I think i've accidentally led a guy on
Me (F18) and him (M18)
We're both 18 and I'm still in high school doing my final exams in a couple of months. We both work together in a grocery store in different departments however our departments do cross over and we would have to interact with each other either way.
I took 2 weeks off school for exams and while I was away the whole store has found out he has a crush on me. This crush stemmed from before he had ever spoken to me and had just seen me around but he said it grew more once we started chatting at work. He says I always flirt with him but I genuinely don't think I was flirting and that I was just bantering. I also don't speak to him any different from other co-workers, both female and male, or any of my managers. I told one of my co-workers and she just said people would get the idea that we like each other solely because of my personality.
The other night over a phone call, he confessed to liking me and I told him I liked him when I was explaining how I didn't want to be leading him on. I felt obliged to tell him I liked him because he confirmed that he likes me but i had already known because he wasn’t slick and he admitted to it. I didn't explicitly say ‘I like you too’, I asked him if he thought I liked him and he said 'yeah I hope' in which I responded with 'well you might be right'. He knows i've got final exams in a couple of months and said he'd wait until after I was done and then maybe take things more seriously. The next morning I woke up feeling sick and worried because I cannot tell which way I like him, whether its platonic or more romantically.
He also knows I want to go traveling next year, however I don't want a boyfriend during that time and he said his happy to wait until I come back. But I can't promise anything for next year in whether i'd like him how he likes me or if I have another romantic interest in someone else.
He keeps reposting videos on instagram about how his found the 'perfect girl' and very relationship type of reels. I am also the only person he has got on instagram so I know it’s about me.
The whole of work also knows and has known for the past 2 weeks i’ve had off, which means my name has consistently been in other people’s mouths and he couldn’t care less knowing people are talking about it, but I care. At the end of the day he cops it jokingly from people at work but because i’m a female everyone now perceives me in a certain light, especially if I say no to dating him. He tells me what other co-workers say and they act like i’m a prize his won and don’t account for me as my own self.
Both my friends and mum reckon I should go out on a date with him first to see if I truly like him or not but I'm worried about leading him on subconsciously, because clearly i've been subconsciously "flirting" with him. I am also so firm in the fact that I was not flirting but rather engaging in banter.
Is banter flirting? How do I know if I like him in the same way he likes me? Am I leading him on?