My First Real Awkward Moment at OU (The Uncomfortable Come On)

I want to talk about something that happened to me Friday afternoon of last week. It was very uncomfortable for me and the entire situation was extremely awkward, and is one of the main reasons why I am afraid to be in the OC anytime alone now.

Here’s what happened:

I was sitting in the basement of the OC, on my laptop, minding my own business. I would glance up once in awhile from my work from time to time, just to see who was passing by. During one of these quick glances, I happened to make eye contact with a campus employee who happened to be passing by. So I smiled at him real quick (cause, ya know, I’m a fucking nice person) all lips and no teeth, then resumed my work. While I was typing, I noticed that the guy had slowed down his walk considerably, and was giving me a double and triple-take as he continued around the corner.

That should have been my first clue that something incredibly awkward was about to unfold.

Thirty seconds later, the guy comes back around the corner and walks directly toward me. He then proceeds to plop himself down directly across from me and strikes up the most wince-inducing conversation I’ve ever had in my life. I sincerely apologize if this makes me sound like a tremendous douche-turd, but the biggest reason why it was so incredibly uncomfortable for me was because the guy obviously had some mental problems. His speech was very slow, loud, and ungainly, and he was rocking a bit in his seat and was very fidgety and nervous. I tried to be as pleasant as possible, considering that there were other students around and it was very obvious that they would be able to hear everything that this guy was saying to me, and also very obvious that I had no clue who this guy was or why he was talking to me.

After a couple minutes of this agonizing conversation, the guy finally stands up to return to work. He takes three steps away from me, stops, turns back around, and holds out his cell phone to me. “Can I have your number?” he asks. I politely turned him down, then half-heartedly told him that maybe I’d see him around campus sometime. He eagerly agreed and then finally left.

Long story short, I do see him wandering around the OC as he works, and you better believe that I turn my head or duck around a corner when I see him coming. I’ve had a couple of close calls, but I’ve escaped notice thus far. To be honest, I don’t really know that he would recognize me again. But I don’t want to take a chance on it. He did seem genuinely nice, but 1) If I had to approximate his age based on what he he told me, I’d have to guess that he is in his late twenties, and 2) Again, I’m sorry if this makes me sounds like a jerk, but he really did have some problems. And though I don’t mind being friendly to him in general, I really do not know how he would interpret said friendliness, as apparently a quick smile warranted him to come over and start talking to me and to ask for my phone number. And finally 3) He is a total stranger to me, and I don’t give out my phone number to random people.

So this is why I am now forever afraid to be in the OC alone. And this is why I am sitting in Varner Hall all alone on my laptop instead with other students in the OC. Ahhhhhh…