Reddit, I come before you for your judgment.
To paint a pretty picture, my mom abandoned me when I was young, and I was raised by my dad and three brothers in South Alabama.
As a rebellious teenager, I moved in (to a hotel) with my Mom. That’s when I met her side of the family for the first time..uncles, aunts, my grandmother, and a cousin (I’ll call her Jane).
On my first day of school, I waved at Jane and called her name in the hallway. She made eye contact with me… and literally ran away. That pretty much set the tone. Over the years, we’ve barely spoken. We’re more like strangers who happen to be related.
Ironically, I became really close with Jane’s mom (my aunt). We spend a lot of time together.. trips, cruises, beach vacations, etc. Jane usually doesn’t come, and when she does, we still don’t interact.
Recently, while I was at the beach with my aunt, she was on speakerphone with someone, and we all ended up chatting. A few days later, I got a message on Facebook from that same guy. We started talking, joking around, and eventually exchanged numbers.
Here’s the catch: he’s Jane’s ex-boyfriend. They dated for about 4 years.
I’ve never met him in person or spoken to him before this. He’s been texting me, flirting, and we’ve talked about possibly meeting up for dinner or hanging out at the beach.
My aunt knows he’s been talking to me and actually encourages it. She says her daughter treated him badly.
So… AITA for entertaining this? Is this completely out of line? What’s a girl to do?