I remember sitting at a Barnes and Noble about a year ago with a few friends. This rather attractive man walked by and smiled at me with a bright, almost too friendly smile. I couldn't help but to notice and ofcourse I smiled back. He walked by again once more and turned directly to me and smiled once more. Again, he walks by without stopping. I'm sitting there in the cafe drinking my coffee with a book in front of me thinking should I go after him??
I decided to get up and walk around the store a bit, spotting him in the children's section with two adorable little boys. I thought how cute, maybe he's a parent as well!?! BUT then I saw a lady walk up next to him. They never held hands, hugged or anything, in fact after they walked off he walked far behind her so it was very hard to know what to think... and I didn't see any wedding rings... BUT were they together? How do you know? Or maybe they were friends? OR maybe she was his sister and he was helping out? I just didn't know what to make of it all. So, like always, I backed off and went back to the cafe to sit down, feeling yet again let down and unsure how to meet the right person... pondering if I should've just let go of my fears of rejection and just asked if they were together before he walked out of the store and away from me probably forever...
If you catch someone smiling at you numerous times, does that give you the right to walk up to them? Or is it just their way of saying you are attractive but they are taken? Or maybe they are just as nervous or shy as you are? Each person is different so you never know, but we all know being let down is never fun so that keeps most of us from going up to a complete stranger to say hello (especially if their very jealous boyfriend or girlfriend that you didn't know they had is lurking in the next isle!)
Now it's your turn: Do you have a story of someone you met, but were too afraid to go up to them? What signs were there that might've told you to stay back? What kept you from talking to them?
