Recently, I applied for a job at my local Walgreens in my town. I got the job about a week later, and met some really cool people there. I did not realize that I would start a relationship with one of my coworkers, however, and was thrown off- guard when he told me he liked me. We hung out for a month, and went from seeing each other only at work and once or twice on our off days to hanging out every day and every night. There is a year age gap, he is 18 and I am 17, and immediately, when we started talking I knew that was going to be an issue. I still live at home since I haven’t finished high school, and he is in his second year of college. After our numerous dates and long nights spent driving and cuddling, I started to realize that the feelings I thought I had for him were really just longings for physical contact from someone other than my family. I started to understand that the romantic feelings I had for him were now platonic, and I really only wanted to hang out with him as friends. However, I am now stuck. Everyday he texts me how much he misses me and thinks I’m cute, wants to see me, etc…. and I don’t feel the same. I am nervous to end things, simply because we work together and I know it’s going to be really awkward, and partly because I don’t want to ruin the friendship that we had before. With school, sports, clubs and working two jobs, I barely have any time for myself, let alone I boy I thought I was romantically interested in. How do I end things without ruining them, and how do I make sure that I am feeling okay after I end it?