I decided to confess my feelings to my best friend

I've been friends with this girl for... Not that long time (2 years). Somewhere along the way, I noticed I had caught feelings for her. For almost a year I debated on if I should tell her or not, since I was TERRIFIED of losing our friendship.

I decided to tell her last night, and her response was a long audio in which she rejected me (in the nicest way possible). She seemed very calm throughout the audio up until the final minute where her voice started getting shaky as she talked about how much our friendship meant to her.

"Pls don't change with me" is the phrase that's been resonating in my head since last night. Hearing your best friend on the brink of tears nearly pleading you not to change the dynamic because the relationship means a lot to her is truly gut wrenching.

I won't tell you I'm not sad, because I am. Obviously I would've wished we could've been a thing. But I'm also glad that we both want the friendship to continue and are actively working towards that goal.

I didn't cry until today when it finally hit me that I got rejected. We've talked throughout the day, almost as if nothing happened (even tho we talked ABOUT what happened). And I've had a headache for hours now....

I just had to vent about this.