My ex-boyfriend and I broke up a few months ago after being together for 2 years. During this time, I met all of his close friends, including James, who my ex had been friends with since they were 9 years old. I honestly got pretty close with James and his family throughout the relationship with my ex, and James and I always got along really well— it was so obvious that we had chemistry that we both tried to tone it down if my ex was around. It didn’t help that I thought that James was incredibly good looking. He works in construction so he’s muscular and a bit rugged, has arms full of tattoos, a moustache, and green eyes that stand out against his dark hair.
Obviously, things didn’t work out with my ex boyfriend, but shortly before we broke up, James started messaging me more and more. I was on vacation, posting a lot of bikini pics, and I could tell this had him interested. His comments were generally harmless, consisting of him asking how my trip was, saying that he’s jealous, etc, but things started to escalate even more after the breakup. At that point, we were talking regularly and I made the first move by asking if he’d want to meet up for drinks or coffee soon. We agreed on drinks, and both decided it was best that my ex didn’t know we were hanging out without him.