I (20F) had a crush on a now unavailable friend (21M), who (along with his new GF) is now asking me what's wrong. What do I tell them?

I (F20) have a group of friends at university, but the two I'm closest to are "Tyler" (M21) and "Ashley" (F21). While we're all part of the larger cohort, the three of us are close - we're in a lot of classes together and meet up multiple times a week to hang out (COVID isn't as much of a concern in my country, so we can meet in person).

Over the past few months, I've started to realize that I liked Tyler as more than a friend. I never told him; the feelings were too new and I was shy, and now I'm glad I didn't, because Tyler was apparently crushing on Ashley. They got together at Christmas, when he was visiting her family.

I care about them both and am happy for them, but my own private feelings as well as their new relationship have made our formerly stable trio feel awkward. When we hang out, I feel like I'm now imposing on their time together and they would rather not have me there. I decided to pull back a little bit, just to make sure I wouldn't say anything that would upset them, as the last thing I want to do is turn this into drama - claiming to be busy for a few pub nights and study sessions, not responding to the group chat as often.

I think they've both realized something is up, though, because Tyler and Ashley have both separately messaged me, asking if I'm okay, what's wrong, and if one of them did anything to bother me.

What the hell do I say? I do not want to tell them about my crush, I don't want to make them feel awkward or uncomfortable about something they're so happy about, but I can't think of a plausible lie. They're both close friends that I don't want to lose, but I'm not sure what to do.

Tl;dr: My friends were oblivious to my crush on one of them and got together, things are awkward, they're asking me what's wrong. What do I say?

Submitted January 21, 2021 at 07:10AM by whattosay13 https://ift.tt/3pjZxtb