I'm a guy, married for 8 years, have a 4 year old daughter, yet still feel like I don't have women figured out at all, so take this with a grain of salt.

A lot of the women here are telling you about how annoying/scary a stalker attitude can be, and I believe that's true. But I understand why you're asking the questions you're asking, and it can be confusing. Movies, being what they are, can confuse you more than anything.

So let me tell you my experience with my wife, because it's probably a more realistic take on how these dramatized stories can look in the real world.

I had to ask my wife to go on a date with me many times before she agreed to. However, the difference between my experience and the portrayals of these movies is she never said "no".

The first time I asked here if she would go on a date with me, she declined and said she didn't feel she was in the right place in her life to date at the time. I said okay, and we stayed acquaintances. I watched to see if she would ever send me any clues that she might be ready. She never did.

A little over a year passed, and I asked her again. This time she said, "maybe." I was definitely hoping that she would be like, "Yes! I've been dying for you to ask me out again!" but instead her reaction was "I'm really not that interested, but you seem like an okay guy and we could maybe hang out a little bit more and see if anything is there. Let's just not call it a date, though."

I was actually pretty devastated. A guy doesn't really like to hear "I'm not really interested, but whatever". I liked her a lot, we had a ton in common, though we didn't know each other really well we did always have fun talking to each other. It seemed like a perfect match to me. But for whatever reason she just didn't feel the same way. And it hurt.

At first my reaction was, "Well that's it. I've been holding out for this girl for a long time, and she's just not interested. I need to move along now." I felt that way for a day or two, and it was pretty miserable. Then I realized, "She never did say 'no'." It was at that point that I decided that I was going to at least get a "no" from her before giving up. From that time on, I pursued her openly but from a distance. She knew I was interested, but I worked hard not to pester her. It took several more months, but eventually she came around. A few years later and we were married.

This is just me speaking about my personal experience, and other experiences may vary. There were plenty of times where I felt like I was annoying her and wondered if she just never said "no" because she was too polite, and it was hard to keep going. But I set in my mind to go after her until she said "no" and then no further. She just never did say "no". So here I am over a decade later, with the girl I wanted.

Hope that helps some how.