Search Results: awkward silence

I've been seeing a gentleman for a few months now. He's everything I've been seeking in a man; smart, dependable, ambitious, and sweet. He's good at making conversation, but I'm unsure of the chemistry between us. The silences feel more awkward than comfortable (from my perspective, anyway) and while his bear hugs are great, it doesn't feel intimate in the same way it did with past boyfriends. I still don't feel totally comfortable with initiating touching or kissing, despite his encouragement. I find myself anxious if I'm being weird or awkward, he insists I am neither.
Something just feels off, and I don't know what it is! I have experienced abusive relationships in the past, so I wonder if my emotional programming doesn't know what to do with his kindness or it's a chemistry issue. I know I tend to be attracted to narcissistic men (outwardly & socially confident, internally insecure), which he is not (very internally secure & stable), is that why it feels wrong?
He's just so perfect for me, why doesn't it feel "right"?

I have recently started a new job and I have had a guy working with me as a mentor.

One day, the fire alarm went off and we had to go outside in the pouring rain. He was wearing a coat and had a lab coat over him to keep dry which he gave to me so I could keep myself dry. I will list significant things that he has done;

I’ve noticed that his pupils sometimes dilate. We look into each others eyes for a few seconds at a time when he is talking to me.
He fidgets A LOT when talking to me. He will either be playing with his badge or messing around with something.
When he is sat down by me, he will stretch and ‘open’ his body up (hands behind head, thrusting chest backwards etc.)
He is sometimes clumsy or does something wrong when showing me.
He gives me a lot of reassurance and praise and never gets annoyed at me.
When we were sat with the rest of our department at break, our masks were off and we looked at each other quite a few times.
He was always asking me to sit with them.
Sometimes our hands will touch and sometimes he says “sorry” and moves his hand away.
I told him about doing eyelashes and he said I could do his if I wanted to LOL
However, somethings he does really confuse me:

In a group setting, he avoids looking at me.
In the canteen, he has been sitting with his back to me or sitting where we can’t see each other.
When I smiled at him, he practically ran away
He doesn’t text me. I text him once and his reply was really blunt. I’d sent him an interesting article but in person he was like “you can send me anything”
Sometimes he will look at me when I’m looking at him and quickly look away.
When standing in the queue for lunch, we both spoke a little bit but then there was awkward silence.

So... help me out please, what do you think? He will laugh and joke with everyone else but he doesn’t interact with me as he does with others. He is quieter with me, although he will laugh at things I say and then repeat something I’ve said.