...requiring more advice.
I may be a sparkling social personality, but I'm a little confused.
Before I start, I'll point out I'm straight. Not tempted at all by the other side. I have thought about it - like "what it'd be like", but the idea repulses me. ok.
I've recently started at my second school placement.
At this second placement, there are a few other PGCE students, all of whom I get on with well.
There's one girl in particular though, named Eleri (she's welsh).
She's very pretty, and also a lot of fun. Girls that make me laugh and I think are genuinely witty are few and far between, and I've found one here.
She does have a boyfriend, but (in her words) she isn't that bothered about him. I get the impression she'd break up with him if she could be bothered, as it's long distance, they've only been together 3 months, and she very rarely sees him.
She invited me (just me, not the other PGCE students) to the pub (and then a club) with her housemates last Friday.
I went there, and it was ace. I got on with them all, and had a great time.
There was this one guy called Paul there, who's gay.
On Monday I chatted with Eleri about the night and she said that she had an ace time, and her housemates thought I was really funny and cool
. "We should all go out again they think", she said.
Later on that day when she was giving me a lift home, she asked if I fancied going to Newquay with her and her friends on the bank holiday weekend (that's this time next week). She said her friends were really keen on me going.
Now when she mentions her friends, she often mentions Paul in particular. This is kind of understandable, as I spoke to him the most as he was very funny.
My problem is that I'm not sure if I'm reading her signals correctly. In my head the possibilities are:
-She just likes me as a friend, and so do her housemates. Which is fine really, as I don't really want a relationship with her anyway.
-Paul fancies me, and Eleri hopes that I'm a closet-gay. This is the thing I'm worried about. I have no idea how to read gay men.
-Eleri fancies me, and is using her housemates as an excuse so it doesn't look like she's inviting me herself.
OK.
The problem is - how do I ask Eleri subtly if Paul fancies me, and is hoping I'm gay? (and then inform her there's no chance there) I can't just out and out say "By the way, I'm straight". She knows I am - she knows I've had girlfriends in the past.
I don't want to come across as one of those tossers who assumes that just because another man is gay, that man is going to come onto him. So how do I word "I'm not interested in Paul in that way at all, as I'm straight - just to let you know" without sounding like some kind of "homophobe"?
Bonus points to anyone who can find a way of wording it so that I inform her I find her quite attractive at the same time.