staring for an eternity- anything happening?

[gracie]

Hi! This is my first post, I hope you all can help me out! Thanks in advance for your feedback.
There is this guy who has been staring at me for the last eight months. He works at a bar I frequent, and I routinely look up to see him staring at me, many times in an evening. He doesn't look away, doesn't seem shy about the fact that I have caught him looking at me. We have spoken on occasion, I once introduced myelf, and of course he is the bartender, so I order from him. But everytime we try to talk to each other, conversation stalls at hello. He makes me so nervous I can barely form coherent sentences, and I must say, he generally isn't sparkling either, though he is chatty enough with others. And its a really weird feeling, because it almost feels like we have this intimate relationship, the eye contact has been so intense and ongoing, how can we both not be aware of it, but then we we try to speak, its almost strange speaking banalities like hellohowareyou, which is all we can ever muster.
I don't know, I guess my questions is, this has been going on for eight months, so can he possibly like me after all this time? Or does he just stare because he thinks I'm strange or something? I know I have been doing the same thing, and am totally smitten, but what do you think? Would you engage in long term intense eye contact with someone you weren't interested in dating? thanks again, sorry its so long. I'm just flummoxed and need help.

[misombra]

i think if he was really interested in you he would've asked you out already. he probably finds you attractive, which is nice. right?

i don't know.

[Jimmy1218]

Nothing's gonna happen unless you guys actually talk...

[gracie]

exactly my question. Heres the thing though, I have hardly made myself approacheable, because, well, I don't when i like someone, so I have generally ignored him. I'm such a wuss... Anyways, the question is could he like me and not do anything about it because he isn't sure if I like him? because hey, I could have asked him out all this time as well, and I haven't. Do men do this too?