Wrapping my head around what happened with a former coworker
Where do I start? I'm 33 (m). Unexpectedly, there was a new girl at work one day 25 (f). I noticed she was pretty but at the time, didn't think too much of it.
We ended up getting along great at work. We had a very similar sense of humor, the conversations were easy. They flowed well. I never found it difficult talking to her. Now, just for some background, I've always been ok with women. I never had trouble dating. Whether I met someone at a bar, online etc.
One day I was teasing her about her hair. I said the color was great but the length was off. A few days later.. her hair was the length I suggested. She told me she would never change the length again after what I said. I was really surprised by that. There was nothing wrong with her hair! I was just being silly but I was surprised she took it so seriously.
So we go on like this back and fourth.
After a long day, I mentioned I was going go for a drink and asked her if she wanted to come along. Her entire face lit up. We had a great evening. We only had one drink each but we nursed them and talked for a while. She had a sip of mine. I had a sip of hers. And we shared a cigarette after. Now this entire time I'm thinking ok, this is odd because.. she's a coworker so are we just two coworkers having a drink after work or is she interested? As we wrapped up I asked her if she would join me for a drink another time. Again, her face lit up and she said yes. So we hugged, and parted ways.
Fast forward another week or two and we did the same thing. I asked her if she wanted to have a drink after work and she happily said yes. But.. this time the conversation felt more intimate to me. The tones were more hushed. There was a familiarity we didn't have last time. She told me she had remembered the first thing I had ever said to her, that she recently had a dream about me.. she was driving so didn't want to have more than one. We hugged, and I asked her to message me when she made it home. She did, and she told me she wished she wasn't driving so we could've had had another drink.
At this point I'm convinced she's interested but there's always a touch of a doubt because she's younger, she's a coworker, and the whole thing just could be messy.
Well the next week, she quit. I was shocked but not really. I knew she wasn't happy there. We texted that night she said she would miss seeing me and we talked about still hanging out.
A few days later I messaged her and said I had this day off and asked her to meet me for a drink. She said that sounded good and she didn't mind driving out towards me way (we lived about half an hour apart) we exchanged a few messages the day before and I suggested two places and asked if she had a preference for one or the other. She didn't respond.. so the next day (the day we're supposed to meet up) still no response. She messaged late morning and said sorry things were crazy the day before but asks if we can reschedule. I said sure but asked her if she was ok.. I was wondering if something happened. No response.
Fast forward a few weeks later.. and we exchange snaps here and there but otherwise that's it.
So where do I leave it? Obviously something has cooled and thats fine. But do I throw out a hail Mary? Do I keep trying to engage.
I want to say I built this up to be more than it was, but I honestly dont think I did.