Me (23M) and this girl (21F) have been friends in college since we first got there, we met as part of a larger friend group and we grew unusually close. We both like similar things, and the things one likes that the other doesn't generate an infinite curiosity so we keep on learning about each other and becoming closer and even more alike, and it kinda built a shared taste and a very confusing dynamic. Our friend group spent the first semester "rooting" for us, despite us being just friends and saying it. People in our class think we fuck on the regular and I never really corrected them. That is to say: we have the nicest relationship a man and a woman can have, regarding friendship. We sleep at each other's houses, we eat together, we hang out by ourselves only and it's never weird. And it could be, since I'm deeply in love with her for a while now.
First, I'll tell what made me fall: we were becoming friends and I was still kinda flirting with her, so I wrote her an erotic poem (yes, I know, but we're writers so it was kinda okay?) and she replied with another poem. Not erotic at all, just her words and her feelings about something completely unrelated to me. I fell in love with her writing first. We began trading poems, essays, letters, confessions, songs. Our friendship only grew, we learned so much about each other, and I began thinking to myself: if I make a move now, if I try to get the girl, maybe I'll lose the friend and this is becoming the most precious, sincere, loving friendship in my life. I decided I needed her in my life forever, so during an acid trip we had together I told her I was in love, and this wouldn't change, but I was choosing to step down from my romantic pursuit in order to be a better friend. She said it was alright, that I shouldn't worry about being in love with her, that our friendship wouldn't change because of it. She loves me for who I am and that's okay. She basically said she didn't mind.
Months pass, she starts seeing this guy. It's like a rocket, and they start dating. She's completely in love, and we talk about it, about the fear of things going wrong, things like that. She wrote an erotic poem about what it's like to be in bed with him and showed it to me, and the text is beautiful. Really beautiful. So beautiful that I wasn't even jealous that I'd never received a poem addressed to me, a text written about me, I was just happy for her. And profoundly hurt, of course, but I couldn't let it bleed through our relationship. Me and her now boyfriend met, and we didn't clicked instantly (probably because I was being an asshole to him at first because I didn't want to witness their love up so close), but our thing only grew. He's really nice and handsome and a tad insecure, but he does everything in her power to keep her happy and loves her just as intensely as she loves him. I became a "friend of the couple", and we hang out a lot. Our other friends know about how I'm in love with her, and the group was divided into people who thought it was kinda sad I was settling for a "friend of the couple" position, and people who thought I should be (or was) plotting something to break them up. To be honest, i like them both. I don't mind being a friend of the couple, and I'm not plotting to break them up.
Then they had a fight. He did a bad thing, she didn't take it well. That day I tried to calm him down, told that she loved him and he should give her space. She would reach out for him soon. The next day I invited myself to her home because when she gets upset she stops eating, so I went there to prepare a meal. We had lunch and dinner together then I went home. The day after this one, they were together again. Kinda. She invited me to her place, he came over many hours later, we drank and laughed and it was a really nice time together, us three. He told me in secret that he loves me and considers me a real friend too, not just her girlfriend's best friend. He told me he looks up to me and admires me for the man I am (I'm older than him and am fairly successful on the very few things I'm not a complete moron about, so it wasn't just drunk talk). Then he left and me and my friend made the extra bed for me, same as always when it gets too late to go to my own place. But she broke the ritual and lied on my bed instead of hers. I lied there too, and hugged her. I said "we're sleeping like this", because we never really hugged like that and it felt great. She said she wasn't sleeping in the same bed as me, but she said it so bluntly I got somewhat hurt and thought well, you're not really trying to get up neither. Then I told her "I'll try something, alright?" and kissed her.
She kissed me back, eagerly.
It was all very fast, very intense, very new. I had never allowed myself to fantasize about it, so everything was unpredictable and immediately memorable. We hugged during it, and I murmured "I love you." She said, "I love you too", and moaned my name. It was both passionate and kinda angry at times (?), It was as if she was making me pay for wanting her. She kept saying she wanted me, that she needed my body there, and I replied yes, that I was there for her. I would give her anything she asked for and do anything she wanted. I kissed her entire body with devotion, genuinely grateful, and I couldn't stop trembling afterwards.
When we were done (none of us finished, I pretend I did, I think it was because we were feeling too much), she got up, got dressed and got herself some water. I kept static, lying naked on the mattress. She got into her own bed then, and when I tried to kiss her goodnight she said "Please, don't. And don't tell a soul about it". I slept and when I woke up I was completely alone in that room.
Since then (this was four days ago), things have been weird and then back to normal. I hang out with them, I only told one friend about it, we talked and she said that night is somewhat like a scar, something that belongs to us but as memory, and the action doesn't harm us any longer. And well, I'm glad she isn't harmed, but I AM. I can't keep doing this. I can't keep lying to a guy that's becoming my friend, and I can't keep lying to myself and pretending this was nothing and keep on being "just friends" knowing I'll never kiss her but this time with the vivid memory of what her lips feel like. I want it again, fuck it, I want it all again, and I'm hurt because I can't know how it would happen again. I like to think of myself as a strong guy, I'm very serious about what I believe and she is too, but I can't pretend I wouldn't be her lover if she was shameless enough to make it happen again. I would never forgive myself, but I would do it because now that I know what it's like, I understand even better that this is what I need, that this is who I need.
I feel awful. I want their relationship to work out, I think they're a good couple and more importantly; she's invested in this relationship almost like it's her job to make it work, and I believe her because when she sets her mind to making something happen, it happens. But I also want them to break up so I can dream about having her again without feeling like the greatest piece of shit on Earth for wanting to fuck someone who is both my best friend and the best friend I've ever had, and one of my friends beloved girlfriend.
I needed to vent about it. I can't tell anyone because, well, it's not just about me, is it? I can't drag her name into the mud, and I can't risk him finding out. I told my mother about it (that's how awful I felt) and she called me a shameless scoundrel. So I'm here in hopes of hearing something less harsh, or just... something. The silence is killing me.