[26F] [29M] Staying good friends with a guy without giving him the wrong idea?

So basically I [26F] have a good friend [29M] that I hang out with almost every week. We're both pretty introverted and also met as coworkers, and don't have any mutual friends/friend group, so we mainly hang out one-on-one. I'll admit that we have done activities that could be read as "datelike," like bowling, going out to lunch, etc. but I'm not really attracted to him physically, and thus I've never flirted with him/touched him/acted in any way that wasn't platonic.

However, I'm started to think he is likely attracted to me/is almost under the assumption that we are dating unofficially. For example, he invited me to come with him to a work function of his, and I only found out later that he listed me as his "significant other." I confronted him and he said it was the only way he could have me attend, but he didn't seem weirded out by it; in fact he seemed kind of pleased about it. He has also lately been "correcting" me anytime I talk about my appearance even in a neutral way (me: "Short hair doesn't work on me because I have a rounder face" him: "stop that, you have a great face"). Not to mention how he will make fun of/berate any other guys in my life even if I have no romantic interest in them (i.e. constantly referring to my male housemate a musclehead/materialistic/etc. even though they've only met once or twice).

I still like him as a person and enjoy hanging out with him as a friend, but I'm not attracted to him and am getting signals that he might be. However, I also don't want to be presumptuous if he doesn't actually have feelings for me. How can I keep him as only a friend without being rude to him, and without giving him false hope of a possibility for more?

tl;dr: Guy friend [29M] and I [26F] are introverts and generally hang out alone; however, lately I've been sensing that he views this as more than friendly even though I am not interested in him romantically. How do I set boundaries without being rude to him, and without being too presumptuous?

Submitted February 13, 2023 at 03:57PM by daphne_bridgerton https://ift.tt/ICWdmGb