High school crushes are the stuff horribly inappropriate dreams are made of. That feeling of butterflies 'til you want to hurl is something almost all of us know--and love to hate... or hate that we love.
Depends on how sappy you are.
There isn't a high school based bit of media out there that doesn't feature at least one character having a crush so heavy it seems like they can barely function--and that's because teen feels are the biggest most ridiculous feels of all. They're the kind that can change you for forever.
One Reddit user asked:
How did your high school crush turn out as an adult?
Most of the responders spoke about those high school crushes with quite a bit of fondness, proving my point.
The Rollercoaster
He had a rollercoaster of a life. I admire him more than ever, and more than most people I know, but can't wrap my head around why I ever found him physically attractive. Maybe it was always just his heart.
By age 25, he had a PhD, a wife, and was a captain in the navy. By 30, he had two PhDs, a small business where he made a metric ton of money, and his wife was pregnant.
By 31 he was diagnosed with stage-4 skin cancer that swiftly spread to his lymph nodes, bones, esophagus, and a few other places. He was told he had minimal chance of making it 5 more years. Even with the best health insurance money can buy, it still basically wiped him out.
Seven years later, he's living a comfortable but not extravagant life as a civilian contractor for the navy, same wife and two happy healthy kids, and spends most of his free time advocating for better public health care.
- theMycon
Do Overs
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Haha, he's my husband!
Our first marriages didn't work out and we reconnected after our divorces.
If only I would have confessed I had a crush on him in high school, might have saved myself a lot of trouble... Lol
That's exactly like me and my current husband! Except, I'm glad that we did our own thing before we got together. He was wayyyyy to immature as a young adult and would have messed it up.
Me too! After marrying other people, children and divorces, we reconnected and now we're married.
We are best friends, lovers and he makes me laugh like no one else. I love my husband.
Similar story here. I had a huge crush on him in high school, but never said anything. Then I dated and got engaged to a total piece of sh*t in my early 20s.
After that ended in violence, I went home to heal and reconnected with my crush on Myspace. We've been together 12 years now, married 5, and have 2 adorable girls together.
It was good though that we didn't get together in high school. He had an on again/off again high school sweetheart that he kept going back to and I think if we'd gotten together then, I would've been a rebound and not a permanent thing.
No One To Blame
She's still hot, a successful and wealthy entrepreneur, and married someone with the same first name as me and who quit his job to brew beer.
I crushed on her for a bit, didn't think she was interested so I dated others, then come to find out she crushed on me senior year, I was too dumb and blind, we connected freshman year of college, she wrote me letters, and by the time I wised up she had moved on.
No one to blame but myself.
His Heart
I had a huge crush on a guy I was close friends with in high school. We graduated in the early 2000s.
He overdosed and died in 2019.
I got to see him before he was taken off life support with a really good mutual friend we shared (organ donor too). It was surreal seeing him dwarfed by all these machines.
He had one the largest hearts I've ever come across.
Testing The Waters
Still cute as heck, one of the kindest and most sensitive people I know, and still one of my best friends 15 years later.
He's also recently divorced (his wife was gay but needed time and support to come to terms with it) and now he and I are slowly testing the waters :) What started as a crush has matured into a deep and rich friendship, and—however it may unfold—I'm so grateful to have that relationship in my life.
That Last Sentence
Still a ten for looks. I'm sure she kept on as the amazing, kind person she is. She moved to another country, speaks multiple languages and is more successful than I imagined.
She seems happy but we haven't talked since the time I told her how I felt about her about 20 years ago.
Too Much Success?
Went on to be a teenaged model for hair products, graduated from Yale, toured Europe, opened her own successful ceramics company that is sold worldwide and is often written up in magazines.
Makes me feel like sh*t every time I think of her.
Buddy life isn't fair nor equal. Some people start from 0 some start from -4 some start from 10 because they had so much opportunities and lots of support.
Its unfair to compare yourself to anyone ... like it's not supposed to be a thing at all because everyones life is different
"But Erica," you say to yourself "High school was the bullest of sh*ts, not some Hollywood feel good coming of age story! It was hell and there is NO WAY I'm speaking with 'fondness' about ... "
Shhh shh shh, my little bitter Betties. I feel you.
My high school crush joined a cult, changed his name, and has embraced misogyny and pseudo-science like it's a profession.
(If you're reading this, no a woman's period is not supposed to be a dot, it has nothing to do with her diet, you don't know how women's bodies work and I hope you get it together before your daughter gets her first menses.)
For those of you who didn't exactly get the 80's movie ending (or got the Less Than Zero 80's movie ending instead of the Sixteen Candles 80's movie ending) - take heart.
It sucked for these people too.
Little Pig
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Back when I was younger and crushing hard I got on AOL instant messenger and had gotten my crush's screenname from a friend. I worked up the nerve to start a conversation with him and soon after some awkward small talk he sent me a message in Comic Sans, black background, red lettering, and in French.
I then went to google for translation and found out he had just called me a pig, in French. Being a seemingly awkward and chubby teenager, I was literally crushed.
The heartbreak was only made worse by remembering that a few weeks prior I had selected to take French class the next year and couldn't change it.
Years later now that I've blossomed he follows me on every social media platform, has reached out a couple of times to try and flirt/hang out. Hard pass.
I believe he's moved away and is a teacher now.
Too Strict
My only girlfriend in high school was my crush. Her mom banned her from dating me after about a year because my GF admitted to her mom that we were fooling around. This was about 20 years ago.
She's still living with her mom, no kids, and as far as I know never again dated seriously after her mom broke us up. Still has the same job from high school too. It's like her mom went way into protective overdrive and my former GF never grew up.
- USPO-22
There are 3 women here on my street (they're my neighbors, they don't live on the street) that are old (one in her 50's and the others in their 60's) and never had a partner.
Two of them are sisters and live together, the other lives alone. They all had the same story: their parents were too restrictive and never let them date anyone. So now they're old and are socially awkward.
The sisters never even had a pet before their mom died. Now they have a cute puppy.
I find their situation really sad. You should respect your parents but you shouldn't follow only their will.
For Other's Entertainment
I remember walking up to her and asking if we could talk in private, and she said you can say what you need in front of everyone (her group of friends were all around).
So I asked if she wanted to go on a date. She burst out laughing and said "yeah, Um no.."
It was rough, man.
Looked her up last year and she's a cage fighter now.
I guess she's always been a pro at hurting people for others' entertainment.
- Briorash
My Favorite
I had two unrealized crushes in high school. One is a teacher and musician. She is married and has either one or two kids. We've kept in loose contact via social media and ran into each other at a NYE party shortly before she got married. I was introduced to her now-husband as 'favorite ex ever.'
He seemed like a decent dude and I'm happy for her.
I believe the other became a US Attorney. I have not heard from her since google+ almost became a social media thing. I imagine she's still very productive and would be disappointed in my life choices.
The Senior
I was a freshman and had a crush on a senior. To add to it, she was a cheerleader and her brother played QB for the football team (and got a college scholarship.)
She showed up at a football game a couple of years later with a baby in tow. She's married now and back in her hometown. That's about all I know.
Remember Me
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Found her on tinder, she said I was hot. Pointed out that I was that loser she used to know in high school. Had a big laugh. Been a little over a year, now we send each other memes and hang out occasionally when the pandemic isn't being a witch.
The Good Guys
They both ended up as great guys.
One has a huge family and is a minister. The other only has one child and is a college professor. Both married nice people and are happy.
They were really good guys in high school and ended up being really good adults. I've got both of them on Facebook and we keep in touch peripherally as we stayed friends over the years.
FB Sleuth
It was one of those days where they just suddenly pop into your head and you decide to try and look them up on Facebook. Found him. He ended up being a pilot. Added him and we became Facebook friends. Turns out he has a flight attendant girlfriend and they were traveling together and then few months after being fb friends they shared the news they were having a baby haha.
All the Boys
I had several!
One of them is still a close friend, and he became a primary care doctor. He also officiated my wedding.
I have no idea what happened to another one. We didn't really have overlapping friend groups and she doesn't do social media.
One of them is a math professor now, so that's pretty cool.
My BIGGEST crush in high school was my longtime neighbor, but it also fizzled out pretty quickly after we went to homecoming together. We're still good friends, and our families still keep in touch. He's also the guy who introduced me to my husband.
0/3
I had three. One from the first two years and two from the last two.
The first one is now F to M trans, who walked to Colorado to join a cult/commune. He is now in Arizona recording rap albums.
The second girl moved to Florida and lives in a swamp.
She periodically hits me up to tell me she misses me, how dumb I was that I didn't follow through, that we should get married.
The third was a missionary. She wasn't really into it once she grew up, came back home and I introduced her to one of my closest friends. They've been married for 15 years.
0/3.
It's You!
I briefly worked with mine and didn't realise it was her until I left for another job. She looked almost unrecognisable, but it was 15 years after I last saw her. She's married with a couple of kids now, so pretty standard life I guess.
She be Fancy
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You made me check and she is actually a very successful artist and an art teacher at a renowned university in France. She even got decorated for her work (Chevalier des arts et des lettres).
EDIT: Thanks for the attention, i'm not really willing to give much more details. I'm just going to add that she's french and she's not teaching in Paris.
The Ghost
He was this nice cool guy who would consistently post memes and stuff on social media. Then 2 or 3 years later, he deleted all of his social media. I don't have his phone number or know any friends that know him so I don't know how he's doing but I hope he's doing well.
For many childhood memories are overrun by living nightmares.
Yes, children are resilient, but that doesn't mean that the things we see as babes don't follow us forever.
The horrors of the world are no stranger to the young.
Redditor -2sweetcaramel- wanted to see who was willing to share about the worst things we've seen as kids, so they asked:
"What’s the creepiest thing you saw as a kid?"
Serious Danger
"Me and my best friend would explore the drainage tunnels under the Vegas area where we grew up. These were miles long and it was always really cool down there so it was a good way to escape the heat of our scorching hot summers. We went into this one that goes under the Fiesta casino and found a camp with a bunch of homeless people."
"Mind you we are like 11 years old lol. And we just kept going like it was nothing. It wasn’t scary then but when I look back at it we could have been in some serious danger. Our parents had no idea we did this or where we were and we had no cellphones. We could have been kidnapped and never have been found."
oofboof2020
Waiting for Food
"I was at a portillos once when I was 12 and I was waiting with my little brother at a booth while my parents got our food. This guy was standing with his tray kind of watching me then after a couple of minutes he started to walk over really fast not breaking eye contact with me."
"He was 2 feet from the table and my dad came out of nowhere and scared the s**t out of him. He looked so surprised and just said he wanted to see if I’d get scared or not. He left his tray full of food near the door and left. My folks reported him but we never went to that location again since we found a better one closer to home."
nowhereboy1964
Captain Hobo to the Rescue
"When I was a pretty young teen, my friends and I were horsing around in San Francisco and started hanging out to smoke with some homeless guys. Another homeless dude came up and began aggressively trying to shake us down for anything (money, smokes, a ride, drugs- all of it) and wouldn’t take no for an answer."
"We got in over our heads and could tell this guy was now riling the other 2 guys up and they were acting like they wanted to jump us. Some grandfather-looking old homeless man appeared out of nowhere and yelled at us to get the f**k out of here- nice kids like us don’t belong down here at this hour!!"
"Captain Hobo saved our lives that night. My parents sincerely thought we were at a mall all day lol."
FartAttack911
Survival
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"I was 7 and survived the 2004 tsunami in Thailand. Witnessed the wave rise way above the already massive palm trees (approx. 40ft?) and my family and I watched/heard the wave crash into the ground from a rooftop."
faithfulpoo
These Tsunami stories are just tragic.
On the Sand
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"We were a group of kids who went to swim in a local lake. And there was a dead body on the beach with their hands raised and their legs bent unnaturally that local police just took out of the same lake. I've never put my foot in these waters again."
oyloff
Be Clever
"I was walking to school and I was about 5 or 6 years old and some guy pulled up beside me in his car and asked if I would get in. He also offered me sweets to do so. I said no. The creepy bit was when he calmly said ‘clever boy’ to me, then drove off. I’ve never even told my parents or anyone else about this as it would most likely freak them out."
OstneyPiz
Bad Jokes
"Dad's side of the family pranked me by burying a fake body on our back property and had me dig it up to find valuables. Was only allowed to use a lantern for light. They stuffed old clothes with chicken bones. Sheetrock mud where the head was... Random fake jewelry as the treasures... I was like maybe 10 or 11.. I remember digging up the boot first and started gagging because it became real at that point."
Alegan239
YOU
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"Woke up to find my little brother staring at me in the dark, asking, Are you really you?"
PrettyLola2004
Siblings can really be a bunch of creepers.
No one should talk to others in the dark though.
Not all pet owners have the same relationship with their pets.
While anyone who decides to become a pet owner, or pet parent as some say, love their pets equally, some never ever let them leave their side.
Taking their pet with them to work, running errands, even on vacations.
Many pet parents even allow their pets to share their bed with them when going to sleep.
For others though, this is where a line is finally drawn.
Redditor Piggythelavasurfer was curious to hear whether pet owners allowed their pets to share their bed with them, as well as the reasons why they do/don't, leading them to ask:
"Do you let your pet sleep in your bed? Why/why not?"
The Tiny Issue Of Water...
"Absolutely not."
"I have fish."- Senior-Meal3649
Everyone Gets Lonely Eventually...
"I adopted an eleven year old cat the day before Halloween."
"She has mostly lived in my closet since I got her, and she hasn’t been too interested in coming out."
"Last night, she came out of my closet and jumped up on my bed, and crawled under my covers and curled up by my feet to sleep."
"I was so happy!"- YellowBeastJeep
The Comforting Reminder That You're Not Alone...
"I recently lost my Greyhound but I used to let him sleep on my bed with me."
"The company was nice and he was no trouble to have on my bed."- HoodedMenace3
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What Do You Mean Allow?
"I have no choice."
"She is a cat, cats do whatever they want."- Small_cat1412
"He lets me sleep in my bed."- Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Wouldn't Have It Any Other Way
"I carry my old boy upstairs to bed every night."- worst_in_show
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Who Needs An Alarm Clock?
"I let my two cats sleep with me."
"They're so full of love and just want cuddles all the time."
"And so do I."
"We've all developed a lil routine."
"Get to bed, oldest sleeps on my feet to keep them warm, youngest lies in my arm while I lie on my side (she the little spoon), then when I snooze my alarm for work in the morning the youngest paws at my face and meeps loudly to wake me up."- GhostofaFlea_
Whose Bed Is It Anyway?
"Yes."
"They're also kind enough to let me squeeze into whatever space they've left for me."
"Although I do get a few dirty looks off them."- Therealkaylor
"I found this tiny kitten screaming her head off under a car."
"Would not come out."
"Got some food and some water in dishes."
"I stood by the tire so she couldn't see my feet."
"She got curious about the food and water and started gobbling it down."
"I thought she would bolt when I squatted down."
"She was too busy eating."
"I grabbed her by the nape of the neck and all four legs went straight out and she tried to scratch me to death."
"I got her in the door and tossed her toward the couch."
"She ricocheted off the couch as if she was a ping pong off a table and I lost sight of her."
"I put out food and water and a sandbox and did not see that kitten for three days."
"On the third day, I came home and she was on my bed pillow."
"I thought she would bolt when I came near, but she didn't."
"I wanted to sleep so I tried to scoot her little butt off my pillow."
"She would not go."
"I put my head down to sleep and that is the way it was from then on."
"She ran the roost."- Logical_Cherry_7588
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Sleeping Is A Prerequisite...
"No, he's a cat and he cannot keep still during the night."
"He walks across the headboard, opens the closet doors, jumps into the windows and rustles the blinds, etc."
"If he would sleep he could stay, but alas, he's a ramblin' man."- Spong_Durnflungle
Saying No Just Isn't An Option...
"'Let'."
"Lol."
"It's a cat's world and I'm happy to be on her good side."- milaren
Felines Only!
"The cat does, the dog doesn't and the horse certainly does not either."- Xcrowzz
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Is That My Hair On That Pillow?
"My dog is perfect."
"She comes up, cuddles til we start to fall asleep, then gets down to sleep on her bed so she doesn't get too hot."
"Jumps back up in the early morning for wake up cuddles."
"The hair everywhere is the only downside but she is so cozy, what can you do."- HoodieWinchester
It is easy to understand how some people are able to fall asleep more easily knowing their friend and protector is there, in bed, with them.
Though we can't blame others who don't want to run the risk of being scratched or bitten in the middle of the night either...