He walks his dog, I walk my dog. Same neighborhood.

I always avoid him. One day I accidentally smiled at him and turned red. He kept staring at me with no reaction, when I looked away he said hi and got closer, asked a few questions about my dog. My dog started barking, I went fight-or-flight, answered briefly and escaped

saw him again yesterday, kept trying to avoid him. He comes my way but actually had to go the other way. He was being so different it actually weirded me out. He was sort of clumsy in the way he moved, and usually he seems so self controlled, and he was loud too hahah like talking out loud to his dog but only when I got there. I smiled accidentally again and he asked again about my dog and tried to be funny about her barking. It felt as if he was trying to be fun and friendly? But in a ridiculous way

Predicting some types of answers (“ask him”, “how should we know”): I’m not looking for the absolute truth, just opinions :)

    • TheAlbatross@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      17·
      2 months ago

      Well you specifically said you’re not looking for advice and what not, so I won’t give any, but I do think when we’re attracted to someone we tend to interpret very small behaviors as cues that confirm our own desires, a kind of confirmation bias, when they’re actually just normal behaviors. That said, there’s only a few ways to confirm your suspicions…

    • NovaPrime@lemmy.mlEnglish
      171·
      2 months ago

      Then why are you trying to avoid him, trying to purposefully not make eye contact or look at him, leaving abruptly when he talks to you…etc. Sounds like you’re doing your best to give him the impression you’re not interested

      • Colorfulhipp@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        63·
        2 months ago

        Because I’m not looking for anyone right now. This happened out of nowhere, and I’ve needed to be alone for a long time, men, friends, people in general.

        • NovaPrime@lemmy.mlEnglish
          71·
          2 months ago

          Then what’s the point of this thread? Whether he likes you or not makes no difference in terms of available outcomes. Sorry, not trying to be combative, just legitimately don’t understand why even care if there’s nothing you plan to do about it.

          • Colorfulhipp@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
            41·
            2 months ago

            ops. Guess you just exposed the fact that i’m lying to myself

            Yeah I realized this somewhere in the comments haha sorry everyone :) I’m seriously confused

        • Detheroth@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
          61·
          2 months ago

          Well if you want to make it easier to be alone, next time you see him look him dead in the eye and say “Fuck off”. He won’t try anything after that and you can go back to being alone if that’s what you need. No point worrying about whether someone is attracted to you if you have zero intent on following up (even as a friend) - burn the bridge and save yourself the worry.

    • Beaver@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      If I were in his shoes reading this post. I would’ve thought to myself “better leave her alone”