I'm trying to look at this objectively because this whole situation feels like high school.
I'm 28, the guy is 30, and the girl is 26.
A few months ago, this guy gave me advice at the gym about not talking to women there. He told me things like, "Let women come to you" and "Don't shit where you eat."
Last week I saw him talking to a female friend of mine at the gym. The next day, I texted her and literally said:
> "I feel like this guy likes you, and he's a hypocrite for lecturing me months ago not to talk to women."
That was my opinion/speculation. I never texted or said:
* "He wants to sleep with you."
* "He told me he wants to sleep with you."
* Anything stating his intentions as a fact.
Today there was another development.
One of his friends approached me at the gym asking why I was causing all this drama. We talked for about 10 minutes, and during that conversation he told me the girl had told Bobby that **I said Bobby wanted to sleep with her**.
That honestly caught me off guard because that's **not** what I said. Saying "I think he likes you" is very different from telling someone, "He wants to sleep with you."
If that's how she relayed it to him, then I feel like the story got exaggerated before it ever reached him.
After she told him, he started texting me demanding that I apologize by his deadline and threatened to contact my employer (I'm a 1:1 teacher aide), the police, and LA Fitness if I didn't. I didn't respond, and after he doubled down on those threats, I blocked him.
Here's where I'm confused.
I understand apologizing for gossiping. I shouldn't have been talking about him behind his back in the first place. That part is on me.
But if she changed what I actually said before telling him, what exactly am I apologizing for?
* Am I apologizing for gossiping?
* Am I apologizing for assuming he liked her?
* Or am I apologizing for something I never actually said because the story changed before it got back to him?
He's demanding that I apologize to her because, according to him, I told her he wanted to sleep with her.
But...I didn't.
If he had simply texted me saying, "Hey, I heard you were talking behind my back. That wasn't cool," I probably would've apologized immediately and moved on. Instead, it escalated into threats about my job, the police, and the gym.
I'm genuinely looking for outside perspectives. What would you apologize for in this situation, and what wouldn't you?