[Jennaholt]

Let's call my friend A. A and I met on tinder last year and our relationship started off romantically but it was mostly physical after that. And then we decided to be friends. Our friendship is slightly tense at times, given how we started off. We never dated but I guess there could be something more than just friendship. I have always liked him but for a few reasons, I knew things wouldn't work out between us. And around the same time, he started having a crush on someone. And they're dating now. I'm friends with this girl as well, he really wanted us to get along. Things are great on the outside.

I'm not sure how A feels about me. When we meet few months ago, he said "we'll see where things go between us." But after that, we hadn't been talking much over the past few months (as we were both busy). We caught up at a party last weekend. And I told him that it's been a difficult few months and that I had a really bad phase, distanced myself from everyone and didn't feel like talking to anyone. He asked me "anyone?" twice. He seemed pretty offended when I said yes, anyone.
I don't understand why he'd be offended as we did kind of drift apart after our fling ended, and our friendship after that wasn't something of "best friends." It was more of a "let's catch up when we're free" kinda friendship. Not too much effort.
I had also severely bruised my arm a while back. I guess a lot of people confused it for a hickey. A noticed it but didn't ask me until we got time alone and he went really quiet when he asked me. And when I said it was a bruise, he was like are you sure, and didn't seem like he wanted to know more about it. All this was weird because he doesn't wait until we're alone to talk about things.
I also noticed him looking at me at the party when I was talking to his best friend and we were all drunk so we were kind of hugging but it couldn't have been more casual. A had this lingering look on his face, I'm not sure what that meant.

Anyway, another one of A's (not so close) friends hit me up few days ago and we'd been texting. This guy asked me out on a date. I'm not sure if I should ask A if it's okay or not. I don't want him to think I'm asking to see how he reacts or make him jealous or something. But I also don't wanna do something that makes him feel uncomfortable.