Hey, y'all. I'm looking for some advice and maybe some different perspectives on my situation...So, I'm 18 years old and have never been in a romantic relationship before. I have a hard enough time even just making friends...so I always figure that if I can't even just make friends, it's probably unlikely a romantic relationship would ever happen for me. So, I try not to think about it. But, I've always been a hopeless romantic. Even so, that doesn't mean I've always wanted to be in a relationship. I just see love everywhere and it's always interested me. As I grow older though, I think I'm actually starting to want someone to love. The thing is, I feel old...Is it too late for me? I mean, everyone I know has had some experience, even if it wasn't a real relationship that lasted and I have...nothing.

There's this one guy I was in science class with in middle school. We met up again in high school and when we did, he kept saying he wanted to date me. But after thinking about it and seeing that he says that with every girl, I told him straight out that I wasn't interested. He insists that he knows me and that we are like the same person and always wants to meet up with me even though I feel that I've been explicitly clear that I will not date him or be anything more than friends. Sure, we were in the same class together for one year in middle school...but he didn't know me all the years in between and even then, we were never close friends. I know in my heart I don't like him like that at all. I just don't. But he keeps insisting and tells me that settling for him is better than ending up alone.

I seem to be generally well-liked by people, I try and put myself out there, and I think that I also look pretty average too. So, I never thought of myself as someone people would go out of their way to date or as very pretty or anything like that...but I never thought the only way to try and find love would be by "settling" for someone I just don't like.

I realize that I don't even know how most people find their partner in life..I just want someone to love, understand, grow old with, and laugh with. Maybe my expectations are too high? Is he right? Should I just give up and settle? Is there something..wrong with me because I've never been loved romantically before at this age? It makes me feel like a loser...and I'm not sure what the right thing to do would be...if anything