Having a high school crush is an experience I'm sure we can all relate to. It's wild to think that there was someone who literally made your hands sweaty when they walked past you, and now their existence could be totally obsolete in your life years later.
So, when Reddit user u/AdInevitable9740 asked the question, "How did your high school crush end up in life?" In r/AskReddit, I knew there would be an impressive level of online snooping, wild experiences, and fate. Here's what people had to say:
1. "I was 14. At the beginning of the new school year, I was running late to my new English class. The class was too full to accommodate myself and a few others, so at the last minute, I was switched to another English class with different people, teachers, etc."
2. "She’s a doctor now. Dual specialist. Last I heard, she was in the kitchen, making pancakes for dinner tonight for our three-year-old son."
3. "I was a loser; he was a hot skater, and he didn’t know I existed. He became a model after high school, and I ended up becoming a pretty popular DJ. Years later, I was playing a rather large show, and afterwards, he approached me and asked me out."
4. "We dated for 10 years after high school. We bought a house together, and then she had an affair with my brother and has been my sister-in-law for the last 27 years. And yes, it took time (and some therapy sessions), but we are all cool now."
5. "It turned out that we were both gay. Most hilarious breakup I've ever had. Hands down the best, but we fell out of touch. But yeah, he said something along the lines of, 'I don't know how I feel about kissing women, but I have enjoyed sex with men,' and I gotta say I felt the same way reversed. Every man I've ever thought I liked has been extremely gay. And I didn't start dating women until after high school."
6. "My high school boyfriend was gorgeous — tall, blond, clean-shaven, with classically handsome bone structure. He modeled a bit after high school, and then I lost touch with our mutual friends. I tried to find him online (bored, curious), and he has zero online presence and a relatively common name."
"I went down a rabbit hole and found his mom and brother on Facebook, and his mom had a picture with him in the background. He’s a big biker dude with tons of facial hair. If mom hadn’t captioned the photo, I’d never in a million years have known it was him."
7. "He ended up marrying his cousin, same last name and everything. They have two kids. I dodged a bullet by not actually dating him. But then again, we wouldn’t have ended up together because we aren’t related enough, I guess."
8. "Man, if you had asked this five years ago, I would have said, living exactly the charmed upper middle class life everyone expected him to live. Degree from a good university, a beautiful wife, a beautiful home, kids, trips abroad. The good life."
"Come to find out that he was subsidizing that life with a smidge of fraud and a touch of addiction to prescription pain medication. We’re talking about a federal investigation. Truly the biggest shock of my life."
9. "She turned out alright. I was surprised she became a stay-at-home mom and housewife with two kids when we caught up with one another in 2022. I was even more surprised to learn she apparently had a crush on me back in high school, but I was apparently oblivious to her back then."
10. "She married a doctor, has a pile of awesome kids, and is having a much better life than I could have ever provided her. I know we both still love each other, but I also know myself, and I know she has the life she deserves with someone who can both make her happy and provide better for her. I've made peace with it because it's more important to me that she's happy and fulfilled than with me."
11. "I sat across from her in first period class, and I barely said two words to her the entire time; I was far too intimidated. She was off-the-charts pretty and was dating older guys. I had no shot. Although she did poorly in high school and her family was kind of a mess, she got herself through a masters program and a few bad relationships."
12. "A few years ago, he messaged me, apologizing for his behavior in high school. I didn’t question it, but I think he was working his steps. I accepted his apology, thanked him, and said that we both have families and lives that are so much more important than whatever high school was. We wish each other a happy birthday every year on Facebook, and that works for us."
13. "She was my high school crush — kind, caring, just full of life. We've become close friends. I proposed, but she chose the other guy, and I wished them nothing but happiness. They were married until she came home and found her husband in bed with his coworker."
14. "He's looking after his mother at her beck and call 24/7. She solved all his problems, so he never really learned how to be an adult properly. He was forced to quit school and work full time after his dad left."
"He had a full-ride scholarship to a prestigious university and had to let it go. He currently works at Wal-Mart, has a long-time partner whom he perpetually cheats on, and is profoundly unhappy. I wish he was better or hope he gets better and finds his happiness. He's not a bad guy, just a victim of circumstance."
15. "I married her and divorced her. It was amicable; we had different aspirations in life and wanted different lifestyles. She loved the city (I hate it) but had changed jobs to cut her commute when we bought a house. I could tell she wasn’t happy. I wasn’t surprised that the first thing she did post-divorce was to move to the city. The first thing I did was get a cat, lol."
16. "He died. He went in for a common surgery — some kind of shoulder rotator cuff thing and he developed a pulmonary embolism. It can happen to anyone after surgery. He went to recovery, was discharged from the hospital two days later, and then died in his sleep that night at home. He was 35 years old."
"He co-owned a local Irish restaurant and pub with his best friend. He never married, had no kids, but adored his siblings children. He was a dick when we were young, but grew up to be a pretty nice guy."
And finally, here's one that proves, "if it's meant to be, it will be.":
17. "She was lovely. We were in a small, close-knit group of friends. I remember going out one Friday evening, and when she held my hand, I was ecstatic. I know today that she didn't fancy me or even see me in that light, as we have discussed it. She knows she was my school crush. I moved away when I was 16. I saw her once, briefly, when I visited when I was 18 and always looked for her when I returned to my home village."
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.