Pheromone Perfume

i must have been emitting pheromones last week. That's my explanation....my scientific explanation.

i'm not use to receiving alot of flirtation. Well, that's not completely true....before, i was more use to IT when i worked at a certain place during my teenage years. i got alot of comments...marriage proposals (like i really would get married at the age of 17) ...a couple of " do you believe in love at first sight?" lines. But it usually came from drunk men.....usually drunk, older men.....older creepy men. Once i left that job, the flirtation decreased exponentially. Less drunk men....less comments.

This weekend i seemed to get an usually high dose of flirtation directed my way.
Some of it creepy/uneasy moments like this one:

In Las Vegas, a man at my gate "moved in" on me as we waited to board. He was already sitting a couple of seats away from the empty seats i was eyeing. I thought i found a nice spot to wait..not too crowded..and i could keep on eye on the monitors in case of any last minute changes to my flight. At one point he began hollering across the gate to someone..apparently a buddy. This was the way he and his buddy chose to have their conversation. This seemed silly.....why not sit CLOSER to your buddy so you don't have to scream to the other row of seats. After a while he moved closer to his buddy....other people sat in those seats near me. Then the Screamer came back and sat next to me when that chair was vacant again. My first thought "HE is back...why?" Screamer mumbles something....i don't pay attention...i don't look up.
The mumble again (a little more louder and i can make out what he is saying)
"oh he's asking ME a question"...i say to myself.

"Where are you going?"
I'm thinking... "why do you want to know? why should i tell you? Damn, why is he talking to me?"
I had an uneasy feeling about him, so i didn't want to talk to him. I didn't want to make eye contact so he wouldn't mistakenly think i was interested.
"Should I lie and tell him another city? Rats, i can't lie. What if he is on my flight? Then he'll know that i lied. Worse! What if he sits next to me on the plane!" I didn't want to spend hours next to him. "I should just tell him where i'm going." Of course , i didn't take forever to answer him...these thoughts rushed thru my mind at the speed of light. I finally told him my destination. No long sentences ...just the name of the city. I didn't want to spend the rest of the time talking to him.
"How long is that flight?"
"about 2 hours i think"
no eye contact....no smiles.....let's hope he doesn't ask more questions.

Silence

After a while, he gets up and walks back to his friend. If he didn't move sooner, I was going to get up anyway. I had to throw out some trash from my lunch and needed to find a more private area of the airport to make a phone call. I wasn't going to make any phone calls near him so he couldn't get my name or other private information.....it was a business-related call.
Afterwards, i thought of how I hated the way he made me feel. I ACTUALLY felt guilty about moving away from him...thinking i might offend HIM. I had to tell myself ...who cares if i offend him.....i shouldn't let a man make me feel uncomfortable...unsafe. Too bad dude.....i don't have to put up with that. Family members and friends have told me to trust my instincts....my instincts were giving me a bad vibe about him.

But one of the more pleasant experiences happened at another airport.
The guy who checks IDs and boarding passes before you walk thru the metal detectors was a young man...looked younger than me. As he looked at my drivers license, he gave a smile and said "That's a pretty picture"....looked me again and smiled.
I was a bit surprised by his comment, "Oh thank you". and i smiled back (maybe blushed a little too.) He wished me a pleasant day/trip. As i stood in the line waiting for my turn thru the metal detector (yippey!), i noticed he drew a smiley face on my boarding pass. I guess they always mark your boarding pass after looking at it.....but i think it usually isn't with smiley faces.