Friendships and romantic relationships make our lives tick. Without them, our lives would be boring and lonely. Unlike family members, we have the right to choose our friends and lovers. There are different levels of friendship and various forms of romantic relationships, and they can all lead to being close, intimate, and loving. Friendships and romances greatly enrich the well-being of our physical and mental state. Friendships can lead to romantic relationships, and romantic relationships can lead to just being friends. Unrequited romantic interest occurs when one person attempts to redefine a friendship as a romantic relationship, but the other partner rejects this attempt. It is a person's desire to have a more intimate and romantic relationship than the other partner. In most cases where unrequited romantic interest arises, awkwardness and embarrassment occurs for both partners. The rejected partner feels discouraged and the other feels the need to act differently. But in some cases the friendship is preserved and both partners have worked to maintain the friendship which keeps the relationship open, honest, strong and lasting. Each of us communicates with each other while waiting for a result. With unrequited romantic interest, the outcome could be negative. Unrequited love is also quite common: "...it's a typical pattern to pursue someone who has little interest in you, or to be pursued with no interest in reciprocating the other's interest . ” (McCarthy, 2006, p. 249) For example, a best friend suggests that since they are great friends, they should try their relationship on a different, more intimate level. The other person says no, explaining that it would ruin their friendship. The best... middle of paper ...is about them. During the movie and during the car ride home, he used nonverbal immediacy. He sat closer to me, increased his touching and leaned more towards me. He used these indirect strategies to get a sense of how I felt about him. Through these indirect strategies, he also wanted to tell me what he felt and what he expected from me. Since I gave him a positive vibe, he then tried to strengthen our relationship. Works Cited McCarthy, D. M. (2006). Love Me, Love Me Not: The Ethics of Unrequited Love – Laura A. Smit. Reviews in Religion & Theology, 13(3), 428-429. Flint, L. (1992). Parental affinity seeking in adolescents: Use of strategies mediated by age and gender. Adolescence, 27(106), 417. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. Beebe, S.A., Beebe, S.J., & Redmond, M.V. (2010). Interpersonal communication: relationship with others. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.