Hi,
Im a 20 year old and I have never had a serious relationship. I always seem to go for the wrong people, play it cool when i should have tried and vice versa. I recently left my job where I worked with a guy Derek. I've liked him since the first time I met him and I think he likes me back but he has always had a girlfriend so I have never made a move.
In Uni there is a guy I noticed in my lectures called Dom and I just really had a thing for him the minute I saw him. One day, a year ago, I decided to take control of the situation and I handed him my number on a piece of paper and told him to text me if he was interested. He text me later that day for a while until I got a message saying "Sorry that was actually my friend texting you, I have a girlfriend". Rather than get embarrassed or upset I just laughed it off.
Two weeks later I was out and I bump into Derek. Next thing Dom comes over and is chatting to me. It turns out Dom and Derek are best friends and Dom had just broken up with his gf. Eventually I end up kissing Dom and I told him he could come to my friends house for a party but nothing else was going to happen. He asked if I had condoms, I repeated that nothing would happen, and as we were on our way to the taxi rank he said he was actually going to go home which I said was fine. Later that night he text me asking where the party was and I just replied that I thought he was going home.
Two weeks after that I was out and drunk and I text Dom seeing if he was out. He text back and was acting like such an ass,pretending he didnt know me and making me out to be a clingy weirdo even though Im not like that at all.. He even told me that "he was really drunk that night" (so if he knows the night im talking about then he knows me) and told me to "stop reminiscing on something he couldnt even remember". After that I decided he wasnt worth my time. I didnt care about the situation because I understand he was just out of a two year relationship. However after that he would look at me in lectures the whole time. When we came back to Uni this year I was not really thinking about him but recently hes been staring at me again and sitting near me in class and I felt like the feelings were reignited. One day I was really hyper with my friend when Dom was sitting near me so we were laughing loads and now he avoids me when he sees me but still will stare at me, sometimes he actually stops walking like and just looks. (i know that sounds creepy but its more of a complimenting stare than a stalkerish stare)
I dont know what to do because I know he wasnt very nice to me and Ive too much pride to make a move again. I also am aware that anything that happens would be repeated back to Derek and I actually care about his opinion. All my friends say I can do better than Dom but i just really like him and cant get him out of my head. SOme people think I only want what I cant have, because even though I know he likes me hes too shy to do anything about it.. Desperate for advice at this stage?