lindalove

I have a friend who has had a crush on me for a long time, and it generally doesn't get in the way of a good friendship except when he does stupid things like this. He knows nothing will ever happen between us - I remind him because I don't want to hurt his feelings or make things awkward between us.

I've learned that he bought me a diamond ring for my birthday, and he's going to be giving it to me tomorrow at my party (probably in front of a ton of people). I know he means well, and he's being the gentleman that he is but I find myself feeling awkward about accepting it. I don't want to make him think that something is going to happen when it's clearly not, but on the other hand I really don't want to offend him.

I have no idea whether I should decline from accepting, and whether that will really hurt his feelings, or if I should just take it. If I was to tell him that I was really touched, but couldn't take it from him, how would I do it gently? I don't have much experience in being nice to people about issues like this, I'm generally pretty blunt.