After 18 years of friendship, this couple finally realised their true feelings for each other and fell in love.
Deborah Rosado, residing in Orlando, Florida, USA, met her best friend Micheal Briskey, from Texas, USA, when they were just teenagers in high school.
After they spent the past year travelling together, the pair finally found themselves both single for the first time and their feelings soon came to light.
Deborah said: “It was like that realization of if you don’t take this chance you are gonna regret it for the rest of your life, because you’re gonna always live with the ‘what if?’.
“I was either gonna be the main character of My Best Friend’s Wedding, which was my biggest nightmare, or you’re just gonna go for it and let this man love you and you love him back and live the happiest life you can possibly live.”
Deborah and Micheal, also known as Briskey, grew up in Germany together during their teenage years, as both of their parents were based there in the military.
When their parents retired Deborah returned home to Puerto Rico and Micheal went back to Texas but the pair remained close friends and would have annual check-ins on the phone.
However, when Deborah’s brother moved to Texas, the friends managed to reunite in person once a year at his Fourth of July parties.
Despite their close bond, the two never saw each other as anything other than friends and even met one another’s former partners throughout their 18 years of friendship.
Deborah said: “Growing up all our friends used to say that me and Briskey would be perfect together and I’d always tell them to get the idea out of their heads.
“We were always in a relationship our entire lives growing up and that was the dynamic, so I never even looked at us ever being together.
“We were just friends, and it was always gonna be that.
“This year was the first year we didn’t have a significant other and we were just single for the very first time.”
Micheal admitted to having a crush on Deborah during high school but soon realised he was stuck in the friendzone so never pursued anything.
The potential of the pair’s relationship kindling into something more never seemed to be on the cards, as they were both never single at the same time.
The stars finally aligned in January 2024 after Micheal leaned on his closest friend for support after his breakup, and the pair became closer than ever and began facetiming everyday.
After many romantic holidays, to the likes of Guatemala and Iceland, and some subtle flirting from Micheal’s behalf, it wasn’t until Deborah’s Fourth of July in Florida where their potential feelings arose.
The romance came to a high after Micheal showed Deborah the song Black Friday by Tom Odell, and after listening to the lyrics she realised that he was in love with her, and she might be too.
After many tears and doubts over potentially ruining their 18 years of friendship, on their trip to Mexico just 10 days later, Deborah took the leap of faith and the couple have been inseparable ever since.
Deborah explained: “After 18 years of just friendship, it’s hard to envision moving from friends to romance.
“That was my disconnect because what would that even look like and would I mess it up and then that’s 18 years of friendship down the drain.”
“It wasn’t until July that everybody came down to my home in Florida for the Fourth of July weekend.
“I was taking him to the airport, and he made me listen to this song by Tom Odell called Black Friday.
“I’m listening to the song and listening to the lyrics, and I realise that this man loves me!”
She added: “Here’s this man that clearly loves you and you could possibly be the happiest person in this entire world, yet you’re letting fear just take over you.
“It wasn’t until that moment when I’m listening to this song, looking at this man that literally loves me so much, that it literally hit me like, ‘oh my God, I think I like him’.
“He left that trip thinking it’s never going to happen between us and I left thinking he’s the love of my life.
“This was like a silent conversation, because we’ve never once in our lives even talked about the subject of us liking each other like that.”
The pair had a trip to Mexico with their friends planned just 10 days after Deborah’s realisation and she decided to come up with a plan.
She said: “Our friends knew of my plan and didn’t want to mess it up as this was a dream come true for everybody in our lives.
“Our friend’s parents were looking forward to this moment – this is a dream come true for families.
“It’s been 18 years, I wasn’t gonna build up the moment.
“I wanted to go for it and give him a kiss and that’s literally what I did.
“When the kiss was done, he was just like, ‘I waited 18 years for this moment and it was worth it’.
“After that, we’ve just been inseparable.”
Deborah explained: “We each have had our own lives during the 18 years, as he has a daughter and I had my whole life.
“I’m just so grateful we did have our own lives as we came into this with a fresh mind and sense of gratitude and appreciation for one another.
“I’m head over heels and this is the man of my dreams.”