I have a boyfriend but this guy won't stop pursuing me?

[All the good usernames are taken.]

I'm sorry it's long, but please bear with me.

An old childhood friend of mine reconnected with me on Facebook and we've been messaging. I have a lot of fun talking to him and I value our friendship. I saw him in person twice (other than when we were children): once at a mutual friend's party, and once just walking around town.

Soon his fb messages got flirty and he was always suggesting hanging out. Bad timing though. When that began happening, I had just started dating another guy I really liked. I would ignore his flirting and continue the conversation in the most platonic way possible. I was more interested in the other guy.

Soon the boy I was dating became a serious boyfriend. Sometimes I would talk to my friend on Facebook when I was bored, still careful to keep it platonic. I made sure he knew I had a boyfriend, and nonetheless the flirting continued, so I stopped replying altogether after a flirtatious comment to really get the message across. This went on for two years. I love my boyfriend and am very loyal to him, so I really don't want to give this guy any ideas. I have no intention of leaving my boyfriend any time soon.

Earlier today, my friend texted me asking if I would go see a movie with him and another mutual friend I had known as a child. I thought it'd be fun to reconnect with that other childhood friend, and I felt safe hanging out in a group situation, so I agreed. About 15 minutes before we were supposed to meet up, he said the other friend didn't feel well and wasn't coming. I thought it was suspicious but it was too last minute for me to create a believable excuse, so I just sucked it up and went anyway.

I show up and he's already bought my movie ticket. That was a red flag for me so I insisted on buying him candy to even it out.

The movie itself was fine, nothing weird happened there. But afterwards, he walked me to my car (which was really far from where he was parked), gave me a slightly too long hug, and said we should do it again sometime.

I feel like I was tricked into a date or something. So many mixed signals. I really like hanging out with him and I would totally do it again if he would stop pursuing me and just accept being friends. I've already decided to not accept anymore invitations to hang out because it's getting too weird and it could get messy very easily.

I don't want to give up talking to him, but do you think I should for his sake?

Thanks for reading.

[Amy]

I think you should, it sounds to me like he intended to arrange a date with you all along, he knew you wouldn't agree to see him on your own so made up a story instead, it sounds to me like he cannot take no for an answer and although the friendship will fade, you can focus on your relationship, you need to tell him you have a boyfriend you are very happy with and do not wish to ruin what you have together and only see him as a friend, if he can accept that and move on then you can stay friends but if not, I would stop all contact with him.