Thank you! I really struggled emotionally with the fact that he said "I think you're reading into that." It was so...it felt invalidating and it was odd. But we didn't talk about it in depth. I did let him know that that comment made me feel defensive. And I said something like "I don't like being criticized," when he asked why, but its more than that. It felt inaccurate, for me, and it was just invalidating in general. I am going to stand my ground with him. He didn't pull back when I told him that comment bothered me. He stuck his ground about his opinion. Some things about him really have rubbed me the wrong way. But I like him, and he likes me, and he said he won't say those things "babe, etc" if I don't want. We have a very good conversational vibe. Divine, I appreciate you saying I don't have to put up with it.

He also said things that were conflicting. For instance, he is ok with me not knowing about him, being open about dating others at this time (though I'm not) and he just wants to get to know me better. At the same time, he does seem to like me quite a bit. Our phone conversation was very nice. When I talk to him, I find myself liking him a lot too.

About my feeling of him being "Fake." I think I jut don't know him. And it wasn't the whole date I thought that. Just at dinner. he was raving about our pizza,lol. And saying he was really enjoying our time together. Idk. It just felt over the top for me, lol.

I'm not trying to figure anything out atm. I just wanted to say all this.

In terms of his invalidating comment, I ended up turning it into a joke. It helped.

I asked him if he's bisexual, btw. He's not. I am glad. And he wasn't offended that I asked. He may just be a metrosexual, lol.