In 2014, I met Bill at a trading card tournament with my guy friend, Jake at our local comic store. After a year, it was obvious that Bill was attached to me. I stopped going to this comic store when I was a junior in HS (remember he's 3 years younger than me). When I went to my local library, his older sister worked there and would tell me was constantly asking her if she saw me or how I was doing. I was a little creeped out so I stopped going there.
In 2018, we connected on Instagram but keep in mind we haven't talked since we were younger. I posted happy singles day because I was upset my talking stage wasn't responding. Bill commented "Wait, what about Jake?? Are you two still together?" I replied "No, we never dated." and Bill replied "Really??" I deleted the post soon after because my now boyfriend, Paul responded. We made it official, via social media, that we were dating a half a month later.
In 2024, I was a year out of college (I lived on campus 2 hours away) and I was at my local gym after not living with my parents for 4 years. I was working out and a man leaned over to wave at me while I was resting in between Bulgarian split squats. I noticed he was a foot taller than me at least, and being 5'4, that really freaked me out. That, and he was a stranger (side note with insanely long curly hair that mostly covered his face). I ignored him. The man started working out at the bench right next to me. I quickly finished up and went across the gym to the chest press machine. I received a dm from Bill via Instagram asking me if it was me at that gym and he wanted to come over and say hi. He said he felt sending a text was less creepy than approaching me. I knew he lied but I was very upset that day because my cat has passed away the day prior and I had spent all night staying up with him. I sent back that it was me and he replied that he would come over because he looked "hella different". I wiped my machine and he was standing at the next machine staring at me patiently. We talked and then I would see him every now and then at the gym and I noticed he wanted me to know he was watching me. He would make comments about what he noticed about my workout or that he noticed if I stumbled. I didn't think much of it at first because I'd see him like once every 3 months and I always brought up Paul.
In 2025, I noticed he definitely was attracted to me as he would puff his chest, brag, fix his hair or I noticed him checking me out while talking. He would say things like let's move this convo elsewhere and I would shut him down and get back to my workout. He always initiated it, either by coming up to me or texting me peekaboo. While it was annoying, I didn't think much of it because it was so infrequent and he was relatively radio silent online, even leaving me on read a few times when I responded to his Instagram text. He would watch my stories every now and then and he has never liked any of my posts. He told me he was dating someone from his work who also went to our gym. One day I saw them and texted him if it was the girlfriend. He said "Yes she is, and we are now dating. Yay! I saw ya and talked about ya for a bit" I felt uncomfortable and texted back "Oh, you didn't have to. I'm glad you two are together because it seems like you get along well" and then I didn't see him until a couple months later. He would make comments to me that he sees me there so often and tried to get out of me what my schedule was. I told him I only go twice a week and avoided telling him which days. He pressed that he saw me there so often and I joked it must be somebody else. He started fiddling with my waterbottle, jokingly changing my weight pin, reached out to touch my smart watch when I said I was having trouble understanding it because it was new (when he did I pulled my hand back and put up my hand in a stop signal and told him firmly "I got it, no thanks"). Then a month later, I was working out and he texted me peekaboo. I said hi on the way back to wipe down my machine because I felt awkward ignoring him when he was so near to where I was. He extended his fist and offered a fist bump. I stared at his hand for 3 seconds, and I saw he was gleefully staring at me. I was wearing gloves so I did but acted like I was a bro. He then said "Abby is watching" and leaned down so he was almost in my face and pointed to gesture behind me. I panicked and backed up then turned around. I waved to Abby on the treadmill. She didn't acknowledge me. I frowned and then left. He texted me 3 minutes later "Didn't hit my new pr :(" I didn't respond.
In 2026, Bill and Abby broke up during Christmas. I saw him at the gym and he looked absolutely defeated. I was resting in between sets and he came over. He tried to get my attention by tapping the machine with his leg in a fake kick. He asked me about Paul, despite never acknowledging him before this. I answered his question, saying that Paul is a pilot (it's obvious on Paul's social media and I've mentioned this to Bill before because Paul has a lot of debt for flying). Bill seemed to be very grumpy about this and told me he didn't have any job prospects for com sci even though he was graduating in a month. I told him I hoped he would get some soon. He left. Next time I see him, I asked him about Abby. He confirmed they were done, and got flustered when I assumed he was upset. He said "I broke up with that chick weeks ago, I've broken up with every girlfriend I've had." He then sad "How's Paul? Your uh…. boyfriend (spoken softly)." I said he was good and helping out one of his friends right now. He responded "What a dork… what a dork… what a dork." I was shocked. I said "Absolutely not, he's a good friend to his friends." then I went back to my workout.
I know everybody is going to roast me saying I have entertained him for too long, but for a while I kept talking to him because I was trying to be friends with his girlfriend after he was gatekeeping her. Now that they have broken up, I added her on Instagram and we've been extensively talking because we share many of the same hobbies. Sadly, she stopped going to the gym because she's traveling but when she's back in the US she wants to meet up. But basically, like, I feel like ignoring him from now on is difficult because he comes right up to me and he's sneaky. He doesn't leave a digital record and also he acts in a way that can't really be called out on. I also am shocked that maybe he really thinks I'll be ending my 8 year long relationship (which is insane) and choose him of all people. Like obviously Paul is an excellent man otherwise why would I be spending all these years with him. I guess Bill is extremely delusional.