So I met a guy at the gym the other day and he seemed pretty cool. As is the case for the past 3 months, conversation was initiated because of my slight limp. What happened? How did you do it? When did it happen? etc. We ended up talking about some of his family members and the possibility of me helping them with some nutritional and weight loss information which I have been doing some part-time work around.
Anyway, so by the end of the conversation, he invited me to lunch. I wasn't sure what was his motivation for inviting me, like I said he seemed cool. I decided however to be very upfront with him and tell him that I was NOT available and that it would strictly be platonic in nature. I just wanted to be clear from the get-go so that there would be NO misunderstanding. He said ok and so a couple days later we met up.
First of all, we met at the gym and he said we should go in his car. I said OK and then I saw that he was driving a convertible! Not my thing at all. For those of you that don't know, let me fill you in.....CONVERTIBLE + BLACK WOMAN's HAIR + NO SCRUNCHIE/PONYTAIL HOLDER = NO FUN AT ALL!!!! I aired my non-preference of the top down situation but he just told me to go to the drug store next door and buy a scrunchie..... OKaay then! Now if this were a date and/or this was someone I liked in that sort of a way, then I would have been feeling far more accommodating but given the scenario, ummm not so much. Anyway, being the nice girl that I am, I went and bought one.
We got in the car and drove to a nearby Cajun restaurant. As soon as we walked in, it was instantly clear that he knew EVERYONE in there. "Hey", "what's up", "you good?", "I see you", nods, hand shakes - you name it, he did it. By the time we were seated a mere 50ft or so from the door, he had already said hello to at least 10 people, no lie. He started touching my back and ushering me to my seat and calling me honey and some other names.....ewww! Through the course of lunch, he touched my hand a bunch of times and my leg over and over. I was SO uncomfortable. I will say the food was good though:-) I was very aware that he was trying to give the impression to everyone that we were together and I was definitely trying as politely as I could to do the opposite, especially with the waitress who he also clearly knew.
Anyway, lunch ended and we went to get up and he reached for my hand to hold it to walk out of the restaurant!!!!!!?????? Is it me or this is way over the top? I turned my head and looked the other way, pretending not to see this gesture. He bid his goodbye's to everyone again on the way out and I held onto my purse with both hands so that they would both be occupied, lol. At least he put the top up on the car for the drive back. I was literally counting the seconds till I could get back to the safety of my car. We finally did. I said thank you, reciprocated his hug that lasted too long and got the heck outta there.
He has since called several times and I think I picked up the phone once. I finally had to tell him today that there would be NO further outings and that NO I couldn't "make some time for him". I just wish I could've forseen how this was gonna go. Maybe I'm just naive (as I've been told:-). He was a nice guy, but just WAAAY too touchy, feely for me and way too "friendly". I haven't seen him at the gym since, but I know I will. I will for sure say hi but I can assure you that there will be no more lunches or drinks or anything of nature. Hopefully I've learned a lesson, but knowing me, probably not, LOL!! That benefit of the doubt thing just doesn't always pan out.
Europe...
9 hours ago








