u/Illustrious-Map7227

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DYQvSDutHoS/?igsh=dnY5dTQ2Y25ucjk2

I began to get to know this guy from the grocery store near where I live. He’s a nerdy type guy and as a nerd myself I find great community with other nerdy people. But the two times we’ve hung out I’ve gotten a really bad feeling. I don’t think he’s crazy or anything, but something in my body doesn’t want to be near him at all. He still works at that grocery store and texts me often. I haven’t responded in about a month as I’m trying to process what I want our acquaintanceship to look like going forward. I don’t want to date him, and based on how I felt hanging out with him, I don’t want to be his friend. He even asked that we take pictures together at the end of the two times we hung out. I awkwardly agreed the first time, but the second time I managed to excuse my way out of it. Idk. It felt like he wanted to collect proof we hung out? I’m an awkward person myself so I usually enjoy the company of other awkward people, but he just made me cringe the entire time. Help?

Btw the way, when hanging out with him, I felt like I needed as much distance as possible from him, my heart rate was elevated, and I was breaking out in a cold sweat. A bartender at the place we went to kept checking on me very concerned. I’m trusting my intuition on this but still don’t want to hurt his feelings. I’m looking for advice on how to let him down gently so I can go to to the grocery store without dodging his section, and also I have a very real fear of being physically hurt because I’ve rejected him.