Hi guys! I'm completely new here, and honestly I'm hopeless with guys. Alot of that comes from my own lack of self-confidence - like I honestly just can't believe a guy would be interested in me, so I start to completely discount the possibility of a relationship - but that's a bit off topic and maybe a separate post all it's own.
Anyway, I've been working with this guy for maybe 8 months now, and recently we've been getting along really well. Probably partly because it just takes me a while to warm up to people. But he's super-nice, definitely goes out of his way to make me laugh, and he teases/jokes with me alot. Like for example, the other night we walked out of our office together, and he started singing at the top of his lungs to embarass me. Just silly stuff like that, but now it's pretty much all the time.
We're very open with each other, and he's confided alot of things that he's asked me to keep private. But this jokey/teasey is kind of new, and recently one of our co-workers has been asking me if I'd think about going out with him (and no, I'm pretty sure he didn't put her up to asking, I think she's just noticing our friendship and trying to play matchmaker). I feel like, since she's asked, that there's probably gossip among our co-workers going in that direction. I guess I should mention, too, that there's an age difference, with me being older by a little over 9 years. Add to that the fact that I feel like an unattractive person, you can see why I doubt my perception that he may be interested.
The frustrating part is that, because we work closely together, if either of us ever made a move, things could go awkward pretty quickly. So what do you guys think? Could he possibly be interested, or are we just friends? And if you were in the situation that we're in, would you ever make a move, or just keep it professional? And, I guess, how can I let him know that I'd be interested without giving too much away, which could result in horrible awkwardness?