I started a study abroad program recently and luckily I’ve been able to form two really nice friend groups, one with people that live on my floor and one with people in my class. The only issue is with one particular girl who seems really interested in being friends with me.
I met her once by chance a week ago and we exchanged instagrams, and she’s asked me to hang out five times since. We met at a lesbian bar so there’s also a chance she’s interested in me romantically but I’m bad at picking up signals. I took her up on the offer once to get some work done in a coffee shop with one other person, and while it was fun it felt a little like hanging out with an 8th grade version of myself, and I’m currently 21 years old.
There’s nothing explicitly wrong with her at all, I just don’t have a super big interest in hanging out with her and I already have other friends who I’d rather spend time with. It is also a little strange to me that she’s asked me to hang out five times in a single week when I haven’t even hung out with some of my closest friends here five times.
I don’t feel like I could directly say something because that would be totally unnecessary and rude. I’ve tried being really dry in my responses or “missing” her messages but she’ll just double text hours later and I feel bad completely ghosting someone. When I try to say I’m busy it seems like she reschedules plans to accommodate my schedule which is super unnecessary. How would you navigate this to not hurt her feelings but slowly pull away or help her loose interest in the friendship?