Dear Eric: I was recently on a lovely group nature walk with a friend, who I hoped to become something more with. The exercise and environment were romantic; the conversation was good and that continued for about three quarters of the walk.
Then, a man joined us on a break and started talking … and talking and talking. If I tried providing minimal responses or no follow-up questions, he just glommed onto my date and peppered them with questions and commentary nonstop. Sensing that this was making the tired-of-talking date uncomfortable, I jumped back in to divert the attention away from them.
To be honest, I was getting frustrated because I ended up feeling like I was going on a date with this random guy from all the talking we were doing, instead of the person I actually came with and wanted to be on a date with!…