This is the Bert Show.

All right, so he is trapped in the weeds, or maybe it's a she, in that friend zone, and is it even possible to get

out?

I feel like we get this email quite a bit.

Kristen Scott.

All right, so she guys, I could really use some advice about a situation that's been on my mind.

Recently a friend from college asked me on a date.

I was pretty taken it back because I've never seen him in that way.

Honestly, I was so surprised that I ignored his text.

I just didn't know how to respond without hurting his feelings or making things awkward

between us.

After a few days, he asked me if I got his message.

I didn't want to lie, so I told him I saw it,

but thought it was a mistake.

I know it was a bit of a cop out but I panicked.

You panicked.

The truth is I'm not attracted to him at all and I don't have any desire to go out with him.

Here's where it gets tricky.

We have a lot of mutual friends and there's this party coming up this weekend and we're both going to attend. I'm feeling super anxious about seeing him there. I don't want things to be awkward or tense, especially since it's a party with all of our mutual friends.

I've been running through different scenarios in my head trying to figure out the best way to

handle this on one hand I could try to avoid him altogether but I know that's not really practical and

might just make things more uncomfortable. On the other hand I could try to

...