Creeps me out

In January, there was an incident at the gym that freaked me out. A middle-aged man, maybe in his mid-40's to 50's, had followed me from inside the gym lockerroom, to the parking structure, and onto the road for several miles. I felt I was being followed and that my safety was in jeopardy, but stayed as calm as possible. Thankfully, nothing happened, but I still believe this middle-aged man wants a piece of my ass.

The man and I had changed nearby each other in the lockerroom after - apparently - both of our work outs. During this brief encounter, I noticed him staring at me and giving me a look. I sensed something inappropriate, like his dirty thoughts, through his eyes and body language. I was ahead of him in changing into a fresh set of clothes and was almost done when I had caught his glances.

As I exited the lockerroom and looked back, I noticed that he picked up pace changing and saw him look right at me. At that moment, my mind believed he was going to follow me out of the gym, and this thought panicked and freaked me out. So I made a point to walk briskly out of the gym, to my car, and leave the parking structure as fast as I could.

When I pulled up to the parking attendant, the man was already in his SUV right behind me. Damn, he was fast. I knew I was being followed, but reasoned that he could be in a rush and just quick to get somewhere. All this could be a coincidence. So I got on the road, looked in my rear view mirror, and immediately noticed him behind me.

I took my normal route and monitored him in my mirrors. At one point on the road, he pulled up next to me in the right lane and looked into my car directly at me with a smirk, panting like he had been chasing after me. I sensed that he was trying to chase me down and hoping to get some action. From the main road, I signaled and turned onto my street and exhaled a sigh of relief as he continued on the main road.

Several weeks pass, and I had not see the man at the gym. Then a few weeks ago, we spotted each other at the gym, but I avoided him. As luck would have it that day, we both changed in the same area after our work outs, and the man hit on me. He said something like, "How are you doing?" I whispered, "Fine" under my voice and then turned away from him. This time he was ahead of me in changing, and I made sure to change very slowly. I timed it so that he left before me and then saw that he went the opposite direction of me on the road, which led me to believe that he had made a conscious effort to follow me last time. We probably saw each other several times at the gym over the next couple of weeks... until last week when we saw each other in West Hollywood.

I had come out to a college friend and invited a group of friends and acquaintences to a WeHo bar where we would meet up with best friend #3. I showed up late to the venue and as I spot best friend #3, my eyes recognize a familiar face no more than 15 feet behind her. The face was that of the man's! Immediately, I turned around so he wouldn't see me, but it was too late because we already made eye contact in that split-second.

Had I not been late, perhaps we wouldn't have seen each other. This chance encounter outside of the gym got me to evaluate whether a higher power is attempting to bring us together for some unknown reason. I know I said that I was attracted to older men in their late 20's to 30's, but not with this man with salt and pepper hair; he creeps me out.

As I introduced my friends to each other, I saw him through the corner of my eye with several people. It looked like his small group glanced over in my direction while he was talking to them. Maybe I was being self-conscious, but I swear that he was talking about me to his group. I told several of my friends about the incident with the man and decide to take several of them to get drinks with me at the bar - just in case he wanted to approach me, I'd have friends there to tell him off. We returned to the same spot in the bar with drinks in hand, and the man and his group had disappeared. I did not see him the rest of the night. But the day after, we saw each other at the gym, and I tried to play it off as non-chalantly as possible and avoided eye contact.

Today, he was at the gym and deliberately made himself noticed. While I did the incline press, he was fake-stretching by a pillar and watched me through most of that exercise. I avoided eye contact. As you can guess by now, we changed at the same time in the same area in the lockerroom. This time, I think he was afraid to say anything to me. I put up an imaginary wall to guard myself and block his presence from my consciousness. During this time, there were a handful of guys in the same area, and he may have said something quietly to me. But I was not sure since I had tried so hard to block him out completely.

All I know now is that he creeps me out. There is so much ambiguity in our non-existent relationship, and I am unsure how to deal with his looks and occasional comments. I am neither playing hard to get nor interested!