Asking for a friend.
They hung out yesterday with their old friend (a guy that was part of their old friend group but was mostly friends with her ex. The ex and the guy never stopped being friends) and they were goofing off and did a can-can together. She put her hand on her ex's shoulder, the friend put his hand on her shoulder, and her ex put his hand on her waist close to her boob..
Note: Ex and friend reconnected with her 3 years ago (after 12 years of estrangement) and very recently (past few months) started to gradually hangout more consistently, most of the time in a group setting.
Extra Info: A few weeks ago the 3 of them hung out and goofed off together in front of the camera and her ex came from behind and hugged her waist for a moment while the friend was with them. At the beginning of their reborn friendship, all they would really do is give each other a greeting hug and a goodbye hug but physical touch/closeness has increased lately between her and her ex... The friend and her don't do that with each other and have remained with their usual level of physical closeness (a greeting/goodbye hug).
Thoughts?
What Girls & Guys Said
Opinion
1Opinion
You can't necessarily determine whether or not it's normal for an ex to hold each other's waists in a group activity without knowing the context and nature of the relationship between the two of you.
In general, however, an ex holding onto the waist during a group activity could be considered inappropriate if there is a lack of consent or if it causes discomfort or conflict in that person's current relationship.
It is important to keep in mind that every relationship and situation is unique and complex, and what may be normal or acceptable in one situation may not be in another.
If this situation is causing concern or discomfort, it is advisable to address the issue directly and talk openly about the limits and expectations in the relationship and the dynamics of the group.
She didn't hold his waist though, her ex only did. She's my friend and asked me to ask on here. She didn't mind since she's actually interested in him but she nor I are sure if he reciprocates just because almost 2 years ago their friends asked them if they'd get back together in front of other friends and my friend quickly said yes while he nervously laughed and said he hadn't closed the door on that idea, but he never followed up on it.
I'm aware that every relationship is unique and complex with different sets of boundaries. Not sure if this info is useful but he's not friends with any of his other exes and strongly believes in the whole "leaving things in the past" but my friend is his exception.. not sure if this could be a reason but she was his first girlfriend and first love. Even if she's his exception, i would think there would be some kind of boundaries he would have set since she's his ex, but based how physically close he's gotten to her recently, i don't know if that's just normal or if it means something more. It's just intriguing to me how not even their friend is physically close/touchy with her the way her ex has become recently.