My High School Crush Said She Finally Wanted Me, So I Left My Fiancée

I had traded the woman who had loved and supported me for a girl who’d only ever existed in my memories and dreams. And now, all I had left was the regret and the quiet, hollow knowledge that I’d lost the real thing for good.

I had a crush on Carla since middle school, through the halls of high school, and even though she never noticed me, I kept her in a quiet corner of my mind. She was the untouchable girl back then, the one everyone wanted but who never seemed to glance my way.

When I left for the military, I met Sara, a nurse with dreams of becoming a nurse practitioner. Sara was exactly my type—kind, ambitious, and caring. She grounded me in ways I hadn’t expected, and by the time my service was up, she was my fiancée.

I transitioned to contracting work and moved back to my home state, content with life but not without nostalgia. Then, one night at a bar, I looked up and there she was—Carla, my old crush, behind the bar, pouring drinks.

She didn’t recognize me at first, but when I told her my name, her eyes lit up in disbelief. She couldn’t believe how much I had changed. It was like I was suddenly visible to her in a way I never had been before.

Before long, I was a regular. I went from swinging by every now and then to every night after work. Eventually, we swapped contact info, and from there, we started catching up. Carla was different from Sara—edgy, unpredictable.

During one of our late-night talks, she admitted she had a crush on me. “You’re so driven now,” she said with a smirk that made my heart skip. “The military changed you in all the right ways.”

I also told her I had a fiancée, but she just shrugged. “I get it,” she said with a sly smile. “But you don’t seem happy, Matt. Maybe she’s not the one, you know? Sometimes it takes meeting the right person to figure that out.”

I knew Sara was the woman I’d planned a life with, but part of me couldn’t shake the thrill of finally being noticed by Carla. I’d spent years wondering, and now, here she was, leaving the door open. Carla told me she’d give me time to figure out what I wanted, and I felt split down the middle.

Sara was safe and solid. But I was hooked by Carla. Every conversation and every text from her pulled me deeper into something I couldn’t understand. I tried to reason with myself, telling myself I’d come to my senses.

Against every better judgment, I broke it off with Sara. It tore me apart to see her hurt, but I convinced myself I needed to explore this other path. I thought Carla and I would pick up where those old crushes left off. I thought we could be something real.

The day I moved out, Sara looked at me with tears in her eyes. “Is this really happening, Matt?” she whispered. “Are you really choosing someone else?”

I couldn’t meet her gaze. “Sara, I just… I have to know if there’s something there with Carla.”
She wiped her tears. “I gave you everything, Matt. Everything.”

I nodded, feeling the weight of her words but still convinced I was making the right choice. In my mind, Carla was worth it.

With Carla, everything was different. She was fun and exciting, but it didn’t take long for cracks to show. She’d ask for money here and there—small things at first. Then, one day she called me up, her voice sweet and persuasive.

“Hey, babe,” she cooed. “Could you send me a little extra this week? I want to get my hair and nails done.”

I didn’t think twice. I wanted to make her happy, wanted to show her I was different from everyone else in her life. I started paying for everything—her clothes, her dinners, everything. But eventually, I noticed something off. She was always on her phone, texting someone when she thought I wasn’t looking.

One night, I finally confronted her. “Who are you texting all the time?”
She rolled her eyes, barely looking up. “Relax, Matt. It’s just a friend.”

But something didn’t sit right. A few days later, I got a notification from my bank about a big withdrawal. Carla had used the money I sent her to buy a plane ticket for another guy. My heart sank, and when I confronted her about it, her response shattered whatever hope I’d held onto.

“Matt, don’t act so shocked,” she scoffed. “You’re fun and all, but did you really think I’d settle down with you? You were just… convenient.”

“Convenient?” My voice cracked, barely able to process her words. “I broke off my engagement for you. I was ready to build a life with you.”

“Maybe you should’ve thought about that before you threw everything away,” she said coolly, shrugging as if it didn’t matter.

The reality of what I’d done hit me like a tidal wave. I was just a stepping stone for her, a bank account she could tap into until she found someone better. I stumbled out of her apartment, barely able to see straight. My mind went to Sara, to everything I’d lost.

Weeks later, I couldn’t take it anymore. I called Sara, hoping against hope she’d answer. Miraculously, she did.

“Sara, please… I know I don’t deserve it, but I need to talk to you,” I begged, my voice breaking.
There was a long pause. Finally, she sighed. “What do you want, Matt?”

“I made the biggest mistake of my life,” I said, desperation creeping into my tone. “I threw us away for something that was never real. I thought I needed closure with Carla, but it was just… it was stupid. I love you, Sara. I never stopped.”

Her voice was ice-cold. “You loved me, but you still left. You chose a fantasy over someone who actually cared about you. Do you know how humiliating that is?”

“I know, and I’m so sorry. I’ll do anything to make it right. Please, just… give me another chance.”

Sara’s voice softened, but only slightly. “Matt, you broke me. I don’t want to be someone’s second choice, someone you came back to because it didn’t work out with your ‘what if.’ I have to be with someone who sees my worth from the start.”

Tears filled my eyes as I realized the depth of my betrayal. “Sara, please, I’ll prove it to you. I’ll do anything.”
She sighed again, her voice resigned. “I don’t think you understand, Matt. I can’t forget what you did. And I deserve better than that.”

The line went silent, and I knew she was gone. I was left with the hollow weight of my own choices, the realization that in chasing a fantasy, I’d destroyed the best thing that had ever happened to me. I’d thrown away love for a mirage and now I was left with nothing but regrets and the painful memory of what I’d lost forever.

This story is based on a true story. All the names in the story have been changed.