Don't know how to make this less awkward with this guy...

[erkin1460]

I joined a sports club last year at my university and have made a lot of good friends on the team. There was this guy who I was friendly with but we didn't really talk too much. He's really outgoing with the other people on the team and I've tried to start conversations with him since he was good friends with my other teammates and seemed nice, but I can't get much out of him. After my attempts at getting to know him better, to compensate he would physically poke fun at me. I would too back because he finally lightened up around me. He would do this also with the other girls on the team, so I assumed it was his way of opening up. But then it would get to the point of him jumping on me (I'm taller than him btw) and it was a little much for me (almost dropped him lol). I think he realized that and our relationship started to turn back into not interacting much.

 

I started to get really busy with schoolwork and didn't go to my club for a few weeks. So I didn't see him for a while. Then I was invited to a party with some of my teammates and this guy was also there. Thing is, he apparently drank so much that he was asleep before I arrived. When I got there he woke up and flirted with me the whole night, a lot more than what he was doing in our club. And it was only to me. I was sort of blindsided because I thought he didn't really like me much. I was glad we could talk more, but a little confused by his drastic change of attitude towards me. He was very sweet to me and even put his number into my phone. But when I saw him next he still didn't talk to me much. I said one thing to him, he responded lightheartedly, and that was it. I also texted him once and got a curt reply.

 

Now I'm in that awkward stage where he hardly interacts with me at all. It seems as if he's even avoiding partnering up with me anymore. We used to every once in a while and he gave me tips before, now I can't name one time we have after that incident. And I don't know what to do without kind of....leading him on? He's single and so am I, but I just want to be friends. He'll be on the team when we come back from summer vacation, so I want to patch things up between us in the short amount of time we have before vacation, especially since he's good friends with my main friends in the club. I'm trying to reach out to him as a friend and I can't diffuse this awkwardness between us, help!

[CeeLambrini]

I think if he has feelings for you and knows that you're only interested in a friendship, he will naturally start to back off. Flirting all night with someone who doesn't reciprocate isn't fun, and him looking back on the night the next day probably had him incredibly embarrassed.

[Sportster2005]

I think he's just embarrassed for being a drunken doofus. Don't sweat it. He'll come around or he won't. Either way you did nothing wrong to him, and if he's awkward that's his problem, not yours.

[erkin1460]

To be honest, when he was flirting with me I kind of flirted back because I had a few shots in me and started to give in to how sweet he was...but it wasn't a lot. He kept feeding me potato chips when I was playing a game (lol), then I got tired and leaned into him when he pulled me towards him on a couch and he eventually held my hand. I guess I just kind of let him without doing much about it. I feel a little guilty and I just wish things went better between us. Thank you guys for the input.