I...Like...You?

Fifteen definitions of the word "crush" on dictionary.com. Here's the one I'm looking for:

Noun: (informal)--an intense but usually shortlived infatuation
the object of such an infatuation--"Who is your latest crush?"

In elementary school, if you liked someone, you hit them or said mean things to them. The funny thing is, I never really graduated from that level and still give the guys whom I like a hard time compared to the guys whom I don't. But, really, how do you let someone know you're interested?

At least for women, or at least for myself, there's this fine line between too aggressive and too passive. I've found that going up to someone and telling them straight up, "You're attractive" is too bold and, ugh, I hate saying this, but too masculine. It's basically the equivalent of, "You have balls and here are mine, too, while we're on the subject." But, not saying anything won't work in your favor because no one is going to know something if you're quiet.

I'm not sure if it's any easier for men. If they come on too strong, we label them as creepy. If they're too passive, we won't care. And if they do anything in between, we'll get all goo goo ga ga and overanalyze everything they say and do.

So what do we do? We'll send someone a Facebook friend request. We'll say something on Twitter and hope that they notice a subtweet. We'll tell our friend to tell their friend to tell them. We find roundabout ways to say things that we are afraid to say. Because striking up a conversation out of thin air is sometimes more frightening than Michael Jackson in Thriller.

I'd like to think that in my short 21 years, I've mastered a few things. The art of making a perfect microwave hotdog. Knowing how to hail a cab in NYC. Enduring an entire night in high heels (this happened last night!) But, when it comes to letting someone know I have a crush on them, I don't know what to do. I don't even know where to start. I'm not talking about "We've been seeing each other for a minute and I actually like you." No, I know how to say that. I'm talking about, "We have literally never spoken before but you're cute and I may want to talk to you and do more than that if at all possible, please and thank you."

So, what do I do instead? I blog about it at 1:30 in the morning instead of writing my paper due tomorrow. Cool.

Love freely,
tY