A few weeks ago, my boyfriend and I celebrated our one year dating anniversary (!!!). But, there is much more to our story than just that one year. Three years ago, my now boyfriend was the first guy friend I made while in college. We lived in the same dorm and ended up spending a lot of time together.

Within the first year of knowing each other, we became very comfortable together. He was the first person I wanted to go to with exciting news, sad news, or any news at all. The thought of the two of us dating had never even crossed my mind until our mutual friends started to point out how close we were and how well we would work together. I genuinely thought I didn't have feelings for him, and never wanted to do anything to hurt our friendship.

Long story short, we both liked each other for a very long time, but neither of us wanted to admit those feelings because we didn't want to do anything to lose the amazing friendship we already had. Anytime my friends would ask what was going on between us, I would say "We're just friends!" And, one year later, that line is still a running joke within my friend group.

The truth is, we were doing ourselves a disservice by denying our feelings for one another.

We already knew almost everything there was to know about the other, we knew we had so much fun when we were together, and we knew we could tell the other person anything and everything. My siblings already loved him, maybe more than me, and there were one million signs pointing us together that we chose to ignore.

My advice? If you have a best friend you may be falling for, save yourself the time and just go for it.

If the feelings are not reciprocated, at least you can say you gave it your all, and return to being friends. I am so thankful every day that my boyfriend had the guts to tell me how he was feeling because this past year was one of the best years of my life. Do not throw away something that could be amazing just because you're scared to ruin a friendship. My boyfriend was my best friend first, he still is my best friend, and I hope anyone experiencing this is just as lucky!