I'm sorry for spreading my personal problem (which is not even a deep sort of problem) in his forum, and I know it is very shallow, but I badly need someone's opinion on this.
Recently, one of my acquaintance-friends whom I've known for more than three years confessed to me by giving me a really sweet gift for my birthday. The problem is that I really had no idea and never thought of him in a more-than-friends-way. After the gift incident, we talked on the phone, where he officially said that he liked me and had been in fact liking me for quite some time. I was about to reject him, it was on the tip of my tongue, when I thought that maybe it was just my guard getting up. See, I've never been in a relationship, but never felt a real need to, especially now that I'm about to be really busy with school. Anyway, I ended up telling him that I was very confused (which I was) and couldn't give him an answer. The reason is, he is a very decent guy, not the player type, who I know will treat me right, and I know if I do enter into a relationship with him, it will be a serious one, and we do get along very well.
So, we ended up hanging out together as friends alone one day, each paying for our own food, so for me it was techincally not a date, and I made it clear that it was just hanging out, sort of testing the waters. The thing is, after the hanging out, I still felt like I was with any other of my guy friends. No special feelings, no being nervous, blushing, shy, things like that. Even though he drove me to the restaurant and dropped me off at my house, I still felt like the whole thing would be interchangeable if it were any of my other guy friends (who have also drove me around and dropped me off at my house). I also feel that if I were to enter into a relationship with this guy, it would be for more of the assurance of stability that he offers instead of me liking him back. The thing is, as I mentioned earlier, I have never been in a relationship, so is this sort of my subconcious guard getting up? Should I try to have a relationship with him even though at this point I do not feel anything towards him but friendship?
My quick advice would be not to date him. If you're not into him, you may lead him on by having a relationship, especially since he's apparently liked you for a while. There've been several times when one of my guy friends liked me, and those guys would've made great boyfriends. I knew that they cared deeply about me and would never mistreat me. But I just wasn't into them. And it's not fair to the guy if you let him think you reciprocate his feelings by dating him.
Oops. Aly, thanks for moving the thread, and sorry for not reading the new amendments. :)
Sadhana, thanks for the reply and advice. It just feels good to let this all out to someone- since most of my friends and acquaintances are also close to him (which just makes it even more complicated), I have been keeping all of this inside me for quite some time. I've started leaking it slowly to one of them, though. :P