How to deal with former friend/current collegue

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A long time friend and I are on the outs lately. Usual Aspie problem -- he accused me of being too clingy. He then suggested that I take a "John free day." Meaning that I wasn't to contact him for a 24 hour period. I've been so angry at him and insulted by his condescension that I've been voluntarily "John free" for maybe ten days now. And of course he's made no contact with me. He was the one who used to initiate most of the contact, back when he didn't have as many friends. I miss him, but I don't miss the mess the friendship had become. We were never romantically involved or interested in being that through the ten years we were friends.

My problem is, we're still connected through an online work situation. And I finally had to email him today, because we had agreed to keep each other informed of news that our employer may have told one of us and not the other. And this is with the knowledge and approval of the employer, BTW. I don't want to be unprofessional.

I have to go to my other job now so I won't be available for several hours. But I'm not sure what I should do if he should IM or phone me later when I'm home. I suppose I should just stay professional, but I'm worried that he's oblivious to my feelings about the situation and will act friendly again, now that he thinks I've been appropriately "punished." And I don't want it to disintegrate into a big drama scene. I feel like if he's friendly, I'll want to ask him if he's been having trouble getting his big, swollen ego through doorways lately and did he think I've spent the whole time crying and repentant.

I think that for now, you should keep things professional unless he inquires further as to how you are feeling about it. This is because you still appear to be processing the situation and need to take some time away from it on order to respond more appropriately.

Do NOT guilt trip him. Guilt tripping is to insult someone or make them feel bad about their actions. Doing so will just make him angry and resentful towards you. It will also cause more drama, and it's obvious that you don't want that.

It would be helpful, once you've spent some time away from him and are able to look at the situation a little more, to write an email to him explaining that you don't mean to be clingy, but that you have difficulty with appropriate social boundaries. You don't have to reveal your diagnosis, but you do have to explain that you are struggling. Explain that you don't mean to be intentionally clingy or have been meaning to tick him off, but this is a skill that you genuinely have trouble with.