So there is a girl at work who's been with the company for a couple of years and I've liked her pretty much from when she's started. The problem is that my department and her department know this and its been used to wind both of us up. For instance the first Christmas she was at the company her department did a Secret Santa and someone bought her a mug with my photo of my face on it. Although she did start using it!
The winding up did stop eventually but the other issue I face is that her department are very gossipy and have painted a picture of me that I'm someone who is dull and boring, which couldn't be further from the truth. A friend of mine did tell he that I liked her and she said that she wasn't interested. But a year is a long time and she's been in a relationship since but it ended a few months back.
She's now gone away on holiday for 2 weeks and since she's left I can't stop thinking about her and it gives me butterflies. I really want to get to know this girl, to be able to take her on spontaneous weekend trips away, to visit places neither of us have been to, to go to events none of us have done before. But at the same time I don't know how to approach it, or if I will get rejected. I know that she is a really confident girl and that there is a 5 year age difference between us. What should I do?