Hi, I’m not sure how to start a Reddit post, so I’ll just dive in. There’s a lot of backstory to understand the context. I’m an 18-year-old female who dated a 19-year-old male, my best friend, for a year. We broke up because he was too intense and a great communicator, which was challenging for me since I don’t like discussing my feelings, especially when I’m unsure of them. I have high-functioning autism. We met in second grade, exchanged Roblox accounts, and reconnected in fourth grade. He confessed he had a crush on me since then, and though I initially didn’t feel the same, I eventually developed feelings for him. We dated, but I ended it for the reasons mentioned. Now, we’re friends who act like we’re in a relationship but aren’t.
The argument between us started on a cute Saturday. I hung out with him and his friends at a café. There’s a new girl in his group who doesn’t speak Korean, unlike his other friends, and he doesn’t speak good English. I learned Korean for him, which became our main way of communicating. The new girl expressed interest in learning Korean to talk to him, which is understandable, but she seemed fixated on him. He mentioned feeling uncomfortable because he realized she had a crush on him. I initially gave her the benefit of the doubt, but during brunch, I noticed she often tried to separate us by asking me to translate or talk to her.
After brunch, we planned to go thrift shopping, which was my idea. In the car, we laughed about how she kept trying to keep us apart. At the thrift store, I saw a sweater similar to the one she wore that day and jokingly said, “Hey, look, it’s your girlfriend’s sweater.” He got upset, saying he would never cheat on me. I reminded him we weren’t together, so he couldn’t technically cheat. He got mad, saying I always bring up that we’re not dating. I told him he could date her if he wanted since we weren’t together. In hindsight, that wasn’t the best thing to say, but I was angry. After I said it, he looked at me, and I couldn’t understand his emotions. He walked away, and we shopped separately. He still paid for my items.
The plan was to go to his house afterward and chill, with me sleep over but I didn’t want to anymore because I was upset we talked a little in the car with him just saying that he gets really hurt when I say that we aren’t together bc he knows he’s ready for a relationship but I am not I didn’t know what to say so I say I am going to go to my house and left (I have high functioning autism)I am ok with any and all possible way this can be taken I just need to know what I should do cause I still don’t think I did anything really wrong