Well this is a good question. Because I am NT, and a while back I asked my Aspie friend to get together. He was moving soon and I wanted to say goodbye. Sure, there may be feelings there on my part, but I intended it just as friends getting together, as I believe friends do from time to time if they are not forced to see each other through work or other regularly scheduled obligations. Well he took my invite to mean purely romantic things, even though that was not the intent. As a result of his misunderstanding, he went crazy and said some vicious things. He has been known to rage like that. I clarified that I did not mean it that way, but he did not acknowledge that and I have not heard from him since nor have I tried to contact him--I figure if he wants to have communications with me then this time he will have to initiate. I've gone to great lengths to be supportive and to be a good friend to this person but frankly all I have gotten from him all along was convoluted confused messages leading me to believe he has no clue how he really feels and as a defense mechanism he lashes out cruelly and viciously.
So this makes me think about what someone else here has stated several times--that Aspies don't have friends. Not the way NTs see them. But instead they have acquaintances (which you might talk to online but not really see on purpose outside of obligatory encounters) and they have romantic interests. So when I tried so hard to be this person's friend, he can only see romantic interests of which he has none for me, and so he went crazy and said some truly awful and hurtful things.
So I have strong feelings for this person, yes I do. But my invitation was not about that. Yet I get to end up so hurt in the wake of his outburst and now I don't suspect I'll ever hear from him again. So now I'm wondering....is this common for an Aspie (to lash out)? And are they aware of the bridges they burn and the pain they cause? Because I feel like the whole world knew that me and this person were close (as friends)--the whole world.....other friends, colleagues, etc. EVERYONE knew we had a close relationship. Everyone, that is, except for him.
And so I'm left feeling like this person who I felt so close to for a couple years actually doesn't care a darn thing about me and never really did--though he sure acted like he did. I really don't think he ever appreciated me or cared at all.