9 Guys Wax Poetic About The Women They Loved Who "Got Away” They’ll never quite get over them. Shutterstock

If you don’t have a “one who got away” story, then count yourself among the fortunate. It’s never a fun tale to tell or reminisce about, but it is one that stays in the back of the mind probably forever, just waiting to pop up out of nowhere one day when you hear a certain song or smell a certain scent or see an otherwise unremarkable object that throws you into a super-strong fit of nostalgia where you ask yourself over and over something like, “What would have happened if we had made it work?”

For me, the woman who got away is named Cara. I fell in love with her shortly after we met at a local swimming pool when I was 13 years old. She was the first girl I ever had real, genuine romantic feelings for. And even as I've gotten older and had other experiences, I still can't help but think about the first girl I was truly in like with. When I smell suntan lotion or hear Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl” or see a Pirates of the Caribbean movie on TV (it was our first date; my dad drove me to the theater), I am immediately jettisoned back to the brief times we were together through high school. I still think about her and I can’t help it. I actually just had a sex dream involving her not too long ago.

It didn’t work out because I f**ked things up. And she’s happily married now. But we remain friends, so I have that going for me. Which is nice.

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ANYWAY. Here are some other men's stories—you'll probably find them a little more insightful than mine.

“I loved her, but she was kind of crazy. I’m not saying crazy in the way that guys are like 'Oh, all girls are crazy!' I could tell you some stories. There was a lot of verbal abuse and stuff like that, but when we were in the middle of a good time, it was amazing. We loved being around each other, and the sex was awesome. Those are the things I can’t forget—the really, really good times. I was infatuated. But I also can’t forget the really, really bad times. Remembering those is how I keep from ever trying to go back to a relationship with her.” —Ryann C.

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“Her name was Claire, and I think the reason I can’t forget her is that she was definitely the first girl I really loved, which means that, for better or worse, I’ll probably be comparing all other women to her for the rest of my life. I think it’s unrealistic that we would have stayed together all through high school and then gotten married, especially since we ended up going to college across the country from one another, which is essentially why we eventually called it quits. But I still wonder what it would have been like if we did. I probably wouldn’t ever reconnect with her or anything, though. She dropped all contact with me a couple years ago because her boyfriend wanted her to. She could be engaged by now. Or dead. I really don’t know.” —Sam H.
 

“I think what we had, when we had it, it was so easy. I don’t know if it’s because I was younger or if it’s more of a credit to the great chemistry we had…it might be some combination of both, actually. I know that relationships aren’t exactly supposed to be easy, but we just really got along, never fought, really understood and respected each other. It didn’t end badly, just sadly. I chose to take a job opportunity that would put us far away from each other, and she did not want to do long distance or move from our hometown, so that was that. Maybe someday if both of us don’t end up married and we end up in the same town I’ll try and reconnect romantically with her, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. That’d be some serious Nicholas Sparks stuff.” —Vincent F.

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“We had a lot of problems that ultimately did us in, but my 'one who got away' was amazing. I still think about her all of the time. What I loved most about her was that she was one of the few people I’ve ever known who truly couldn’t care less what other people thought about her or what she was doing—like just literally did not give a sh*t, which mean she also didn’t care what people thought about what I was doing. It was amazing. I haven’t been with another girl like that since. I don’t think there will be any rekindling, though, because, like I said, we had a lot of other problems, ones that I think would probably creep back into our relationship if we tried to go another round.” —Noah R.
 

“Lisa was definitely the one. I still can’t get over hot pretty she is. In fact, I should probably stop following her on Instagram. It just hurts too much. I know this probably sounds shallow that her looks are what I always think about, but it’s true. I can’t believe I ever even had sex with her. I was totally batting out of my league, really outkicking my coverage. Sometimes, I still reach out to her, but nothing really comes of it. We’re friends, but that’s probably the extent of it. I bet she gets really good-looking guys a lot.” —Brad S.

“I miss her smile a lot. Is that corny? Yeah, for sure, but I do miss it. I sometimes remember how hard I would try to make her smile and how rewarding it was when she did.” —Simon M.

“Love can be a terrible thing because I’m pretty sure I’m still in love with this girl named Renee. It actually makes me mad at myself since we broke up because she cheated on me. She just had this kind of hold or power over me that I haven’t been able to really forget about. But we'll never be together again. Because she cheated on me!” —Amir L.
 

“We had a good thing going, but then when we were in 11th grade, her family moved. We tried to keep it going for a while, I even went and visited, but eventually, she called things off and moved on. It’s understandable. I don’t hold it against her, but I wish things would have been different. The thing I always think about is what the future might have been like if she hadn’t moved. But none of that matters now. She met another guy and married young. She has a couple kids now.” —Tyler F.

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Scott Muska is a writer in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter @scottmuska or e-mail him at srm5082@gmail.com.