No. My take is slutty.

Hil, you still around? I have math issues.

I refuse to believe that a 38-year-old man is unaware of the signals he's sending via his behavior.

Could he be trying to do the "no-hard-feelings" dance but going too far?

It's an ego boost for him. And he thinks that by throwing you a bone by flirting, he's being a nice guy

What Emily and Cash said, both: he enjoys the ego boost, and thinks that by telling you "NO" first, he can enjoy the flirting, but know that you know it's not going anywhere.

I want to paint a blue paw print on Teppy's ass, and super-impose a lip print on top of that.

Er...WHAT?

Shoulder rubbing is flirting, straight up, one of the CLASSIC flirts

No kidding.

I think that he is inclined to be flirty now because there is absolutely no risk involved. He's told you STOP, so he is in the driver's seat as far as your relationship goes. He's the one who can turn it on or turn it off. Consciously or not (probably not), he's a control-freak, and risk-adverse because of that. He can flirt with you, and enjoy flirting with you, because he took the initiative of heading you off at the pass, so he doesn't have to worry that things will go too far, or otherwise get out of his control.

Oh dear. I think I see myself in Raquel's analysis here...

ION, I just applied for a second job working from 11pm to 4am

Um, unless it's a job you can actually do in your sleep, how the heck would that work??

I'll be driving up that way again tomorrow, though, as Paul's working late, so I'm going to pick him up so that we can shop for heavy curtains at Value Village. Will you be around? If not, I can send the coat with Paul, and he can drop it off for Dylan.

We should be around, but it might be easier to send it with Paul, especially if they're in the same building--am I right in remembering they are, or is it just that from my perspective the entire university might as well be contained in the Health Sciences Center, since that's where I worked, where everyone I knew worked, where all the other UW jobs I've interviewed for are, etc.?

I've known more than one guy who, for sheer ego gratification, escalates flirtation with a woman he has turned down.

If that's what he's doing it's assish behavior.

Paul's in Health Sciences.

But he's doing set up tomorrow, so he'll be all around campus after the morning.

It's weird. I think the combo of the admitted crush and their rejection makes them think they have all the power in the (not)relationship, and that turns them on.

That is definitely not the type of power game I'm into.

Someone explain "man-ho" to me, please. I'm guessing it's not really a male prostitute.

Heh. Nah, I'm just using it as the equivalent of -- like the girl in high school who slept with every. single. guy, including the Shop teacher? She wasn't actually a hooker, but she still got called a ho.

And on the man-ho Crush!Boy -- it's a little more complex than I'm willing to discuss in a public forum (and I'm sorry to be coy about it, because I really don't mean to be), but I actually think, after pondering it all day, that when he told me he wasn't attracted to me, he more or less meant "If you're romantically interested in me, I am REALLY not emotionally available, so don't go there." And that kind of scenario leaves a lot of room for flirting and backrubs. Which is fine, as long as both people know where the other is coming from. And I do now, and so -- eh. I'll let him live.

Though I still feel not-so-attractive and also very very wary to dangle my little velveeta-filled heart out in front of me again.

OK. Dylan should be home soon, so I'll leave it for him to figure out which would work best.

I left Annabel alone for a minute to go get the phone from the other room. I came back to find her sitting on the couch, paging through Self-Editing for Fiction Writers with a look of utter concentration.

Unfortunately, Dylan has the camera in his work bag, or this would've been recorded for posterity.

That is definitely not the type of power game I'm into.

Good lord, of course not. It's thoroughly disrespectful, if that's what's going on. People aren't just to be used for ego-gratification. That's why people get dogs.

People aren't just to be used for ego-gratification. That's why people get dogs.

Or those creepy RealDolls(TM).