I am not dating currently, just doing group activities in public spaces. I state this upfront if I meet a guy who asks me on a date. Although I might want to date someone in the future, I'm not interested in doing any one-on-one activities with a man at this stage in my life. However, I am happy to have many platonic friendships with men where the interactions happen in groups in public settings. To that end, I am happy to exchange numbers and sometimes coordinate with a man to organize a group activity that we both like as long as there are several other people there and there is no expectation of romance. I make this clear so men don't waste their time if they're not interested in those kinds of interactions.
There's one man who seems to be showing up at a lot of events that I go to and kind of hovers and "cock blocks." Through group interactions, I have witnessed that he is impatient and sometimes rude. He is condescending/sarcastic frequently, talks over people, and has poor impulse control. I sometimes get the impression that he has bottled up resentment about life waiting to explode. I have decided that there's enough red flag behavior that I don't want to get too close, not even in platonic friendship. Unfortunately he seems to have fixated on me currently, goes by my house (1/2 mile from his), texts several times a week, etc. What is the best way to distance myself interpersonally? Should I just space out my text responses? Should I intentionally not invite him to group events because he seems to be interpreting the situation differently than I am? We've never had even one date so it seems weird to have a talk. What is the most reasonable solution that minimizes potential hurt feelings?
