LostInTheWind Posted January 18, 2014 Posted January 18, 2014 I'm a graduate assistant at the university I attend and I work at a program that provides support services for the undergraduate students. We hired new staff over the summer. I've gotten the chance to talk to/hang out with a few new staff members but not all of them. One of the newbies is a guy who seems to be very nice and friendly but, kind of quiet, reserved and somewhat shy. I am that way too. I never really got the chance to talk to him at the beginning, up until some point halfway through the semester. In my opinion, our conversations are pretty much always interesting. Most of them have been conversations in which we got to know each other a bit and in my opinion, we relate kind of well to one another. We often find something to laugh at and things that we have in common. The conversations flow. He complimented me twice on two different jackets that I've worn. One day, while I was at work, we had a conversation that lasted about half an hour, where we talked about various topics and when I had to leave for class, he decided to leave as well. It was the end of the day. As we walked out, he asked me what building my class was in. I told him and instead of going home, he said he would walk over to that building too since the program we work for was having an event (that was just about to end) at that time and he said wanted to stop by briefly to check things out. So, we walked over together. A couple of days after that, I approached him right before I left work and we spoke very briefly. He asked me if I was working the next day. I said "No, why?" and at first he just shook his head and didn't say anything. Then, he said that he was planning to try out a new recipe that night and bring it in to work the next day (he likes to cook and sometimes brings stuff in to work for us to try out). I've also noticed that whenever I'm in the office and he is too, when we make eye contact, he often raises and lowers his eyebrows as if to say “hello” (or acknowledge me) to which I just respond to with a smile. Most of our co-workers are females (only 3 including him are guys) and I honestly don't know if he does that with the others girls as well (even though I have never seen him do it with anyone else). I just know that he gets along with and talks to just about everyone in the office. A little while after that, we had the opportunity to talk again. One of my appointments was cancelled and as I stood in the doorway of my office, he was sitting at a table that we have in the program's office. He saw me and asked me how my Thanksgiving break I was. I briefly told him about it and since I'm of Hispanic descent, he told me about how he spent Thanksgiving with his roommate's family and how they did some typical Hispanic things (since his roommate is also Hispanic) which I found amusing and interesting. As the conversation progressed, I told him about a new song that I thought he would like. That then led to us talking about various artists that we like. However, at one point, an undergrad student who was near us, kept trying to butt into our conversation so, I told him that I was going to go back to my office and that he was welcomed to join me if he wanted to. He did. He came into my office and we listened to some songs and talked for about an hour. After that, I had to meet with someone so he stepped out. About an hour after that, he came into my office again and we talked briefly. He then left because he said he needed to go get something to eat and when he came back, he sat at the table for about a minute and then came back into my office because he said he needed tissues for his hands and ended up staying there. Occasionally, he would slightly poke his head out the door because he wanted to know what a couple of our co-workers (who are girls) were talking about. I told him that I apologized if I was distracting him or keeping him from something and he told me that I wasn't and then asked if he was distracting me. I told him that he wasn't and we ended up talking for about another hour again, until I had to meet with someone else. We also became friends on Facebook that day. I added him. The day after that, I got to work and one of the girls that interns at our program told me that she heard that I was a fan of a particular sports team and wanted to know if she could ask me some questions about the team for a class assignment. When I asked her how she knew that I liked this team, she smiled and told me that this guy had told her about it, because she had also spoken to him about the team. For the Holiday break, he went back home since he's from out of state. I sent him a message on Facebook telling him that he could text me if he was ever bored or simply wanted someone to talk to. He read the message but never responded to it. However, he did text me twice to wish me a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. He also liked some of my posts on Facebook and Instagram while we were on break. When, we got back to work, we had to attend a meeting. When he walked in everyone said hi to him all at once while I kept quiet. He sat in a seat across from me and when he looked at me, he raised his eyebrows up and down at me as if to acknowledge me and say hello. After the meeting, just as I was about to make a call, he said "Hey" and made small talk by asking how my break had been. I told him it was good and asked about his. We were interrupted a couple of times by some of the girls but then continued our conversation. At one point, I mentioned something and he said he knew about it because he had seen my multiple posts about it on Facebook. We continued to talk and at a later point in the conversation, I showed him a video on my phone. He moved in closer to look and then we both stepped back. We both stepped back but, still seemed to be a bit less than arm's length away from each other as we talked. We talked about various things as we stood facing each other and talked for about an hour and a half until I had to go because my ride had arrived. Normally when we leave work and walk out of the building, I usually take the exit to the left while he takes the one to the right but, this time around he decided to take the same exit that I did. We had another meeting the following day but didn't get to speak. At the meeting the day after that, he once again sat at a seat across from me. He looked at me and gave me a slight smile. I gave him a smile back and said "What's up?" We made brief small talk and then kind of stopped talking. I felt a bit awkward having a conversation with him in a room that was silent but had others around. We looked at each other very briefly until I looked away and then looked at the others as I said "Somebody say something" and he added a slight laugh as he said "It's so silent". Seeing as how he's an overall nice and friendly guy who will talk and interact with just about everyone at work, it is difficult for me to tell whether he is just being nice and friendly to me or if he might actually have some interest in me. I can usually tell if a guy is interested in me or not but, this one has me confused. Any input would be appreciated. I apologize for the long post but, I thought the details might be helpful.
Barbarossa Posted January 19, 2014 Posted January 19, 2014 Why not put yourself out there and just ask the kid out? Worst case scenario you have to deal with slight embarrassment at work.
deathandtaxes Posted January 19, 2014 Posted January 19, 2014 Anyone?????? Don't. Leave work at work. Even if you both are students. If the guy doesn't have the cajones to ask you out, he's probably not that interested.
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