It took me three months to ask a neighbor for his number

I moved into a new apartment building in June, and this guy across the hall, Mike, seemed cool. We'd chat by the mailboxes about the weather or the broken elevator. I kept thinking, 'I should get his number to maybe grab a beer sometime.' But then I'd overthink it. Is it weird? Are we just 'mailbox friends'? I'd see him and my brain would just freeze. Finally, last week, I just blurted it out when we were both taking out the trash. He said, 'Yeah, man, I was wondering when you'd ask,' and we swapped numbers right there. The whole mental block took way longer to get past than the actual asking, which was like ten seconds. Has anyone else gotten stuck in their own head about making a simple friend move like that?

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rowan5936mo ago

My brain does that exact same freeze with the barista at my regular coffee shop. For months I wanted to ask if she was going to a concert I knew she liked, just to make small talk. Every time I got to the counter I'd just say "the usual" and leave. Finally asked her about it last week and she talked my ear off about the band. We build these tiny interactions into huge deals in our heads.

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william_rivera6mo ago

Wait, you knew what concert she liked for MONTHS?

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rosel835mo ago

That's not really a brain freeze though, that's just being shy. A brain freeze is when you forget your own phone number for a second.

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