i like him..but i may be the rebound...

[carbon]

So..we haven't had a talk about the status of our relationship since my first post...and things are a bit confused now..at least from my perspective. I don't know what he is thinking.

I realize that rebound relationships don't work so I am not inclined to start one. However, he doesn't seem to want just a friendship either...so I am confused with what he wants. He says he doesn't want to lose me. If we were just friends, I would be free to date other people...

A related question: Is it true that once a guy sees you as a friend, it is hard for them to see you as a lover?.. If he wants to maintain regular contact, I think it would be good to keep it at the friendship level, but if the above is true, I don't know if moving forward as just friends - if even only temporarily - is a good idea, since I really would like for us to try at a relationship sometime in the future.

I guess what I really want is to take things slowly - just date exclusively for a while and see where things take us, but not have the full emotional involvement of a relationship. That way, both of our feelings are taken cared of/protected. Is this possible? Has anyone ever done something like that here? If so, what were the circumstances and how did the relationship end?

[Gigabitch]

It's possible if you both know you're dating exclusively. This poor communication thing is going to come back to bite you in the ass, I'm afraid.

I'd be a little hesitant to get involved with Mr. Maybe, at least right now. He's not ready and you aren't clear about what's going on- it sounds like a potential disaster.

If I were you, I'd decide where my boundaries are without input from him (a necessity, since he's not inputting anything anyway). Don't let it go too far past the friendship line without some very straightforward conversation about where you're headed.

I don't want you to get hurt.