Did I Turn Him Away? Can I Do Anything About It Now?

by Anne
(Melb, Vic, Aus)

I'm afraid that i may have turned somebody away that i loved, that i never intended to.

I feel that he made mistakes also, but i shouldn't have responded in the way that i did.

I have loved *Alex* for many years but we have only been friends. This year, however, we saw each other regularly and he began displaying an interest in me.

I made it painfully obvious i was interested in him and yet nothing really came of it - it all really started at the end of 2006 when he jokingly/genuinely asked "do you want to have sex and i said "ok, let's go"

One day i hugged him because he gave me petrol money and then after that he felt at ease to hug me until one day it stopped.

He told me that he "loved me" but never asked me out.

He asked me to kiss him (but he didn't try to kiss me) and though i wanted to i felt as though he was asking me only as his first choice turned him down (my best friend).

A few months later he wasn't really responsive when I kissed him on the cheek and hugged him at a club.

Later he refused to kiss me one time at a bar when i tried to.

In the past few months he has IGNORED ME occassionaly and has consistantly shown more of an interest in my best friend although she has no interest in him.

I never did anything to hurt him because i love him, and i only backed off ie. showed less affection, because he seemed to jump between caring more about my best friend, me and neither of us.

What can i do now, other than forget it and stop seeing him?