On being given people's numbers 'to talk'

 This will be a quick one, need to go sleep, it's way to deep in the night.

I've been avoiding taking people's numbers from people to talk, because the sort of people who're asking their friends to set then up with other people are often looking to get married or be involved in the longish term. And since I'm not into that, I don't want to be a jerk deadass or a liar, misleading them into something that was never my intention.

But now I've been thinking, what if by limiting myself to outright rejection, I'm denying people the opportunity of my company, lying is not the opposite of constantly telling people nonstop that what they want is not what you want at all you wont ever ever ever want it. It's annoying. IS there no middle ground, I wonder, where one can be honest but also flirty, not too intrusive but also honest, kind and understanding. Can one not empower other kind nice persons into success, while being on their side, not rejecting there company?

Things to think about.

This comes from my conversation with ND from a couple of days ago (it was literally last night), when she said a friend of hers had been going through a tough time talking to guys. Perhaps it was a general comment that had nothing to do with it, but this morning I thought about it for a moment and it's possible the conversation was brought up to judge my temperature on if I wanted to talk to the person. And why not, they seem like a lovely wonderful person, if they're interested in just talking to a person, with no expectations, as long as there's honest on all the sides, why must I try to micromanage what somebody else might want to do, if they're moving towards what might be a mistake on their side, why should I be the one to remind them that, as long as I'm honest about my intentions.

So the thought is to perhaps suggest it would be an idea worth considering to be talking to the friend, as long as everybody was on the same page with regards to expectations. Or is that a cause for outright rejection, or even disdain because how dare I suggest wasting somebody's time, bringing it up even as an option, when I should know better and understand that the difficulties are not going to go away no matter how I'm involved, with my goals?

Something to think about, perhaps the risks of total embarrassment failure, humiliation and mockery is worth providing my entertainment and company to people who might find me to be somebody they'd want to keep around?