Stephen sulked to the back stockroom, and found out his a.s.signed aisles for the night. After grabbing one of the dollys for his first aisle, he rolled it out on the floor and began to get to work. Luckily, it wasn"t more than ten minutes before he heard a familiar voice."You know, I"m getting really tired of doing the canned vegetable aisles," stated Miguel, walking up through their aisle with a slight smirk on his face.
Stephen grinned, "As opposed to what? The baking goods aisle?"
"No, screw that aisle, too. I"m talking frozen foods. No better place to be during the hot summer months than in those coolers," said Miguel, pulling something from behind his back. "Plus, getting to eat the damaged popsicles." The thing in his hand turned out to be a popsicle from the back freezer, and he tossed it right into Stephen"s hand.
"Popsicles, good score!" Stephen grinned, looking down at his flavor. Cherry. Perfect!
"Thought it would be a good way to start the s.h.i.+ft," said Miguel, pulling the wrapper off.
"By raiding the freezer? Yeah, good call."
"Those are the only kind of calls I make," laughed Miguel, before switching gears. "By the way, your girlfriend is looking pretty hot today."
"My girlfriend?" Stephen asked with some confusion.
"Yeah, Abby!"
"Oh," remarked Stephen, shaking his head. "Yeah, she looks really great today. But she looks great most days, so that"s not a surprise."
"I don"t know how a girl looking like that is single."
"Maybe she"s got a guy in mind, and she"s just waiting for him," said Stephen, quietly, with wishful thinking. Maybe she was just waiting for him to find his confidence and ask her out.
"Girls like that aren"t liable to wait long," replied Miguel, tearing open a pack of canned corn.
"Yeah, you are probably right," mused Stephen.
Miguel stopped what he was doing to look over. "Come on, man, how long are we going to ignore the elephant in the room. You totally dig her. Just go ask her out!"
"It"s not that easy," Stephen replied, somewhat defensively. "I"m just trying to feel this one out. Wait for the right moment."
"Oh, moment, sch-moment! There"s no such thing as a right moment. At some point, you just gotta find your b.a.l.l.s and do it," said Miguel, in a way that made Stephen chuckle.
"I wish it was that easy."
"It is that easy. You"re just making it more complicated than it needs to be."
Stephen sighed, "Perhaps you"re right."
"I"m always right, you know that," chuckled Miguel, going back to that case of canned corn.
"I tried already this morning," Stephen admitted quietly, being entirely candid with his friend.
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"You tried? What happened?"
"Nothing happened. I couldn"t even get it out. I opened my mouth and no words came out," replied Stephen.
"You didn"t have a plan for what you wanted to say, that"s why you failed," said Miguel, sagely. "What do you want to say to her?"
"Honestly? That I think she"s gorgeous, and I want to take her to the movies sometime," answered Stephen, rather nonchalant.
"See? That"s brilliant. Just memorize that statement, and go over there and say it. That"s all you need to do."
"You sure it sounds good? Like should I tinker with it? Maybe asks if she likes me or something?" Stephen asked.
"There you go again," Miguel shook his head. "You"re overthinking it. Just march on up there, and deliver your line. The more you think about it, the more you"ll talk yourself out of it."
"Okay. Well, maybe. Maybe I"ll do it."
"No," said Miguel, putting down his now empty case. "You aren"t leaving this store today without doing it."
Stephen began to laugh nervously, "Come on, Miguel, you know it"s not that easy."
"It is that easy. Just stop making it a big deal. Think about it this way. Going back how long, your dad, your grandfather, your great-great-great-great-great grandfather, they all summoned up the courage to ask out a girl going back thousands of years. You really want to be the one that can"t do it?"
Stephen took a minute to think about that, rather impressed with the logic. "Well, since you put it that way..."
"See? Exactly what I mean. You can"t fail your lineage there," laughed Miguel. "Just think about your dad. What would your dad do? He"d march on over there and ask Abby out, no questions asked."
"Well I"m not sure what he"d do. He bailed on my family when I was ten," admitted Stephen.
Miguel cringed, "Okay, b.u.mmer. Bad topic, and forget I brought it up. But it doesn"t change the sentiment. You have the b.a.l.l.s to make this happen. Just believe in yourself."
"Believe in myself, got it," said Stephen, affirmatively.
"Just say your line, it"s that simple."
"Say my line, it"s that simple," he repeated.
"Now get up there. You can do it."
"I can do it," replied Stephen, confidently. All of a sudden, it didn"t seem so daunting. He ran his line over in his head a few times, making sure he had it down exactly the way he wanted to ask it. It"s now or never.
"Go get "em tiger," said Miguel, steering him by the shoulders towards customer service.