I am secretly holding on to that “hope” even though I told her “I need to let go of that hope you’ve given me. To me it felt like a fantasy, I have to move on so i can focus on myself.” I met her before I broke it off with my ex best friend. For 16 years my hope of being with my ex best friend in a romantic relationship was difficult to let go when she kept showing signs that she wanted me to stay while I was trying to move on. She kept me close due to her own selfish needs, I foolishly fell for it everytime. Until she suddenly stopped talking to me, when I confronted my ex best friend about this she just flat out said to me “Friends grow apart” “You stopped giving in the effort” I realized she was jealous of my long distance friend. I had to end it cause she always was jealous of anyone who was close to me. Men or women. I have trust issues and fear of being in unrequited love again. So if this new close friend of mine wants to be more with me then she must be patience, go slow and tell me she wants to be more than friends. Yes, I have talked to her about this in full detail.