Hi everyone,

I have an issue I need help with. The issue I face is my fiance has a very large network of friends all nearby and I don't. My friends are all spread out all over the country, and I have just a few close friends in my area, and not a whole enormous crew like he does.

So his friends are all very tight with each other. They've welcomed me into their group, but whenever there's a gathering, I've noticed the women kind of stick with each other and don't bother trying to get to know me at all.

They call themselves a "family"... a large family, and a welcoming family at that, but I don't feel that's really the truth.

There's one woman in particular who is very stand off-ish with me, and I cannot figure out what's up or why. I don't know if she simply immediately disliked me because I tried to make conversation with her once at her house. My attempt to talk to her seemed to have flopped and failed miserably. She seemed disinterested. At the same time, I get kind of a little bit of an insecure vibe from her? I am pretty good at picking up on things like that. She's married and not single, for the record.

Anyways, I feel a bit insecure now around this whole group, and I think mainly because of this one woman, but also because the women stick together and kind of exclude me.

So I don't know how to handle it... ?

The obvious answer is to keep being friendly and just be myself, but I feel like they're being kind of cliquish. I am not like that at all, so I really don't know what to do or how to handle it? Usually, I have just stuck by my fiance's side the whole time, and every time he has left to go have a cigarette, I follow him because I don't want to be left alone with the women, feeling left out.

It's not an easy situation for me. I am outgoing and very friendly and can easily start conversations, but I also get intimidated and more shy around larger groups of people.

We have a gathering coming up at the end of the month, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!