Well, I was finally able to get a hold of her tonight and talk a little bit about this. I guess she's not super-mad or anything... but I asked if she still wants to hang out and stuff and she said, "I don't care."
I don't know about you, but I've had enough experience with girls now to know that you don't tell someone you want to be in a relationship with that you don't care if you hang out or not. What this tells me is that it's pretty obvious she and I have different goals for what will happen with the two of us.
Now, the twist is that there's a girl named Christina who I've liked for a really long time. I liked her even before I met Annie, but she didn't have any time for a relationship at the time, and by the time I found out she'd be able to have the time, I'd already met Annie and had been dropping hints and stuff, so I didn't want to just pull out of that and go running back to Christina. I didn't think it would be fair to myself or to Annie, so I wanted to keep up with that and see if there's anything there. But I was always in a bit of a love triangle, I guess, because I didn't just stop liking Christina when Annie was there.
I checked with Christina to make sure she wouldn't feel like she's the "second choice" girl. It's not like I'm going, "oh, Annie's not working out so I'll get together with Christina just because she's there just so I'll have someone." Christina and I are very comfortable around each other and we seem to communicate quite well. We also have a lot of things in common, especially in how we like our relationships to be. This part is important, because I've had trouble with that driving the girl away in the past (I need the relationship defined... as in, it actually being said that we're going out, instead of just dating and figuring it out that way... you together? Gee, never really thought about that... yeah, I'm more along the lines of "are we together?" yes or no).
So I'd venture to guess that a relationship with her would work out well, and it's looking like we're about ready to give it a shot.
My only worry is a what if... what if Annie really did want a relationship after all? I can reassure myself, because what she said makes it look like she doesn't... and I think she'd be understanding or wouldn't really care too much when I tell her about my decision anyway. I don't want to stop talking to Annie... but I'm thinking more now that I'd be doing what's best for myself if I explored things further with Christina.