Of course I like you.
This reminds me of a story.
Towards the end of my first year in law school, I started preparing for finals. Now, my finals preparation was a little different than that of most. Law students usually go to the library and reformat their notes from the semester into long outlines covering everything that was discussed in class. I went to the library and caught up on Breaking Bad episodes.
In an effort to make myself more accountable, I tried studying in the reading room for a little while. The reading room at Michigan Law is a beautiful Hogwarts-esque room full of long tables. I figured that if other people could see my laptop screen, I might be less inclined to screw around for hours at a time. This strategy didn’t work at all. Apparently not even the judging eyes of others are enough to keep me away from Walter White’s tragicomedy, but that’s not the point of this story.
Another tiny motivation to study in the reading room might have been all the stories I’d heard about undergraduate girls going there to pick up law students. As luck would have it, I sat down one morning across from a cute girl with a Biology book in front of her. (Fine, maybe it wasn’t luck. Maybe I intentionally sat down across from her. Who knows? This is just another one of life’s little mysteries.) She was wearing a long sleeve Michigan t-shirt, a Michigan baseball hat, and no makeup, so she probably wasn’t there to pick up law students. I figured I’d try my luck anyway.
I tore a piece of paper out of my notebook and wrote:
Hi,
I’m Ian. I think you’re really pretty. Would you like to get coffee with me sometime?
YES NO MAYBE (circle one)
After gathering my courage, I slid the note across the table.
She looked at me quizzically, unfolded it, and immediately turned bright red and started laughing. She nodded and slid the paper back to me. I laughed and whispered “You should probably give me your phone number then.”
She pulled the paper back, wrote her name and number, and handed it to me. I smiled, folded it up, and put it in my pocket.
OK cool. Great. So…um…what now? Do I start a whisper conversation with her? Do I sit here and pretend like I’m studying, even though I’m having a little trouble concentrating? Do I try and steal glances at her and catch her eye? Do I pretend like that didn’t just happen?
I decided to pretend like it hadn’t happened. And I’m a very bad pretender. We studied awkwardly across the table from each other for another half hour or so. You might ask, “How awkward can it be when you’re just sitting there and studying?” To which I would reply, “Trust me, incredibly awkward.”
Finally, she mercifully packed up and left so I could return my full focus to Walter White and his crazy shenanigans.
Moral of the story? Corny stuff like that actually works.
