I had just gotten off pretty late, I needed a few things for dinner the next night. My plan was to make my grandparents dinner and dessert the next night. Walk in to Aldi and I see a short, petite, brunette looking at fish. She looked like a young Claire Forlani with mild acne, incredible ass. Initially, she seems like she's grazing aimlessly, though she sticks around for a while at the salmon. What a coincidence; I'd like to see her fish. I walk up to her "trouble with the salmon?" is my opener. She laughs, and I help her pick out her dinner. We talk about past and future travels, about future dreams and goals, about best and worst jobs, I flirt and tease throughout. We pick up the salmon, along with potatoes. She helps me pick out my couple items. A solid ten minute interaction. Finally, as we have checked out, I go for the close: "Hey, we should grab coffee or a drink soon". I would have gone for the instant date but we both had refrigerated items, I live an hour from the town I was in. She says "I should have probably told you a while ago, I have a boyfriend"...

So where did I go wrong? Well first, I didn't establish intent with my opener or strong enough throughout, though I didn't because it's a smaller town and I don't want to become "that guy" in a town I work in. To me, although I was not explicit, it would seem obvious based on my flirting my intent. Though I'm starting to think I should have established intent anyways a la "Hey, I only help out cute girls with their shopping". Thoughts? Would establishing intent have been worth the risk? I did love helping her shop, it felt fun and playful. That felt like good game, I just don't love that I helped her shop for her date night with Chad lmao. I had the thought that sometimes girls will entertain being flirted with for the ego boost despite being with someone.