Alex,

I know that you probably don’t want to read this and I understand why. We haven’t talked at all since my mom called you and told you that Yara and I had been hanging out a lot. My mom was completely speaking out of school there and I’m sorry that you needed to hear that from her and not from me. We weren’t even really doing anything at that moment and my mom assumed a lot of things. You know how my mom can be sometimes so I was a little surprised that you took it the way that you did.

The thing is, now I am dating your sister. I am happy with your sister. This is where I would normally apologize and be the awkward dude that I am. But I’m not going to do that. I’m not going to do that because I’m not going to apologize for having feelings for your sister. For a long time I didn’t do anything about those feelings because I didn’t want to ruin my friendship with you. I really valued my friendship with you a lot because we grew up together and we had a lot of fun times. I don’t know that happened to that Alex but he’s not the guy that I know now.

Yara is beautiful and bright and so strong. She’s a wonderful person and I love her. Yes, I love her and I’m not going to apologize for that either. I’ve been through a lot in the past year and your sister is the one person who has been there for me, as a friend, and I can’t thank her enough for it. This year has been absolute hell and I’ve gone through a lot of shit and my depression and anxiety has been crazy. But she’s always stuck by my side and never made fun of me or thought that I was some kind of inconvenience. I’ll always be there for her too because she is worth it.

The thing is, I let you come between my friendship with her before. I always said that I couldn’t act on my feelings because I valued our friendship but you don’t value it. I have other friends too, I have Drew (who has been more of a friend than you ever have been and who understands me better than most) and others. I don’t need to have someone who barely checks in on me and who wants to dictate every part of my life.

But the main part of this is Yara. She doesn’t need me to email you and threaten you because, let’s face it, we both know she can handle herself without me. But you need to stay away from her. This isn’t a threat but I will do everything in my power to protect her. She is so important to me and I will not have anything happen to her. I love her, Alex. I have for a long time and I’m glad and proud that I can finally say it.

I didn’t think I could actually write this email because you know I don’t do confrontation very well but it needed to be said. I intend on staying with your sister, whether it is as friends or otherwise, and that isn’t going to change. It won’t change because I’m happy and I think she’s happy and I am going to do everything in my power to keep it that way. Because she deserves it. She’s worth it. I’m never going to apologize for that. Ever.

I wish that I never had to write this email but it needed to happen. If you want to talk in person, let me know. Otherwise, goodbye.

- Gabe