Deciphering friend's behavior

[ConfusedThrowAway777]

I'm male and 32, she's female and 22.

Ok, so I've been divorced for about 6 months, was married for 6 years and with my ex a total of 10 years. I'm going back to school for a bachelor's degree in a different field and the program I'm in is all the same people for the full two years. There's 40 of us, so I've gotten to know some of them pretty well.

 

This semester I was put into a project with a girl I had only briefly talked to in the past. I wouldn't say we're good friends, but we are definitely friends. I'm trying to decipher her signals towards me. Whenever we go to our post project conferences, she'll sit to me whenever she can. We carpool with a few others and she almost always chooses to sit next to me. When we go on tours of different, she'll either walk beside me or come stand next to me when we stop to have something explained.

 

We have the same sense of humor and joke around a lot. I've caught her staring at me a few times (and TBH she's caught me doing the same thing). We have to pair up with someone in our project group and go to a seminar and she immediately asked if I wanted to be her partner (of course I said yes). In class she'll always sit behind me and kicks my chair or pokes me - and yes I realize this is very gradeschoolish. There are a few other guys in the class and I've observed her interacting with them - completely different than how she interacts with me. I've been out of the relationship loop for a while and my ex-wife did wonders (sarcasm) for my self-esteem and self-confidence.

 

I'm just trying to figure out what her behavior could mean. Thanks and sorry if this seems a little choppy and disjointed - I've had an extremely long day and an even longer week.

Edited July 26, 2013 by a LoveShack.org Moderator

[Imported]

When I have gone on business trips in a group or hang out with friends in a group, the women that I end up having sex with from the group almost never want to sit next to me, one of them went out of her way to avoid sitting next to me. I was like wtf, do I stink or something holy ****. Instead they sit next to whatever guy that seems the least likely to be attractive for them. This is not always the situation, so I can't really say for you at all, but that has been my experience. Women sometimes to find a "safe guy".