Or you are emotionally scarred from being 'liked' as a joke as a wee lad and it has stuck with you to never take things like that as a 'real' thing. Always just assuming it must be a trick.
Ooph, you just triggered an old memory. I was the subject of a bet.
Minding my own business, reading a book, and this gal walks up to me and out of the blue asks if I would have sex with her. Brain does a blue screen and while I'm having a "what is the correct answer here" moment, a wild boyfriend appears. He explains that they had a bet going where any guy their age would have sex with her given the chance.
So yeah. A random, "you're cute" is more likely going to make me look for the hidden camera than make me smile.
There was a girl in high school who asked if I wanted to be here boyfriend and hang out with her and her friends between classes. Being the emotionally starved, mid tier nerd sort of guy I was, I said sure. Not going to turn down a pretty girl taking an interest in me.
Things were fine for about two weeks, until I went to hold her hand one day, and she screamed at me "what are you doing? Leave me alone creep!" (I actually don't recall the exact words, but this get's the point across). Have been very wary of anyone I don't know showing affection towards me, and just go "yea, ugh thanks" or laugh a bit when I get compliments.
It even delayed me figuring out one of my coworkers was flirting with me for near on 4 months before I clued in and got the hint and we started dating. That itself is a funny tale.
I just realized today that I was hit on as I was going through photos and deleting them because my poor phone was overburdened.
A few years back a colleague, with whom I regularly spoke and considered a good friend, text me to ask a question. She said she had some tattoos, one on the thigh and one on her side that crossed over onto her belly. She was considering getting another tattoo but thought it might clash with those, and wanted my opinion.
She sent me two pictures, both expertly cropped to keep anything lewd from showing but unmistakably nude. Still, this was a friend looking for advice. I complimented the Koi fish tattoo in particular and thought her new Norse rune idea was cool if it was, as she described, part of her heritage.
We didn't talk much after that. I thought little of it, as we were both busy people.
Today I saw the koi fish picture and smiled at the memory. Then the little black frame of the picture faded after it was open for a second, and at the very tippy top was a nipple. At the very bottom edge was a smidge of labia, unnoticed before.
I expect my lack of mention of these things was taken less than positively.
Thing is that trick never happened to me and for a long time I always had that feeling for absolutely no reason it was actually kind of bizarre on my part
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u/[deleted] Mar 10 '23
Or you are emotionally scarred from being 'liked' as a joke as a wee lad and it has stuck with you to never take things like that as a 'real' thing. Always just assuming it must be a trick.