There’s something about the word “crush” that carries with it some pessimism.

Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that when people talk about their “crush,” the implication is that we’re discussing someone you want to be with but that you know you never will.

Not always the case though, as Reddit user ExtraCrispyTater revealed:

What is it like to successfully get with your crush?
byu/ExtraCrispyTater inAskReddit

So what IS it like when it actually happens? Let’s find out what folks had to say.

1. Rock and roll.

Had a crush on this punk with liberty spikes when I was 12 now I’m 33 and he’s the guy in a cbgb shirt playing video games with our daughters.

Together 18 years.

He still makes my heart skip a beat

– Trashbat8

2. The feeling is mutual.

My bf had a crush on me for a few months before he confessed to liking me, he was surprised when I told him I liked him too

– pencat5

3. The one we all wanted.

I didn’t find out until a few years later that my crush…and that’s a bit of a stretch…was actually crushing on me.

Tracie was this waitress at the restaurant where I was a cook. I say it was a stretch that she was my crush because I was far from the only one. We all wanted her, and she was way out of our league. All of us.

Tracie was working on her Master’s degree while she was waiting tables, and was far too intelligent, classy, and beautiful to get with any of us slobs working in the kitchen. She was nice, though, and over the years we got to be friends.

Then she got her degree, was moving on, and we had a going away party for her at our favorite bar. A few of us closed it down, and Tracie and I wound up in the parking lot afterwards in that “I will miss you so much and it’s also freeze-*ss cold out here” embrace. She was very emotional and I asked her what was wrong.

She said something like “I wish we’d been more than just friends.” Well, sh*t. You couldn’t have told me this a couple years ago? We wound up making out (that’s what we called it back then) in that parking lot for awhile. It was what she’d always wanted to do, and I had no idea I could have done. It was a revelation.

Yet it was fleeting. She was leaving, I was staying, and it was never going to be anything more than that moment.

About a year later she came back for a mutual friend’s wedding, and at the reception we wound up together again. It was still there…that thing between us…but it was even further away from being possible.

It was nice to know, though, that if circumstances had been different and I hadn’t been such a clueless idiot, it could have turned out different.

– gogojack

4. How did this happen?

Crazy lol honestly doesn’t feel real sometimes.

We apparently both liked each other in high school and tried flirting with each other a couple of times but we are both horrible at picking up signs.

Took a late night ‘how have you been’ conversation to finally realized we like each other all that time.

No idea what he sees in me but he’s amazing, currently planning a wedding for next year. 🙂

oh and he’s waaayyy more of a dork then I originally thought but that just makes me love him more.

– Nightfall_2000

5. A moving story.

Surreal.

I developed a crush on a coworker a few months before I was moving cross country.

I tried to squash it because I knew there was no point in pursuing it, but it turned out to be mutual.

We started seeing each other, and 4 months into our relationship, he moved 2000 miles away with me.

– PsychedelicGoat42

6. Like on the screen.

It was rather an amazing thing.

It was like a movie or series with insane sexual tension you know before the two characters finally get together

Except it’s real and it’s you and the satisfaction is mind blowing

11 years last December

– Dread_Wolf_TakeMe

7. Game over.

Honestly it’s weird.

The thrill of the hunt is over.

– mmm-pistol-whip

8. What might have been.

Had a crush on him from middle school through high school.

We dated like 7 months and he cheated on me. It’s frustrating.

I’d rather have never got with them at all but maybe it’s important to follow that sort of experience through so you don’t look back with rose colored classes at the what could have been and compare future relationships to that.

– Astronomy-clown

9. Grateful for the time.

Amazing.

I had a crush on this guy in college. He was the popular, extroverted type and I was the shy type who had never even had a boyfriend and only knew unrequited love.

We ended up becoming very good friends. I never thought we would be more than this.

One day out of the blue he tells me he wants to kiss me. We end up hooking up.

Two months later he breaks it off because he wants to be with other girls (typical, I know). I was heart broken but went on with my life. It was almost graduation so I was happy to spend the end of college with friends.

A few days after graduation he starts coming around alot and texting me… long story short we end up dating for 4 years (and live together for 3). 8 months ago he got the opportunity to move across the country and decided to break up with me because he’s really just scared of commitment. Sad, but honestly the relationship was worth it.

I feel lucky to have had the opportunity to be with someone who i never thought I would get. And it was better than my expectations.

And he was very kind to me when he left and I will go on with my life but maybe someday we will meet again.

– puppy1994c

10. A rollercoaster.

Initially euphoric, then rock-bottom heartbreaking.

Finally got with crush for like a week and had to part our separate ways bc we both moved away from college.

He was cool tho.

– name_is_dan

11. Wine and dine.

Crushed on her hard while I was working retail.

I’d look for her in the streets whenever I was in the neighborhood. She had a bf and the area had a good bit of nightlife so I’d see her often while I worked.

One day she came into the wine shop looking for some quick fix, she was upset. We spoke and I got her number, texted her to check in, and nothing came of it.

A few months later I happen to catch her and her bf together in a train cart randomly, I’m sad but I understand.

A year later, she sees me waiting for the bus and we hit it off.

Been together almost 4 years now, if you told me she’d be sleeping next to me as I type this 4 years later, I’d laugh in your face.

– dreamtoimagine

12. The best.

It’s the best.

I was crushing super hard on a guy I knew a little but from high school but had gotten super cute in college.

After weeks of seeing him where he worked over break, I decided to swoop in and ask him out right before he went back to his college.

It was a little awkward at first but he’s even more awesome than I knew and we’ve been married 21 years.

– educationofbetty

13. Things fall apart.

It was nice at first.

The honeymoon phase hit different with her, and I was investing a ton into it.

Then after a few fights, and both of our emotions getting to the best of us we just drifted apart. Then we broke up, and kept acting like we were dating even though I knew we weren’t.

It kinda sucked and then we fought again, and I haven’t talked to her since.

I miss her sometimes, and I hope she’s doing well.

– p*ssyflute69

14. A mixed bag.

It’s intoxicating and addicting both, with all the positives and negatives that entails

– brianxlr4

15. Like…

Like warm apple pie.

– SaberRawk

Sounds delicious!

Have you been with a crush? What’s it like?

Tell us in the comments.