doomed to remain single for the rest of my life

I recently realized that I am doomed to remain single for the rest of my life. Depressing, I know. But I can explain.

I have been in love with a girl for many many years. Probably around 6. It's slowly dawning on me, that this girl probably doesn't care for me in quite the same way I do for her. Not only that, she's a very good friend and I don't want to be that guy that hits on his friend and loses the friendship.

I don't think she would very happy with me and truthfully, I don't deserve her. I thought I was ready to ask her on a date last month. Then I realized, I will never be ready to ask a good friend on a date. I want everything about it to go perfectly. I had everything planned. And then, I chickened out.

To continue, the reason I will be doomed to remain single for the rest of my life, or at least, a very long time, is because I refuse to lower my standards. So far, no other girl has come even close to comparing to my friend. Anything else will make me feel like I'm settling. And this is not how I feel about it right now. This is how I have felt about it for over a year. I've thought about it a lot. And I know, if I ever meet anyone else, I will always wonder what my life would be like if it was my friend I was with instead of whoever I would be with.