So this woman at work has had a crush on me since we were in the same department together 5 odd years ago. At the time, she was married and just had twins. She finally did let me know she had a crush on me when her relationship started going south (color me surprised). So we met once and we would make out but nothing ever came of it. Fast forward to when I met my ex. My ex knew about her and kinda gave me an ultimatum of sorts. Of course I chose my ex solely for the reason that we don't work together. I let the other woman know about this and she was upset. She would give me lines like 'But Mike, we've known each other for a while' and 'Who cares if we work together? It would be different."
Well, considering I have more experience than you about the ramification of dating a co-worker: No, I don't think it would be different
Now, I can't use the excuse of 'she has children' anymore. I did indicate to her once that her having children was a bit of a dealbreaker. Well, my ex has 4 but she is way prettier and cooler anyway.
So, fast forward to when I became single and now she's hitting me up all the time again. We were going to go on a date on Friday, but we were talking (I don't remember what about) and it came to me saying 'Dont get your hopes up' mainly because we work together and I wasn't sure if I wanted a LTR with her. Well, no date occurred. I haven't received a message from her in over 24 hours and it's probably because she's pissed at me. She did tell me that she wants more than just being FWB, but to be honest I don't think she knows what she wants entirely still.
About 6 months into her divorce proceedings, we had a conversation with her and she said she wanted to be with me and I flat out told her that she didn't know what she wanted and she was going to use me as a rebound. I told her she needed to find herself and be her own best friend for a while. Did she do that? I'm not really sure. It seems she wants something to fill the void and I'm not going to be that person unless it's a casual thing.
It comes down to the fact that I would rather have a casual relationship with her than a LTR, but I don't have the courage to break her heart into a million pieces again, especially since her divorce is now final.
This is why you don't get involved with people at work unless both people understand that they can keep shit separate (ie: they can have sex and still work together without it being awkward)
This is rather disjointed, butt fuck it.