A friend of mine won't stop being flirty and aggressive toward me. We've known each other for a couple years and are not extremely close. He's generally reasonable, but recently his behavior has escalated beyond my comfort zone.

I confronted him recently and I've already told him I'm not interested in him romantically, that I don't want to mislead him, and finally that I will never have anything but feelings of friendship for him. Despite our talk, he continues to bring up his affections at every awkward opportunity and insinuates we'll eventually "be together", even if I have a different opinion now.

I try to keep my distance, but we share mutual friends and work in the same relatively community so it's not entirely avoidable.

Now I come to you /adv/, what are my options at this point? Would it be best to cease all contact and suffer awkward social consequences? Will he get over this phase on his own?

>tl;dr: can you stay friends with annoying admirers, will they get the fuck over it or am i shit out of luck?