flirt

Like, he flirts with environmental determinism, the idea that our physical environment controls our fate, which shows up in Latin American literature as far back as Domingo Faustino Sarmiento’s 1845 novel, “Facundo.”

Or you were flirting with a person on the bus when you were still single, of course, but you were flirting with that person on the bus, and you didn't speak with them.