Day 75: Romantic Misstep

Today was a disaster. Not the kind of disaster where you can laugh it off immediately, but the kind that makes you want to crawl under your bed and stay there for a week. My mission: to make some kind of move with Amanda, my longtime crush. My execution: an unmitigated failure.

It all started during lunch. Faisal, ever the self-proclaimed love guru, decided to give me a pep talk. “You’ve got to make your intentions clear, bro,” he said between bites of his fried noodles. “You’ve been staring at Amanda for months. It’s time to take action.”

“Staring?” I asked, horrified.

“Not in a creepy way,” he added quickly. “More like… lost puppy vibes.”

“Comforting,” I muttered.

But he wasn’t wrong. Amanda was the kind of person who could make you forget your own name. Smart, funny, and effortlessly cool. We had become friends since working on group projects together, but I wanted more than that. The problem? Every time I thought about confessing, my brain short-circuited.

Faisal had a plan. “Buy her coffee,” he said, as if he were revealing the secret to world peace. “Girls love thoughtful gestures. Just casually give it to her during your Marketing class.”

It sounded simple enough. So, after lunch, I stopped by the campus café and bought Amanda’s favorite drink: iced caramel latte. I rehearsed what I’d say about a hundred times on the way to class. “Hey, thought you might like this,” or maybe, “You work so hard, figured you deserved a treat.” Cool and casual, right?

When I walked into the lecture hall, Amanda was already there, seated in her usual spot near the window. The sunlight hit her hair just right, and I nearly tripped over my own feet. Clutching the coffee like it was a life raft, I made my way over.

But just as I opened my mouth to speak, disaster struck. Out of nowhere, Faisal appeared behind me, clapping me on the shoulder. “What’s up, Amanda?” he said, grinning like a Cheshire cat.

She looked up, smiling. “Hey, Faisal. Hey, Eddie.”

I froze, my carefully rehearsed lines evaporating. “Uh… hi,” I mumbled, holding the coffee awkwardly.

Amanda’s eyes flicked to the cup. “Is that for me?”

Before I could answer, Faisal chimed in. “Of course it is! Eddie’s been raving about how much you love caramel lattes.”

I wanted to strangle him. Amanda blinked, looking genuinely surprised. “Wow, that’s so sweet of you, Eddie. Thank you!”

She took the coffee, and for a split second, I thought maybe Faisal’s interference hadn’t ruined everything. But then, as she took a sip, her expression changed.

“Oh no,” she said, wincing. “I’m allergic to almond milk.”

My stomach dropped. “What?”

“I usually get regular milk,” she explained, setting the cup down. “But this is really thoughtful of you.”

“Yeah, thoughtful,” Faisal said, barely stifling a laugh.

I muttered an apology, my face burning, and retreated to my seat. The rest of the lecture was a blur. Amanda didn’t seem upset—if anything, she looked amused—but I couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d ruined everything.

After class, Faisal tried to lighten the mood. “Hey, it wasn’t that bad. Now she knows you’re thinking about her, right?”

“Yeah,” I said flatly. “She also knows I don’t pay attention to her coffee order.”

Lesson of the day: Grand gestures are overrated, and Faisal’s advice should come with a warning label. On the bright side, Amanda smiled at me as we walked out of class. Maybe all wasn’t lost. Or maybe she was just being polite. Either way, I’m sticking to group projects and small talk for a while.