Crush on Taken Co-Worker

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So currently I am intern. Anyways, I have a crush on my co-worker who I originally started talking to because I saw him on the bus. So we originally worked in different departments and we would see each other maybe a few times a week on the bus. At first, I wasnt really attracted to him. He was interesting and easy to talk to so I thought it would be my chance to try make a friend (I suck at making friends). So we were both recruited thru a disability recruitment program. I could clearly tell he had adhd and he was quite polar opposite from me. Super social and extroverted. So I had thought if I spent a lot of time with him, he'd drive me nuts. Well he was taken anyways, so perfect time to strike up a platonic friendship.

So my supervisor went on a very long medical leave for a major surgery so she is out for 6 weeks. Since my office is small and they didnt have any set tasks for me, they ended up sending me to the department he works in. So we've been working together for the past 3 weeks and i developed a crush on him pretty quickly. We were spending alot of time working on projects together and he was assisting me a lot and making me feel welcome in the office. And I have talked to him about some of my issues in the office and with my disability. Being able to talk about my disability was very liberating for once because I normally cant talk about it. So not surprisingly, I was become more emotionally attached as a friend. So this is a rather awkward situation, cause hes my co-worker and hes taken.

I dont know if he knows. I'm afraid, he might have caught on. Im afraid I've been giving off awkward signals with my nervous body language. I will glance at him, look away but not say anything. My friend told me to act normal. But the thing is, I dont even know how to act normal? I already have a problem with spontaneous interaction as it is. Sometimes, I will feel very stiff, nervous and awkward.

Anyways so I know I will be moving back to my department once my supervisor returns in 2 weeks so I just have the suck it up for now. I sorta posted this mainly to vent. But if anyone has any comments or advice on what to do, it would be much welcomed. I have a tendency to go absolutely paranoid about all the crushes I have. I really dont want to jeopardize my work relationship.

Well, having crushes is normal, as long as you don't intend on acting on them - and if he knows, that's also not the end of the world, because what is important is that you decide what you want out of the situation - sounds like you don't actually want anything to happen but you just enjoy having a crush on someone! Not sure if this helps?

This seems to happen to all of us, doesn't it? Almost the same identical thing happened to me but in reverse. I worked and became close friends with an older girl. (I'll be 24 and she'll be 30 in September). We worked together in the same place for nearly five years but the last six months is when I started getting attached to her and would talk to her everyday. She dated another guy for two years but I knew their relationship ended. But it turns out she was already dating another guy (he's at least 40) this entire time and I wasn't even aware. She barely mentioned his name (maybe on rare occasions). To me she never acted like she was real happy and she more or less made this man sound like he was a guy she did date, or at least dated on and off with and stayed friends with. Well, it turned out she was living with him and his son this entire time and they were really serious.

So one day, (not aware of her living with this guy) I ask her if we could hang out. At first she quickly accepts and said she would be very interested. She didn't mention her boyfriend or anything but on the day we were suppose to hang out, she leaves me three messages and says she has to cancel because these were her words "it's because someone feels very unconformable about it and that he doesn't know you well" and that was that. We instead talked on the phone later for three hours and she tells me her whole life story and gives me the whole "if I could find happiness, you can too speech." Luckily for me, I never revealed my true feelings for her. I was pretty close to doing it too. But I think with me, she feels like she's so much older than me and never even thought of the possibility of us dating or me ever liking her that way. It's almost like she makes me sound 18 and makes herself sound like she's 40.

I was thrown off guard and felt sad about it but had to accept it and instead accept the fact we would only see each at work and never see each other outside of work. But it doesn't end here. The guy she is dating worked for the same company we did as a department manager but at another store. Well sure enough, two months later, he gets transferred at the store both me and this women work at and he's now my boss. He actually is a pretty good guy, nothing personal; he's very easy going and lets us work on our own. But still just seeing those two together all the time makes me feel really bad and she talks to me much less now because she talks to him so much now. They even go on their lunch breaks together and drive home for it, (they live 2 minutes away).

Sorry if I gave you my whole life story but I think this story shows you that you need to avoid these feelings for a co-worker and especially one that is taken. You'll be miserable if you keep thinking about it. I have moved on from this women (we are still acquaintances) but I know it's not the same and I will admit, I try to talk to her much less now. I instead am focusing on my education and work much less hours so we barely see each other now. My advice for you, move on quickly and don't spend so much of your time trying to build something that can't happen. Don't lose time on this taken man. You don't want to have false hope like I did. Move your interest and passions on something else.

Work crushes suck. I'm sorry. I'm in a similar situation only my crush is married and half my age. My only suggestion is, unfortunately, rather hard to do. Try to avoid the person as much as possible and don't tell them about the crush. If it isn't a relationship that you can or are willing to act on, nothing good can come from it. I know that sounds awful, but from my experience, any other tact is worse. Being around a crush that you can't do anything about is torture.

Try not to get emotionally attached to the person that you shared your inner secretes with at work. It happens, but now you have to move on to someone else