Hello Meredith,

A few months ago, I met a guy during a temporary job and we got along as colleagues, but never had a chance to become friends or spend any time together, as we mainly worked in different sections. We would often catch ourselves looking at one another, and there was obvious interest between us. Work brought us together and then took us to different parts of the world – so now we only speak on the phone and via messages. We talk a lot, and we both have said that we enjoy talking to each other because we are so similar in our ideas and outlooks on life. We both value and admire each other’s work, and we talk a lot about that. He is very attractive – and so I’ve started falling for him.

He’s my favorite person to talk to, and now I find something wrong with every other guy that crosses my path. In a strange way, I’ve become loyal to someone who is just a friend. We have talked about my feelings many times, as friends – not straightforwardly. I’ll tell him that the “guy” I like doesn’t feel the same way about me, and he will then try to comfort me. A few days ago it became completely clear that he knew I was talking about him.

We still talk a lot, and absolutely nothing has changed at all – as if that little moment of revelation never happened. Neither of us tries to hide how much we like each other. Usually it’s the other way around – I’m the one rejecting, and the person rarely ends up being my friend. I thought it must be horrible, but I don’t feel rejected – I feel completely fine. I like him even more, and that worries me. I’m afraid that if I keep having romantic feelings for him, no matter how much I treat him as just a friend, will one day it get to be too much and mess up our friendship, even through the distance. There’s not much one can do in this situation – or is there?

– Is there?