what can i even call this situation?
i’m sorry for this being too long😭
so i’m a girl and there is this coach (he got hired there like a 3 weeks after i’ve got my membership) at the gym i go to. how we met is basically i was doing my bicep work on the cable machine and he was sitting there on the leg extension across it and between rests i saw him dead staring at me the entire workout and it made me feel so self conscious i felt like i was doing something horribly wrong in the workout 😭 and by the end of the sets he saw me rest and he came up to me and went hi how are you what’s your name … and he asked what i was training that day and offered to introduce me to a machine i’ve actually never used before and was being really helpful. between sets he was telling me how from i seem like i’ve been training before (i was new to the gym) and so on. he didn’t even introduce himself as “coach x”. by the end of that session he gave me his phone number and told me to give him a call so he can have the number as well, and told me that he’s waiting for me on saturday. on saturday he came at around 5 minutes after i did and as i was warming up for leg day, he recognized me when he came, greeted me warmly, and said “i’m glad i got you from the beginning, finish your warm up and i’m waiting for you”. after i was done stretching i started a warm up set on the leg press and he was there from the beginning and guided me through my entire leg day and guided me through my entire workout while being pretty helpful too. that was the second time we met and ever since he always stops to say hi to me when he sees me around the gym even when he’s with someone else. later on, though, when he sees me, he recognizes me immediately and “brightens up”, and he started extending his hand to handshake me as he lingers in the handshake; he always asks about my workout and how it went and sometimes teases me about the weights. also most of the time i come to the gym an hour before his shift and when he comes basically all i be having left is cardio. yesterday he came around my last part of my bicep workout and he stopped and hand-shook me and so on, and asked whether i’m done or just started and when i said i’m almost done he said “aw really? you know i’m supposed to be here by 5 not 5:20 but i promise i’m trying to fix this timing issue” and multiple times he told me to come later “better”. he also keeps telling me how proud of me he is and that my progress is great already despite skipping sometimes (i only ever skip fridays and sometimes tuesdays). today is a friday and i went today, and when he saw me he brightened up and walked up to me hand extended saying “you’re here today i can’t believe myself!” while smiling.
another thing is he knows my brother but he doesn’t treat him the way he treats me at all. he also doesn’t smile around at anyone else either. the gym isn’t big at all, it’s rather small in comparison to most gyms so it’s really easy to spot him around. only time i ever see him talking to someone, it’s because someone approached him asking for help, and even then he be really neutral.
when i complimented his tshirt the other day saying “your shirt is nice “, he smiled and looked down at his shirt for a second, touched it at the collar and said “really? i’ll take it off right now i swear” and laughed.
also early when we met, my hair was in double french braids, and he was next to me and said suddenly “i’m so in love with your braids, you did them yourself?”
now his behavior is a pattern. he’s warm like this always. he stands there with me in the middle of the gym and laughs at my tiredness of lifting, and always approaches me first. i don’t even know what all this is tbh, i’m not sure if there’s indifference at all?