No, Thanks. I'm Straight...I Think

Some of you might recall that I had written this post, about how a black man from Sierra Leone wanted a piece of me, a little over a year ago.

This story starts several months back when I went to a Kelly Clarkson concert in Orem. There was one guy there who was way more into the show than anybody else. He danced with reckless abandon for the duration of the show and was screaming every word to every song. I know, you might be thinking I'm really just describing myself, but this guy was more into Kelly than anyone ever could have been. Now skip ahead a couple of months to the beginning of this semester...

I'm a TA for a stats class and, lo and behold, this same kid from the Kelly show walks right up to the front to take a seat in the first row of the computer lab that I teach on Fridays for the class. I immediately recognized him, but decided to wait a little while before bringing up Kelly, which ended up being about a month ago.

I thought maybe he would be a little bit embarrassed to admit he was there like I had felt, but he was completely unapologetic about it. A reserved enthusiasm boiled over his countenance as he began to reminisce about how amazing Kelly is live, and how he also got to see her play in New York at Central Park during the Today Show. The conversation was brief, and then I was on my way.

This past Friday, I was finishing up the lab when I had to switch pens because the ink was running out of the first one. I end the class with the new bright blue pen, and wish the students well on their upcoming test. Kelly fan says to me, "I really like that color, it's a good color." Thinking he was referring to the pen, I respond with some dumb joke about the pen, when he corrects me saying, "No, no. I like that lilac color on you, it's a good color for you."

Yes, I was wearing a shirt that can be described as a lilac, but he had caught me off guard. I said thanks, and then moved over to the teacher's podium to check my email on the computer before I left the room. All of the students except for Kelly fan and one other student had left by this time, when he decides to approach me and prop himself up on the table just a foot or so away from me to ask if I had been to any other cool concerts like Kelly.

Noting his close physical proximity, the very recent compliment he had given me, his body language, as well as remembering that he is a theater student who speaks in highly feminine tones, I began to get uncomfortable. I wanted to be nice, but not inviting; short, but not rude. I told him that Kelly was actually the first pop concert that I had been to, but that I enjoy just about anything live, and that I had even gone to a punk show last weekend. He told me about some band that he was going to see, and the conversation kind of drifted off from there, but before departing he looked over both shoulders as if to see if anyone else was in the class. When he saw the other student, he just got up and let me alone.

When I write about it now, I almost feel like I'm just reading too much into it, but I know at the time I was definitely feeling the vibe from him. And I was thinking that if I had done any combination of those things to a girl, I would be indicating my own dating interest.

What I should have told him (that would have erased any doubts about my heterosexuality) was that the very next night I would be going to see the top 10 dancers perform on tour for So You Think You Can Dance, which post will come shortly...