Blog | love

Tell us all about it... how cute their hair was; how you started eating ketchup and mustard on your hot dogs because that's how they ate theirs; how you wrote their name 100 times on one page in your notebook. We won't tell them.

(I ask because I just saw the "First Crush" episode of Drake and Josh.)

Mine... well he was in my ballet class and we got paired up for the pas de deux at the recital, and he was like the only boy I knew because I went to all-girls' school and of course he was the only boy at ballet. And one time in 5th grade he kissed me on the lips but just a peck, outside the Howard Johnson's.

And I just looked him up and saw that now he's a real estate agent. Yes, I facebook stalked my 5th grade crush for you; I hope you're happy.

This week's advice-seeker says:
"i fell for this guy, and he ended up moving. his best friend was my best friend. my best friend was there for me when i was going through all of it and we started dating. now we've been dating for ten months and i love him. BUT, the guy i fell for still sends me texts telling me how much it sucks that we can't be together and we talk about it all the time. i found out he's moving back, and even though i love my boyfriend, i never got to be with the guy that i fell for and i still feel for him so much. i don't know what to do. help."

And Miriam McDonald (Emma on Degrassi) says...
"Two guys, one girl... Uh oh!

You're certainly not alone -- I think at some point almost everyone has felt a little conflicted when it comes to this kind of stuff. But here's my completely un-expert opinion ;)

You say you have a boyfriend who you love. It sounds as if your relationship with your current boyfriend has been great, so please don't let the fact that this other guy is moving back to mess up what you have!

The mystery of what it could be like with guy #2 is intriguing I'm sure, but love triangles are dangerous. If you keep up the text messaging, etc. with guy #2, it's only going to make it harder for you, so I think you should cut that off! Someone is bound to get hurt unless you are clear with both guys on where you stand.

If you focus too much on what could be, you may lose sight of what you have! I think the best thing for you to do is focus on how great your boyfriend has been for the past 10 months and try and put this other guy out of your mind for the moment... as hard as it may be!

I hope this is helpful!

All the best,
MM"

PS: If you have an advice question you want answered in the blog, let me know. We might pick your question to send to a Degrassi star!

Every relationship is different 'cause every person is different, but what's your opinion: is a boyfriend or girlfriend entitled to expect to go to certain events with you?

For instance, like that time on What I Like About You when Vince had NBA tickets and Holly assumed he would take her, but he thought of it as more of a bro-down type thing.

Or like, I've seen couples argue when one of them saw a movie with friends, but the other one had assumed they'd see it together.

If you're in a bf/gf relationship, do you feel like you have to "check first" before making plans without them?

K.C. thinks he and Clare "can't be happy together" and were "just too different." Or maybe he was just more into Jenna, and 15 years old, and that was enough reason.

If you've ever done the unenviable deed of ending a relationship... how did you know it was time? And did you make the right decision?

This week's advice-seeker says:
So me and my guy friend are really close, and of course everyone thinks that there's "something going on between us," but I really haven't thought much of it. I usually just brush it off, but last night I had a dream about us in a relationship. I'm still a bit freaked out by it and I don't know if my subconscious is trying to tell me something. I mean I haven't really thought about it, but we're so much alike that we would be a great match and since were already so close we don't have any of those awkward pauses... ever. Now a part of me really thinks that we could work, but the other half is a bit cautious about it.

Now my feelings for him are mixed . I'm not quite sure if I should tell him though because we talk about everything and he has vented to me about how he hates girls chasing after him and every girl he talks to ends up liking him and that I am the only one who hasn't, and he totally appreciates it. Now I'm stuck with the dilemma of telling him and he may freak out and we would lose our friendship. Or tell him how I really feel, get it off my chest, and possibly have a chance for a new relationship.

I can't make up my mind, what should i do?"

And Ray says...
"Hey, that's a tough spot for sure. I'll preface my response with the fact that I think I'm a sadist, and am probably not qualified to offer the advice or answer that you'll want to hear, but if after reading my disclaimer you still want my two cents, then I hope this helps?

After reading your question, I feel like you're confused about how you feel for your guy friend. I'd say first off: figure out how you feel internally and then go honestly from there. Discover how you alone feel. Disregard what your friends may think could be a 'cute' couple, and disregard your dream; as a psychology student I've learned that we really know nothing about our dreams and whether or not they have any implications in R.L. so don't put too much weight on this one. Sounds like your mind and heart are playing tricks on you. If at the end of the day however, you feel like you do have feelings for him, then tell him. - Yeah, he might freak. And that could suck. But maybe he won't, you said yourself you two have a good friendship? Perhaps he'll feel the same way and you could go further? And even if he doesn't want to, if the friendship is indeed strong, then this situation shouldn't break it.

I had a similar experience in grade ten. I went out with my best friend, thinking that it would be swell. After all, she used to make me cookie dough, and then we'd eat it together in class. Things started falling apart though. We broke up, but remained best friends (with some rough patches, of course). We were better as friends than as a couple . All this back story to say that even if you can't have the romantic relationship your friendship shouldn't be lost, so why not go for it? - You've got nothing to lose? But at the same time, being in a relationship isn't the be all and end all of everything, although it seems like kids our age, 'Alli' for example, are transfixed on the idea of a relationship and that it will make their lives complete. You don't have to fall for it too though. - But I'm probably just bitter or something?

I guess you gotta figure it out on your own. I'd start off with discovering what you actually feel though, not what your friends, your dreams, or society tells you? Hope I helped.

Ray"

You know, marrying for love is actually a relatively recent phenomenon -- marriage and monogamy have been about protecting property for a much longer time than they've been about snuggling in front of sunsets for life. The romantic notion of finding and keeping "The One" is modern -- and, based on the divorce rate, only partially successful. Meanwhile... check this out from a Scientific American podcast:

"There's even a study published in India but using an American love scale, called the Rubin Love Scale, that compared love in love marriages in India ... to love in arranged marriages. And in this particular study, love in the love marriages starts out very high. And then over time it decreases. ... And in the arranged marriages ... we see the love starting out relatively low. Because in so many cases the people barely know each other, sometimes they've had a half an hour of contact in total before they got married. And then it increases gradually, surpasses the love in the love marriages at about five years. And 10 years out it's twice as strong."

So basically, in India anyway, people who marry for love generally start out all gaga and then gradually get sick of each other, but people whose marriages are arranged generally start out kinda "ummm?" but then end up a lot happier than the love marriage people.

Food for thought, right?? I'm not saying I would want my parents to pick my spouse for me, but... it's made me feel a little less knee-jerk "GROSS!" about the idea of arranged marriage...

(BTW, if you're wondering, the "Rubin Love Scale" measures how much you agree with statements like "I feel that I can confide in my loved one about virtually everything" and "I find it easy to ignore my loved one's faults"... check out the whole loving and liking scales here, they're pretty interesting...)

You never know... someone out there might be reading this on the very day they found out they got cheated on. (In a way, Holly from What I Like About You found out Vince cheated on her today... and in another way, she found that out years ago but who's counting.)

Let's show Holly and everyone else that they're not alone; everyone who's ever been cheated on, raise your hands in the comments and tell us:

1) What happened? And who with?
2) How'd you find out?
3) Did you dump immediately or try to work it out?
4) Are you OK? Do you want a hug?

Sav and Anya can find pretty much anything to bicker about...or, maybe more accurately, Anya can find anything to pick a fight about with Sav, and Sav can back down and put his tail between his legs on almost any topic.

Do you know any couples like that? ARE you any couples like that?

Holly from What I Like About You skipped a college interview at Columbia (FACEPALM... that one's on tonight at 11p et). And I still get a headache when I think about Lauren Conrad turning down that internship in Paris for stupid J Wahl back in the day on The Hills....

Hopefully none of us have done anything THAT idiotic for a dude or a girl but, what's the dumbest thing you have done? Let a friend down? Missed something awesome for a bf/gf who wasn't worth it? 'Fess up in the comments...

"You're my boyfriend. We don't keep secrets from each other."That's something Holly says in the "I've Got a Secret" episode of What I Like About You, and it brings up an important relationship question -- are boyfriends and girlfriends exempt from the secret-keeping rules?

When Tina realizes she might possibly have feelings for Gary, she tells Holly, but begs her to keep it a secret.

A few minutes later, this conversation takes place:

HOLLY: "Tina told me not to tell anyone."
VINCE: "But you just told me."
HOLLY: "Yeah, but you're not 'anyone' -- you're my boyfriend. We don't keep secrets from each other, because we have that intimate bond."

If you were in that situation, and you were sworn to secrecy about a friend's crush, would you keep it a secret? Or would you tell your bf/gf, because of the "intimate bond" thing?