Dear Prudence,
I have been friends with a law school classmate since the beginning of the fall. I have Asperger’s and I am deaf, so it can be a bit rough for me to make friends. I am also a private person, which I know some people in my class find “cold and snobbish.” Apart from casual everyday niceties, I stopped trying to make friends, but this particular classmate appeared to be an exception to the rule, and I was glad to have someone to talk to. I liked him and was able to be very straightforward with him. During winter break, he said something odd—he suggested that that we should “stay in bed, reading, in a nonsexual way, together.” He said some other things that also struck me as inappropriate. I am fond of him as a friend, but this looked like a red flag to me. I said nothing, thinking it was a temporary moment of insanity.
Then he asked me if we could get a drink together. I told him I wasn’t free, and he then asked me repeatedly “who [I] was with” over the next 36 hours. I didn’t answer, as I did not consider that his business. I finally told him to stop. Then he told me I was being inconsiderate and secretive, and that I was behaving “dreadfully” and “crass.” My best friend and my mother told me he had clearly overstepped major boundaries. I am completely astounded and hurt. Am I right to feel this way? What should I do?
—Is This for Real?