The blurry line between flirty and disturbing at Hudson Valley

Ceora Gibson

I was sitting alone at a table playing Sudoku when a guy approached me and asked kindly if he could sit with me.

After I said “yes,” he asked me a few conversation starters. It was nothing too overwhelming but, I am very shy which caused all of my answers to be short and to the point. After a few minutes of what felt like an interrogation he asked if I liked to party.

I simply said “no.” He paused for a brief second then he asked kindly if he could have my number. I said “no.”

He took the rejection well and allowed me to be on my own. Not everyone can be that kind though.

Flirting on campus is almost inevitable. Hudson Valley is crawling with beautiful people and everyone enjoys a little attention from time to time but when does that attention become creepy and uncomfortable?

My experience with flirting is little to none. Prior to entering Hudson Valley, I had only had a handful of people try to flirt with me but I never truly felt uncomfortable.

I try to look as unapproachable as possible when I’m walking around campus so that no one feels the need to talk to me. I put my headphones on to ignore anyone who might be trying to get my attention, I avoid eye contact with passing strangers and I make no attempt at smiling. I simply do not want to attract the wrong kind of people but somehow, I fail miserably at this.

I was walking to the Science Center for class again with my headphones in and avoiding eye contact when I saw a group of guys standing around in a circle. As I walked closer and closer towards them, I noticed one of the guys break out of the group and begin to walk towards me.

After seeing this I tried to go around him so I could make it to class on time but he called out to me and asked how I was doing. I said I was good and I continued to walk but he decided to follow me and kept trying to talk to me. He asked for my name and I answered “CC” while I  was walking away from him but he proceeded to follow me.

“Cute name.” He said from behind me. At this point I was 100 percent uncomfortable. I was walking relatively fast, yet he still felt the need to follow me. I wasn’t even walking with him! I was ahead of him and he was still talking to me.

“Do you got any plans this Saturday? A couple of us are having a get together in college town and I’d like you to come,” he said. I told him I had plans and that I don’t like parties. He was a little frustrated at this point. “Are you really going to be busy all day?” he questioned while still trailing behind me.

I told him I would be with my boyfriend and he told me that he could come too. After telling him about three or four times that I was not interested he eventually gave up and left me alone.

Many girls I’ve spoken too have revealed to me that their flirting experiences have ranged from friendly to aggressive as well. One girl, who’s decided to remain anonymous, told a story about a nice guy that used a catchy pick up line on her. Although she didn’t give him her number she was quite amused.

Another girl, who would also like to remain anonymous for safety reasons, expressed her concerns to me after an admirer registered to all of her classes even after she tried switching out of them.

There is a fine line between being being flirty and being disturbing and these days that line seems to be getting blurrier and blurrier.