Today at the temple, I noticed a woman I thought was very cute. We made eye contact. Then it happened again, and again—three or four times altogether. Enough for me to notice the repetition, which is apparently when my brain appoints itself an investigator.
My first thought was to go over and say hello. There was someone I found attractive, and she had looked in my direction more than once. A brief introduction seemed possible.
Then came the objection: people do look at other people. It’s a common feature of having eyes. Repeated eye contact could mean she was interested, but it could also mean she’d noticed me looking at her. Once two people become aware of each other, another glance doesn’t seem especially difficult to arrange by accident.
The setting gave me pause, too. We were at a temple. I wasn’t sure whether an approach would be welcome there, and I didn’t want to turn a few looks into an assumption on her behalf.
So I stayed where I was. We didn’t speak. I have no conversation to replay, no introduction to assess, and certainly no evidence that she was waiting for me to make a move. Just the eye contact, which has proved surprisingly capable of keeping me occupied.
I’m still curious what other people would have made of it, especially women who’ve been on the other side of those repeated glances. Would a simple hello have felt reasonable? Or was I giving three or four looks more significance than they deserved?
I decided not to approach her. I just haven’t decided whether that was good judgment or a missed hello.
