More Potential Unwanted Attention: Part 2

About that face transplant...

I ventured out earlier than usual today, hoping I could sneak to the Other Shops (the ones where this guy doesn't work). As I turned into the road that leads to the Other Shops I breathed a mental sigh of relief, as I thought I was in the clear.

No such luck, however.

"Hey, Natasha!"

Oh, hell.

"Oh... he- heeeeey!" I grinned, automatically going into super-friendly mode and hating myself for it.

He increased his pace to catch up with me- he seemed to be walking up the path away from the Other Shops, so I jokingly asked him why he was visiting them when he worked at His Shops (which are actually better).

"Haha, yeah, my friends there thought it was weird too. Anyway, are you walking down there? I was just going- we could walk together!"

No. You were clearly just coming back from them.

"Sure, why not?"

Damn.

So we walked and chatted whilst I wracked my brain to find some way to shake him off. Nothing I did seemed to work.

"So, how has your day been today?" He asked.

"Oh, it's been okay. I've spent most of the day writing product copy for hats."

"Oh wow, really? That's cool."

I mentally facepalmed at his almost exaggerated enthusiasm- surely writing about hats doesn't sound that thrilling? I tried again.

"So how come you're off to the (Other Shops)?"

"I just wanted to get some vitamins. Like cod liver oil. Would you be interested in that? You probably are, it's pretty useful for women isn't it, to stay flexible."

What.

"Er yeah haha, good for the joints or something." I tried, bravely.

This continued for a bit- I even found an opportunity to hint at how nerdy I am to try and put him off, and enthusiastically told him the story of how saccharin was invented.

"Oh wow really? That's really interesting!"

We entered the Other Shops around this point.

"By the way Natasha, I couldn't manage to find you on Facebook- you do spell it the normal way, don't you?"

Damn.

"Oh- yes. You know it's funny, people have told me I'm not easy to find on Facebook before." (True). "Why don't you give me your last name and I could look you up?"

"Good idea!"

I was, in the end, saved by my cluttered Mary Poppins/ TARDIS technology bag, as I couldn't find a pen or paper, and the guy said he'd try again and see if he could find my name on the company's Facebook page. Which is unlikely, as I haven't posted there before.

"We could browse around the shops together- what are you looking for today?"

Oh, hell no.

 "Er, you know what, I'm sort of funny about doing my shopping with people," (panic mode engaged, lame excuse activated) "and I should be getting back to work soon anyway. But I'm sure I'll see you around soon!"

"Alright, I'll see you around!"

I spent the remaining half hour of my lunch break dodging him and looking over my shoulder until I saw him go- which was quite a good amount of time. Apparently it takes half an hour to buy one small container of cod liver oil.

One thing's for sure though, it's given me enough time to confirm (to my relief) that it's not about trust issues; I'm just genuinely not interested.

However, that doesn't dig me out of the muddy pit of Awkward Situation I'm now in.

To be continued?