Hi guys. I'm Dylan. I'm 16 years old. Two years ago, I made a huge mistake. Maybe you can learn from my story,
and you won't end up with regrets like me. Jason is my best friend. We're really close, and he's really important to me. Our parents were neighbors. We played on the same playground. We went to the same primary school. We got into fights with other kids. Protected each other. Fell off our bikes. Got hurt. Cried. Laughed. We grew up like brothers. We can talk about anything... Our family problems, girls we liked, the secrets we never shared with anyone... Sometimes we just sit in silence
next to each other because we can understand
each other without talking. He is my only real friend in life. Unfortunately I did something
to hurt him badly. It was two years ago. Jason told me about a girl
he had just met. He was so happy. He told me how beautiful
and sweet she was. "I think I'm falling for her", he said. So I said, " Dude, go for it.
Just follow your heart". They started dating a few days later. Her name was Hazel. Of course he wanted to introduce me
- his best friend - to his new girlfriend. So we decided to meet
at a cafe the next day. When I arrived,
neither of them were there. So I sat down to wait for them. The girl at the next table caught my eye. She was so attractive. She was playing with her phone, and looking at me every now and then. I couldn't stop looking at her. I thought to myself
how can I meet this girl. Just then she smiled at me. Was it possible that
she liked me as well? I was just about to go meet her
when Jason came in. She got up when she saw him. He walked up to her and kissed her, and make him up to me. She said, "Hi Dylan, I'm Hazel", and wanted to shake my hand. I was so disappointed. Apparently she was early like I was. She had been looking at me, and thinking, "Could this be Dylan?" I felt really bad but how could I know that
she was Jason's girlfriend? We sat down,
and started chatting. Jason was telling her
funny memories about us, and she was laughing. I found myself
in awe of her laugh. I immediately looked away, and tried not to think about her laugh. That day was seriously
difficult for me. II was so charmed by her
that I dreamt about her. In my dream, we were sitting
somewhere high up, and watching the sunset together. It was so cliche. There was a light breeze, and she was looking at me
with her beautiful smile. I don't remember the rest. I was so angry with myself
in the morning. How could I have a romantic dream about my best friend's girlfriend? Obviously I couldn't control
my dreams but I could control
what happened in real life. Hazel was Jason's girlfriend, and she was going to stay that way. Jason and Hazel were spending
a lot of time together. Sometimes we all
hung out together. I didn't really want to be
around Hazel because I was in awe of
whatever she was doing. Like the way she laughed with her head thrown back, or touched your arm while talking, the way her eyebrow rose
when she got angry. I liked everything about her, and this made me feel awful I started dodging them because I didn't want to fall in love with her. But they were getting upset with me for not spending time with them. One night, the door rang. It was Jason. I had never seen him so miserable. He couldn't even talk. "Did something happen to your parents?" I asked anxiously. He tried not to cry. "Hazel and I broke up" he said. I turned my head awaw, and tried to hide
the involuntary smile on my face. Yes, unfortunately I was happy. Apparently, Hazel told him that
she wanted to talk. She said that she wasn't
having fun like she used to, and that they had had long silences because they had nothing
in common to talk about. Jason wasn't expecting this. So he was shocked. He tried to change her mind but couldn't. I tried to console him, but the days that followed
were pretty bad for him. One day, Hazel sent me a text,
and said that she was really sad. I wanted to reply but I didn't. She texted again. She wanted to talk
face-to-face. I couldn't possibly do anything
behind Jason's back. So I showed him her message. "There's no way I'll meet her", I said. Jason responded in a way
that I didn't expect. He got his hopes up. "Please talk to her. Maybe you'll convince
her to come back to me" he said. So we met up. She was sadder than I expected. She said she loved Jason, but their relationship
wasn't working anymore. She was crying when she said this. As I listened to her speak, I focused on her lips, forgetting that she was talking
about Jason. By the time we finished talking, I realized that Hazel had
no intention of going back to Jason. I also realized that I was more
in love with her than ever. A lot of time had passed
since Jason & Hazel's breakup. Hazel and I were texting each other, and sometimes meeting up. We were talking about random stuff, and we rarely mentioned Jason anymore. If it was up to me I'd see her every day, but I was trying to control myself. A few month went by like this, I was now obsessed with her. I couldn't even sleep at night. One morning I woke up screaming, "Enough!" Yes it was enough! I couldn't live like this anymore. I decided to talk to Hazel no matter what. I drew up my courage,
and met up with her. She could tell that something was up. "I've liked you since the moment I first saw you." "Actually it's more than that." "I fell in love with you", I blurted out suddenly. She was shocked. She raised her eyebrow,
and I even adored how she did that. She said, "Do you hear yourself?" "Didn't you think about how hurt
Jason would be if he knew you said this?" "I'm ready to fight with him if necessary." "Doesn't this show you how strong
my feelings are?", I said. She looked into my eyes. I thought she was gonna say something
but she just left. That night I felt so helpless. I cried. A few days later Hazel wanted to meet up. I was going to see her but I was scared. I was worried that she might
have told Jason. Maybe they were both going
to confront me, but she was alone
when I went to meet her, And she hugged me right away! I was so surprised. I hugged her back. She was crying, and her lip
was trembling. "It's really hard for us to have
a normal relationship." "Jason will always be between us." "We have to be careful
about this", she said. I didn't understand
what she wanted from me. "You need to talk to Jason." "If he says he's okay with it, then we can be together," she said. I couldn't imagine talking to Jason about this, but this was her condition, and I was gonna have to do it
one way or another. At first I couldn't find the courage, but Hazel was very clear, so I didn't really have a choice. "I need to talk to you about something
important", I said to Jason. I opened up about my feelings for Hazel. I told him that I felt really bad
but that I couldn't help it. And then I let him know about
what Hazel and I talked about. He was obviously shocked. "You're joking, right?" "Are you asking for my permission?", he asked. I looked away. He sprang up. He called me a jerk and punched me! I didn't do anything to defend myself
because he was right. He left without another word. I didn't care about losing him,
or even the punch. The problem was Jason wasn't okay
with the whole thing. That meant Hazel's condition
hadn't been met. So I had now lost my best friend, as well as the girl that I'm in love with. The next morning I saw a text
from Jason when I woke up. "Dude, Hazel and I weren't happy,
but maybe you'll be happy with her." "Follow your heart", he wrote. I was ashamed but also happy. I was so proud of my friend,
but also sad for him. I met up with Hazel. She got really emotional
when I showed her the text. She hugged me and put
her head on my shoulder. We didn't mention it again
for the rest of the day. I thought the coming days would be like a dream, but... they weren't. I started dealing with feelings
that I didn't anticipate. Like... If we were holding hands, I would suddenly imagine her holding
hands with Jason and I would pull away. For example, when Hazel
wanted to go somewhere, I would ask her, "Have you been there with Jason?" If she were to say something romantic, I would think, "Did she say this to Jason too?" She knew what was going on. She kept telling me that Jason
was in the past now, but I couldn't really enjoy any of our time
together with this stuff, constantly on my mind. Jason and I were still hanging out
by the way. We tried to act like nothing had happened
but things were a bit different. Yet I valued our friendship now more because he had shown me that he put my happiness above his. My relationship with Hazel was
unstable because of me. I was so jealous of the past that we couldn't live in the moment. We broke up a few times. I couldn't make it work
with or without her. I was afraid of losing her
but I couldn't stop myself. Hazel was a really smart girl. She came up with a new condition
to solve our problem. "I don't think you should be
friends with Jason" "We can't have a healthy
relationship like this." "If he's out of your life..." "He won't be between us anymore", she said. She gave me an ultimatum, and she had every right to do it. I didn't even have to think
about my answer. "I won't stop being friends with Jason. If I have to I choose, then I choose my friend." "If I were you I would have
done the same thing. You made the right decision for all of us", she said, and hugged me. That was the last time
we hugged or saw each other. I couldn't tell Jason
what had happened, but apparently Hazel did. I found that out from Jason's message. "I heard you couldn't go where
your heart wanted to. Maybe you should follow your feet instead. Want to play FIFA tonight? After all I've done, I can't really tell you to appreciate
the good friends that you have,. So let me end my story with a quote: "Good friends are like stars, You don't always see them
but you know they're there you!"
