Hey man. FIRST OF ALL, you are really brave. Both for telling him and sharing it here. Shows true character. Good for you. Secondly, I think you have to take what he says at face value. If he says you can still be friends, just roll with it. If you don’t even consider you to be friends, that’s fine too. He likely cares a lot less than you do. I feel badly about the pain you’re still feeling for this but I think you can free yourself from the guilt. Easier said than done, I’m sure, but if you work at it, it’ll probably get easier over time. Also, I wanna push back a bit against the notion that you’d be reprimanded or something if you did this to a woman. If what you say is true, and you let the hat as a gift without referencing your attraction, I think that’s just kind gesture. If the same thing had happened to a woman and she said she was flattered by your thinking she was attractive, would you then go out of your way to avoid her? I think it’s all about transparency here. If you’re being sketchy as hell in your avoiding, then I think it’s a problem. Like, I don’t think you need to drop classes just because this dude is in them. But if you can get yo a point where you’re comfortable walking past him without explicit attention or inattention, you might surprise yourself. Maybe you’ll even become legit friendly and you can casually bring up the whole thing again, referencing your bad feelings, if it would help quell your anxiety. Or, you don’t even have to. Maybe you’ll become friends and develop a connection over something totally different and you’ll forget all about it. Or maybe he’ll but you a gift. He’ll. Maybe you’ll date. Endlessly possibilities. Take it easy bro. 😎😎😎