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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/__________nice on 2023-07-13 04:31:33.
Female coworker (34) and I (30) has been getting to know each other the past couple months. We've been going out for lunch, talking outside of work, etc. No hookups or anything like that lol...
A former intern that I used to work with has come back to our company to become full time. One day my female coworker and I were eating lunch in the break room and my former intern sat at the table next to us and started smirking/laughing, he even took a picture of us eating together. My female coworker asked me what that was about and I told her that I'm assuming he thinks we're having sex.
A couple days later I notice my female coworker has been ice cold towards me and I was wondering what was going on. One day she messaged me on our work chat and told me about how the lunch incident made her very uncomfortable, how she thinks that I told my former coworker that we were having sex (which I didnt), she also said she doesn't need rumors to be spreading around about something like that, and then told me that she needed space. I became very distraught after reading that. We haven't talked for about 2 weeks. I also noticed that she has blocked me off of all socials which to this day has still been bothering me...
Fast forward, a couple days ago at the end of the work day, we both usually leave around the same time and her desk is not too far from mine. We were both walking towards each other down the same hallway. I asked her how she was doing and replied with a little hesitation "I guess im okay" when she said that I can tell from her face that she was still alittle bothered by my presence. We walked into the break room and chatted for a little bit about what happened a couple weeks ago from the incident and coincidentally my former coworker walked past and started smirking/laughing again at us... I ignored it and didn't do anything because I know if I were to talk to him, he will only escalate the situation and won't stop.
While we were talking in the break room, she was telling me that she only wants us to be just coworkers and that's it (we never set boundaries in the beginning), she told me that she didn't want rumors going around about us, she told me it bothered her that I didn't go to talk to my former coworker about the situation and that she still is assuming that I had said something to him to make him act that way towards us (which I didnt...), I defended myself and told her that I didn't say anything to him that would make him act this way, and of course she doesn't believe me. I told her that we are just friends and that I shouldn't be the one to go talk to him since it bothered her so much. I ignored it while she made a whole mockery of it and has made me feel like I'm the bad guy. So currently we are still not talking to each other avoiding each other...
Therefore, AITA for not talking to my former coworker about how uncomfortable the smirking/laughing is towards us or should she be the one to talk to him about it...
Update Former coworker is male and I am a male