or were you afraid that your friend didn’t like you back?

And if they did know, how did they feel about maintaining the friendship? Did they think you two should get some distance because of your unrequited feelings? Or were they perfectly fine maintaining the friendship as it was?

If you have had to deal with unrequited love for a friend, whether we’re talking about a past or current crush, then you might be able to relate to Chloe’s situation in my new teen romance “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?”

In this story, Chloe is a high school sophomore with a big crush on a junior named Mordecai. Because she’s not allowed to date and won’t be allowed to until senior year, she has to settle for being just friends with him even though her heart longs for more. And what makes the situation more painful for Chloe is that Mordecai knows how she feels. “One too many late-night phone calls dragged the truth out of me,” she says in Chapter 1. But he hasn’t said how he feels about her.

There are actually two examples of this type of situation playing out in this story, though. Chloe has a good friend named Simon who has a crush on her. But unlike Chloe, he hasn’t revealed his feelings to the one he loves. And that means he also has to settle for being just friends with her. In this post, though, we’re going to focus on Chloe’s intense love for Mordecai.

Staying Friends When Your Heart Wants More

In this post, I discuss some reasons why Chloe chooses to stay friends with Mordecai even though their friendship causes her a lot of pain. One of those reasons is that she likely doesn’t want him to forget about her as a potential partner for him.

Mordecai knows that Chloe won’t be allowed to date until she becomes a senior. But since Mordecai is allowed to date, he does. These aren’t long-term relationships, though. According to Chloe, he gets a new girlfriend about every two weeks.

Even so, he’s clearly interested in dating. And Chloe is afraid that when she does finally become a senior, he’ll forget about her. Here’s an excerpt from Chapter 4 to show you what I’m talking about. Chloe has just asked Mordecai why he doesn’t ask her parents for permission to date her since she doesn’t believe he would date her even if she were allowed. Chloe is narrating.

[Mordecai] “Don’t I get any credit for not trying to force you to sneak around behind your parents’ back so I can date you?”

I sigh. “Fine. I’ll give you credit for that. But still—”

“But nothing. The day you become a senior, see if I don’t ask you out.”

“You’ll forget about me by then,” I say.

“Not possible.”

“Sure it is. You’ll be in college surrounded by college girls. You won’t have time for a lowly high school kid like me.”

“I could never forget you, Chloe.”

Every inch of me warms at the sound of those words. It takes a while before I recover enough to say, “Anyway, while I wait for you to make up your mind, I’ll be hanging out with Simon.”

“He’s not your type.”

“Stop saying that.”

“All right, but it’s true.”

“We’ll see.”

Here, Chloe pretends not to care that Mordecai might forget about her by the time she becomes a senior. But really, even though she doesn’t say it in so many words, that fear likely contributes to her intense desire to hold onto their friendship.

Also, because Chloe loves deeply, she feels a deep connection to Mordecai. If you’re into personality typing, Chloe is of the INFJ personality type. And INFJs are known for loving deeply.

With love this strong, it can be very hard to pull away, even when the one you love causes you heartache. And that’s exactly what Chloe experiences throughout the story. While she does sometimes try to get distance from Mordecai, time and time again he finds a way to re-enter her life, and she lets him back in. And that means she re-opens herself to the heartache he can cause.

What She Gains (and Loses) by Staying Friends With Her Crush

Chloe gets to enjoy some nice conversations with Mordecai—mostly on the phone and through IM or instant messaging at the start of the story. And conversation—especially deep conversation—is one of those things INFJs really cherish. Mordecai also knows how to say and do things to make Chloe feel special. She enjoys these aspects of their friendship.

This is what she says in Chapter 2: “I like talking to him. I like hearing his voice. I like the way he teases me and makes me tell him my secrets. But most of all, I like him—I love him, actually.”

It’s interesting that Mordecai finds it relatively easy to pry Chloe’s secrets from her, but he has his own secrets that he doesn’t share so easily. When he does finally start sharing, though, Chloe is the only one he’ll reveal them to.

This is something I go into in this post. And as I say there, the constancy of Chloe’s love is one of the things that allows her to earn Mordecai’s trust so he feels comfortable sharing his secrets with her. And this is something else she values about their friendship—the special bond they have that allows Mordecai to feel comfortable enough to come clean.

But being just friends with him also means that Chloe gets to watch him go from dating one girl after another. And not only that, when Mordecai does things that seem callous or insensitive, Chloe knows he’s doing these things while being aware of her feelings for him. This is something that can lead her to believe that he’s doing it on purpose, because he knows how much what he’s doing will hurt her. But it’s really a lot more complicated than that.

Because the thing is, Mordecai has a troubled past. That’s what his secrets have to do with. And these secrets affect his behavior and interactions with others, including Chloe.

But, of course, Chloe doesn’t know any of this initially. All she knows is, Mordecai often does things that leave her in tears. But she continues to love him anyway.

And at the very least, because this story takes place in the mid-2000s, Chloe doesn’t have to deal with as much heartache as she might have if the setting were more current. For instance, without the level of connectivity we have today, Chloe isn’t tempted to check out Mordecai’s social media pages even when they’re not actively talking.

This also means you’re able to focus more on the emotional connection between the characters. I go into the not-too-distant past setting more here.

Final Thoughts

When friendship and love are mixed, things can get complicated fast. If you’ve ever had feelings for a friend, or if you’re currently in the middle of this situation, you might be able to relate to what Chloe goes through in “What Happens After You Confess Your Feelings to Someone?” And you never know. Maybe some of what you read might be able to help you with your own situation.

But sometimes it can be nice just to have your feelings validated. Sometimes it can be nice to be able to say, “Ok, I feel better knowing that I’m not the only one who has had to deal with this” or “It’s nice to know someone else understands.” Because even though this is a fictional story, it’s loosely based on real experiences and heavily based on real emotions.

If you’re ready for a teen romance that will allow you to experience this, don’t wait another second to check out this story! You can click here to learn more about it or here to start reading Chapter 1 on Medium. (The first three chapters are free and you don’t need an account to read them. But you’ll need a Medium account to read the rest. And you may also need to become a Medium member.)

~ Ashley C.

P.S. If you would like to sample more of my story-writing style, feel free to click here to read some stories that are currently available.