<human>: Provide a brief overview of the text.

I've always been quite feminine, to the point where people have on many occasions thought I was gay.

As such, I've only ever been able to become friends with girls. Guys just tend to annoy me.

I've never had a girlfriend. However, the two people I've felt an attraction to (Who have both been my closest friends) have not returned my feelings. On both occasions, the spectacular emotional connection I had with the person was destroyed when I said how I was feeling.

I've just gotten really disappointed and discouraged by those failures, and I'm extremely scared of the possible repercussions of trying again. 

What can I do to segregate "friend" from "potential future partner" in my mind? Due to my lack of experience, I can't even see the difference here. What's the difference between dating someone and being a close friend?
<bot>: I'm clueless as to how to go about not dating people, and I don't even know what dating means besides friendship and companionship.