I guess what I think I'm essentially asking is "Is there a way to get back to the point where my only feelings are of friendship, without cutting off ties?" I don't know, I guess think there's a difference between the friend zone and actual friendship. I look at a person who's in the friend zone as someone who has no desire to be an actual friend and is only putting up with being a friend in hopes of a bigger relationship. It's not a true friendship. I consider a true friendship to be a relationship where two people genuinely care about each other and share a mutual level of interest in each other. Obviously in my situation, the level of interest isn't mutual anymore, but it was at one point and I'd just like to get back there. And I'd like to think that there are 1,000 people out there that are better, but me being the type of person I am and her being the type of person she is, it doesn't seem that like I'll have another opportunity (and that's me trying thinking rationally without the lust goggles on). I used to be relatively popular, have a lot of friends and meet a lot of new people, but I wasn't really happy. I went through a phase where I started reading more and I came across a quote that was something like "be who you are. those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." The quote really stuck with me and I started living it, being my true, weird self. To be honest, I grew apart from the majority of my friends but I got a lot closer with the ones who accepted me and I couldn't be happier with my life in that aspect. But I'll admit that being yourself like I've been doing has made making new friends a lot less frequent because I've found out I'm a bit of a weirdo, but it's not like I don't go out and meet people. On top of that, it's also been harder for me to have a real solid connection with people who aren't always their true selves around me. I know this sounds pretty bad but it's just the way it is. Sorry for the rant and I'm not trying to start an argument or belittle your points. I feel like I just need to get some of these things off my chest.