I think guys are a little stupid about the "just friends" thing. There was this guy in my Japanese class last year (my first year at University, I might add) who seemed very nice and he was the only one who'd talk to me really so I would talk to him in class and occasionally out of class (going to lunch or walking back to my dorm/etc). After about a week he decided that he was desperately in love with me to the point that he'd even kill himself if I'd asked (and the only thing he really knew about me was that I also enjoyed anime!). So, I told him that I wasn't interested in him, or anyone period at the moment but wouldn't mind being friends with him (I now realize how stupid that was, but he was the closest thing to a friend I'd made all semester).

Anyhow, at first he decided that since I told him I wasn't interested in him or anyone that I must be gay and made it a point to ask me several times "You know, if you're into girls, that's alright, I understand." After explaining several times that that wasn't the case he started to covertely persue me again. It started out with him showing up at my dorm unannounced to read me the cheesiest of cheesy love poetry or essays about how terribly in love with me he was.

This ended up esclating to almost stalking (somehow he'd get into my building and floor without a slide card, among other things) and after yet another confession of undying love I had to tell him that I didn't think we could even be friends anymore because it was clear that it was going to be a problem. He became very upset and demanded that I owed him my friendship for whatever reason and that we'd even been out on several dates! (He'd asked me to 'hang out' a couple of times but I gave him the benifit of the doubt and thought he was just being friendly at the time, I'd have turned him down outright if I thought that's what he meant.) I thought that'd be the end of it but I ran into him earlier this semester and he asked me if anything was wrong because he hadn't seen me online (I blocked him after that last incident), I couldn't believe that even after that he still didn't get it. Maybe I should have been more cruel or something, I just didn't want to be mean to him and I really wouldn't have minded being friends with him either.

Sorry, that ended up being a lot longer than I'd intended... It's just been bothering me for a while and my friends and family haven't been very helpful (my mother kept telling me 'Oh, he just really likes you, there's nothing creepy about that.') I think the "just friends" thing might actually work if boys weren't so stupid....