
our squiggy had a very similar hair style, except his (similarly receding) hair was longer - curly and unkempt. he was about 5'6" and wearing a tshirt that was too tight, so that it stretched taut across his belly. he came up waaaay too close to me, smoking, and told me he was trying to get his sister to dress more fashionably, so could i tell him where i got my (completely generic, frayed-edge) shirt? then mentioned, while holding his cigarette so that the smoke wafted directly into my face, that he hoped i didn't mind that he was smoking. (i cannot WAIT for va to go smoke free like dc. PLEASE PASS THAT BILL.)
we started out polite, but we were so very, very not flirty with these guys. when they got weirder and weirder - and wouldn't leave - we stopped being polite and tried to stop interacting. they would not go away, and they would not stop trying to engage us in conversation. squiggy there was so creepy than when my friend liz got up to go to the bathroom, and squiggy wandered off directly behind her, alyssa and i were honestly concerned he followed her into the women's bathroom for.. uh.. bad things. i hopped of my barstool and literally ran to the bathroom to make sure squiggy hadn't cornered her in a stall or something. liz was fine, though, with squiggy nowhere to be seen. turns out he'd circled back and sidled up next to alyssa as soon as she was alone and defenseless at the bar.
it's hard to describe creepy guys like this - telling this story doesn't make them seem that bad, just like your garden-variety loser who gets too drunk and hits on girls at bars. except it was like 8:30 or 9, no one was drunk, and squiggy was.. i don't know, a step above the normal guy who hits on you when you don't want him to. i mean, how many times have you run to the bathroom in a low key, perfectly normal establishment to make sure your girlfriend hadn't been assaulted? it was a first for me. liz was parked about a block and a half away from the metro, but alyssa and i were adamant about walking her all the way there - in BALLSTON, of all places - because we didn't trust these guys not to follow us out, especially if one person separated from the others.
so anyway, my point is: this is what the "real world" has to offer. the creeps and the losers are definitely not confined to just the internet.

