You all know the one. You exchange awkward glances across the beer-soaked floor during a party, sit within seeing distance of them at the library and occasionally stalk each other on Facebook (don’t deny it). He knows who you are and you know who he is, yet you’ve never even spoken. 

How did this happen? How did your relationship (or lack thereof) become a silent, uncomfortable mass of avoidance? Maybe you met one time drunk, or have a ton of mutual friends, or maybe you go to his frat way too often. Whatever the case may be, it's going to be extremely difficult to resurrect your relationship and turn that bad boy into a friendship.  

Despite the inherent difficulty, it's possible. To begin, you can try talking to him while you’re drunk. Not only will you be numb to the awkwardness of the situation, you might even be able to seem like you’re not a psychopath. However, that’s a slippery slope. Be careful and never mention that you’ve stalked him multiple times and know his hometown, his middle name and his birthday. Also, never mention that you feel like “you’ve met him before.” He probably won’t remember, and if he does he’ll never admit it.

The key to building a friendship with this person is the genuine belief that you want nothing more from him. If you even have the slightest desire to get involved with him romantically, abort the mission. No honest, healthy, or respectable romantic relationship can be built upon stalking and overzealous eye contact. In fact, it’s going to come out eventually that you’ve admired him from afar and that will definitely creep him out. Any mention of his love for "Entourage" or that your friend from last year went to high school with him and you’re done for. Avoid any indication that you maybe know him from something, and you’ll be okay. There’s nothing people hate more than a conversation that starts with, “Have we met before?”

Perhaps the best decision, at least for me personally, is to realize that you'll never actually be friends. There’s too much history, or I suppose lack of history, between you two and it might be better just to keep the awkwardness going. Plus, is not having this one kid as your friend really going to matter in the long run? Clearly, if you were meant to be friends with him then you would be. Also, don’t you think if he wanted to be your friend he’d make that happen? Guys aren’t very complex and tend to be pretty straightforward when it comes to girls and their feelings toward them. 

You could argue that he likes you and that’s why he’s avoiding you, but if you say that then you sound like you’re an idiot. And no one wants to be friends with an idiot.