Je peux t'appeler?

I was walking home from school a couple of days ago and there was a car in a driveway on the same side of the street.  Nothing new… he was about to turn right and there was a gap in traffic, so I waited for a minute for him to turn.  50m further down the road I saw the same car on the opposite side of the road, pulled off in a little parking area.  He was trying to catch my eye and I figured that he was offering to give me a lift so I gave the universal “no-thank-you-head-shake” and kept walking ahead.  I thought that was that, but then he pulled out into traffic and pulled off the road AGAIN, this time on the same side of the road where I was walking so I had to go right by the car.  This time no choice but to confront him.  Before he could start to propose n’importe quoi, I stammered out a “Je suis presque arrivée, merci!” (I’m almost there, thanks!).  The rest of the conversation went down like this:

Man: “T’es italienne?”  (You’re Italian?) Shoot.  There goes my confidence in my French :p

Me : « Non, en fait, je suis americaine » (Nope, I’m American)

Man : « Je peux t’appeler ? » (Can I call you sometime ?)

Hesitation on my part… what do I say?!

Man: “ You are with a boy?” [sic]

Me: “Oui! Bon après-midi!” (Yes! Have a good afternoon !)

Little white lie never hurt anybody, right?  After that, I walked briskly away and walked past my driveway, waiting to turn until he had driven away and was around the corner where he Now judging from his accent, French wasn’t his first language either… but he clearly lives/works here, given his confidence with the language and the fact that he was driving a car.  I just keep trying to put myself in my place and figure out what kind of backwards thinking would make you think that kind of behavior is semi-normal.  It’s not the same since I’m a girl, but I think that if any of my guy friends are driving on a country highway in the states and see someone walking on the side of the street, they’re highly unlikely to pull over and ask if she want a ride.  And even less likely to pull over three times, especially after the “no thanks” head shake.  And to then ask if it’s ok to call sometime?!

Yeah, no chance I’m ever gonna understand this kind of behavior.  Can’t say I wasn’t warned that European men would be forward!