Probably best advice would be to try and keep some distance and value a friendship as more than nothing at all.

But I do fully know and understand how you are feeling as same thing happened to me.

She was the one who actually started messaging me on a personal level, she was actually with somebody at the time but he was abusive and vile to her just because he was controlling over her she couldn’t get away, they would split up and then he would talk her around as she didn’t believe in herself any more and had fears financially and how she would manage on her own.

That aside though, she’s basically like a female version of me, we are very similar, same personality traits, similar humour and mentality and when we started talking we did connect and hit it off, we was talking almost obsessively, exchanging easily 100-200 messages a day. I would be grinning when talking to her and she was acting like a schoolgirl with a crush sneaking around messaging me, even going off to toilet, writing bits of a reply every time peoples backs were turned to send me… her kids even noticed because one turned around and said mummy why are you always talking to… because she was always laughing talking to me. She would flirt with me, coming out with remarks like “excuse to see you,” she was trying to arrange meet-ups with her, her kids and me and my son.

Then as time went on, it became more like a relationship, she was greeting me morning every day, we would be telling eachother to have a good day, we would ask about each others kids and day… if anything happened to her she would be immediately almost messaging to tell me about it.. greeting me night, falling asleep while talking to me. Apologising if she didn’t say night, coming online just to say night saying in case she forgot.

BUT, she kept on referring to me as a friend. Despite acting that way… it was very confusing.

Then she started to message less and less and taking longer to reply, but used the excuse that she was just busy even though nothing in her life had changed to make her busier than before.

Then she said she was going out one evening with a “mate,” and I confronted her about what had been going on how we wasn’t acting like normal friends.

After that things kinda blew up because she insisted she wanted normal friends.

She would take days to reply, reply very little.

Then a pattern emerged in that, when things were going good with person she was dating she would talk very little, wouldn’t message me when she was around him, telling mutual friend that she would talk less so things could be more normal.

But when things weren’t going so well with him, she would be messaging me more, telling me how she missed talking to me, how it felt weird not talking as much, how she wants things back how they were more than anything… how we just lost our way and things would be ok… telling me could I tell she was eager to see me? then she did start talking more for about a week and half, messaging me during the daytime like before. Then she started trying to arrange another meet up with me, my son, her and her kids and when the venue wasn’t possible she started coming up with alternatives… she was really insistent. But I never did.

Then she started back up greeting me morning and night for a bit, one time she told me to message her and let her know I got somewhere safely and was ok.

Mutual friend had a party, and she started joking about us both ending up in their pond, and insisting to know where I lived so her taxi could pick me up, then I declined and it was same dropping me off.

I never went in the end, but she said she was looking forward to seeing me.

Then she had a weird dream about me.

Then she went away for a weekend with person she was dating and completely dropped me again…. By that time I’d had enough.

So I just stopped replying to her, she messaged me once a week asking how I was but I didn’t reply.

Then I left some bulbs and windshield wipers for her at mutual friends house and after that she sent me a message saying thanks.

Then a few hours later, she sent me another message where she was massively triggered.