Try to follow this long and rambling story if you can. To make it easier for you: CAST OF CHARACTERS: Mere- my friend Matt- Mere's boyfriend, and a football player Ryan- a friend of Matt Hannah- my best friend So in freshman year of high school (last year), I would always go to the school varsity football games with a group of friends, which included Mere. We would meet up with Matt and a group of his JV football buddies, which included Ryan. Now, Ryan is hideous. As in, absolutely heinous. And therefore, girlfriendless and desperate. He was majorly hitting on me and flirting with me, and because I was a stupid freshman and didn't know any better, and was flattered by the attention, I flirted back. Finally he asked me out, which, because I'm stupid, I hadn't been expecting, even though Mere had warned me he was going to. As soon as I realized what he was doing, I tried to get away by spouting excuse after excuse: 'I have to go find Mere...I have to go to the bathroom...er...I have to...I have to go get a cup of hot chocolate...', but he pretty much cornered me and asked me out. That was when I made the biggest mistake: I didn't say no. I definitely didn't say yes, but I kind of muttered something and ran away, only because I was afraid of hurting him. Of course, now I realize that was completely stupid because leading him on just hurt him more, and made life difficult for me, but that's what I did. So I was hoping the whole thing was over and he had gotten the message, but apparently not, because on Monday, it was all over the school that I was going out with Ryan. I was shocked of course, but decided (another stupid mistake) that as long as I was accidentally in this relationship, I may as well see if anything good could come from it. It did: he gave me a box of 48 assorted fancy chocolates. I took them with me down to Texas to visit Hannah and we ate them in the middle of the night in her hot tub and they were delicious. But other than that, I could not stand even the thought that I was going out with Ryan. So when I got back, I dumped him in a letter. I know perfectly well that you all are going to read this and say 'In a LETTER?! How mean! Doesn't she at least respect him enough to call him?' and the answer is, honestly, no. Besides, I didn't feel any obligation to even do him that favor, since we had never even done anything. I had never given him the opportunity to. So I wrote him a fairly lengthy letter, in which I made up a bunch of crap about how we just weren't right for each other, how we were both too busy to see each other because I'm a serious ballet dancer and he plays soccer, and how I wasn't ready for another relationship after breaking off my old one- totally not true. It was a wonderful letter if I do say so myself, written very well in beautiful cursive and certainly no spelling or grammar mistakes. He wrote me back this note (and this is word for word, spelling and grammar mistakes and left out letters and all): Dear Audrey, I am sorry that you had to write the note. I do not think it has to end this way. If it is something wrong with me I will try to change if only you tell me what it is. I love you and I do not care if I can not be with you all the time. I love how you are so indipendet with your dancing. So when I asked you out at that futball I was expecting to have to change and I expected you to do what you want. It is not in me just to give up something that is important to me. I will ask you to re think your disicion because I really enjoyed spending the littel time we had together. I am sorry about your past relationship. I would not know how it is for you. I respect whatever desicion you make but just know that I will always be there for you. If we need to talk I am willing to talk yours Ryan Honestly, if he respected me so much, couldn't he take the time to proofread his note and write it legibly? It took me forever to decipher his handwriting. So that was the end of that, until early the next year, when I was out by the bike racks with Hannah. All of a sudden I was just randomly like 'Hey, I just realized something! You still haven't seen the supreme ugliness that is Ryan!' Those exact words. And of course, that's the moment Ryan walks around the corner to get his bike. I mean, what are the odds?! I wasn't a fast enough thinker to cover it up so I just stood there, horrified, as he got his boke, glaring at me the entire time. A few months later he moved to Florida.