I (m26) have a platonic female friend who I talk to occasionally and somtimes dating comes up. She asked me the other day if there's anyone I've "got my eye on". I kind of laughed and said, somthing like "I don't know, there's this girl in my grad program that seems really nice, but I just, don't have the nerve to try and talk to her". She asked me why and I sort of confessed that I just feel "creepy" and "weird" when I go up and talk to women without some kind of excuse, if that makes sense. While I don't think I'm necessarily "ugly", I'm certainly no movie star either.
Anyways when I told my friend this she sort of teased me a bit (not in a mean way. Just in the way friends do), then told me somthing like "I doubt you'll creep her out, you're very attentive and respectful when you talk to people". I didn't quite no how to respond to that but decided I'd try to talk to her.
Anyways I feel like i totally screwed it up. (For some context, i have talked to her a little in the past, but always in an academic context like study sessions and projects, we havn't really ever spoken to eachother casually).I walked up to her today and said "hi!", she smiled and said "hi!" Back. I asked her how her weekend was and then felt my anxiety saying "you're creeping her out! Leave". I waited for her response and then just said somthing like "cool! Have a nice day!" and left. I've been kicking myself for this all morning.