I need some advice please :)

[LollipopViolet]

OK, backstory to this is, my first boyfriend was 28(!) I know I know! I was 18, he was a compulsive liar and eventually dumped me by voicemail (I was head over heels and naive).

I never thought I'd have feelings for anyone again but now, I do. I met a guy while out with friends tonight, who was introduced by a mutual friend (3 girls and 2 lads, just out for a drive and a chat). Anyway, I think I like him. Problem is, apparently my mate does too.

The way I see it is, I've got 3 options:
Get to know him, if anything is meant to happen between us, it will.
Ignore my feelings because I don't want to wreck my friendship with this girl.
Bite the bullet and ask him out.

I really get on with my mate so don't want to spoil that, but she knows how I feel and I wish she had told me instead of the other mate we were with (they talked by text because both lads were with us).

Help! WWYD? PS: I'm 19 now, no kids yet, and my last boyfriend dumped me in May 08 after a 6 week relationship.

I would go with option A.

Your friend could have told you herself rather than getting the other girl to do it (and maybe she doesn't, the other girl may be stirring. Can you tell I had horrible friends as a teenager?). There's no guarantee that he'll prefer her.

Good luck!

I'd go for the first option too. Men are not objects upon which/whom one can place "First dibs" and if he likes you better, he likes you better.

Of course, he might prefer her...

Another one here saying get to know him and see if it develops - there's no point behaving as if he's "taken" when he's not - your mate may fancy him, but that doesn't mean he fancies her, or that they'd get on well even if there was an interest.

If he does fancy her and not you, that'll be obvious soon enough and you can back out, but it's more honest to get to know him and see how things go, rather than "nobly" leave him to her when you have no reason to believe that's going to happen anyway. If you've only just met him, you don't know if there might already be someone he's chasing after anyway.

I always worked on the principle that if they were going out with someone else they were totally off limits, but otherwise I had as much right to show an interest as anyone else!

BTW I don't know what's usual amongst 19 year olds these days (oldie alert...), but your mate sounds a bit immature if she and other mate are texting about this guy while he's there instead of actually concentrating on chatting and enjoying his company - as a piece of general relationship advice, I'd say that wasn't a great idea. Showing an interest in someone is more important than "whispering" to your mate about how cute he is