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Not too long ago, I wrote a post about people's experiences "shooting their shot" with a crush or an attractive stranger. Based on the many responses received from the BuzzFeed Community, I learned that a lot of people out there are very courageous when it comes to the dating scene.
So I decided to share even more stories of people ~shooting their shot~ in case you need a little boost to go after your crush or that cutie at the bar. Here they are:
Note: Some of these stories have been lightly edited for length and/or clarity.
1. "I shot the shot and the shot won! Matched on Tinder — he was a fox and had a great personality to boot. However, all I got [after we matched] was radio silence. I normally don't message first on apps. I was in my late 30s, mostly happy to be single, and was a 'lazy' dater. But there was something about this guy, so I sent a fun, quirky message. Again radio silence! Give or take two months, I got a message back. We ended up being from the same area while growing up (we are now living in a different state), I knew most of his extended family (I was friends with some of his cousins in my youth), and we had a lot in common. To sum up: We met, got engaged three weeks later, were married within nine months after that, and are still going strong a year and a half later."
2. "I did this at a bar yesterday, actually. I saw this very attractive person, went up to her with my friends around, and said, 'Hey, I find you very cute. Is it okay if I get your number?' She responded that she doesn’t give her number out to guys randomly, but maybe if we knew each other she would. After a little talking, she said she needed to leave and she would visit me at my table later. She didn’t, and I didn’t get the number. However, sometimes you’ve gotta make the move."
—Anonymous
3. "I had just gotten out of a long-term relationship, and had been dumped by my rebound the week before, when my best friend and her fiancé decided to check in on me. I JOKINGLY asked if they knew anyone single, and they said a man's name I had lightly scrolled through pictures of on Instagram before...and all of a sudden I was in his DMs. He moved to my country for school, and, well — things blossomed as soon as I picked him up from the airport. We've been together for a year now and have plans to continue building a life together. I feel like I found my person."
4. "I got to know my friend’s sister through charity work, and we eventually were organizing events and traveling together (but separately) quite a bit. I had split with my ex, but we weren’t divorced yet, so although I was attracted to her, I didn’t even hint at anything. After the divorce was final, we were texting back and forth, and it seemed like she was flirting, so I went with it. I had to travel to her city, and I had forgotten to get a hotel, so she said I could stay with her. When I got there, she gave me a big hug, and I did the thing where you pause as you are going in for a kiss, and she kissed me. I thought I would be sleeping on the couch, but that’s not how it happened. We are now seven years married with two kids."
5. "I’ve been on a few dates from asking a crush out, but it’s rare that it goes anywhere. Everything usually turns out for the better, though — and I gain a friend I’m no longer scared to talk to."
—Anonymous
6. "Once upon a Halloween, I wanted to dress up as Eleven from Stranger Things. In a shop, I noticed this cute kid with neon highlighter-yellow hair who came over and helped me find costume parts. We were talking and laughing. He hadn’t seen the new season yet but was planning to watch it with his dog soon. As I was leaving the store, he said he hoped I had a good time at the party. I said, 'I actually hate parties,' and he laughed and said, 'Me too!' So I left and went to another store while replaying the entire conversation in my head. Couldn't stop thinking about him."
"So I got a good blanket to snuggle in and treats for a dog. Put them in a gift bag with my phone number and then sat in the parking lot for a while, trying to convince myself I wasn't being an idiot. I kept reminding myself that you miss 100% of the shots you don't take. Finally, I got out of the car and walked up to the store but it was locked because I’d been sitting in the parking lot for a long-ass time.
But one of the co-workers saw me and got the guy, and he opened the door. I shoved the bag at him and pretty much bolted. He texted me later that night, and we haven’t stopped talking since. We've been together four years, and today is our one-year wedding anniversary."
7. "I joined a website for 'redheads' and decided to check out the chatroom feature. Everyone was really nice and funny. At some point, another user logged in, and I clicked his profile to check it out. He was so cute! I went back into the chat and basically shot my shot in front of the whole room. He was so shy and humble. Turned out he lived in a different country, thousands of miles away. We talked for a few months, and we decided he was going to fly to visit me. We had such an amazing time together, and I sobbed when he had to leave because I didn't think I was ever going to see him again because of the distance. Well, he moved to my country for me. We have been married 10 years, have a son, and are so happy together."
8. "I’ve had mixed results. We usually end up chatting for a bit and getting to know each other. Most often, it breaks the mysticism of the crush, and I start seeing them as a real person, not being on a pedestal, and I realize we would not have been good in a relationship."
—Anonymous
9. "Since my first year in college, I had a crush on this very handsome guy in my class but never had the courage to make the first move. During our third year in college, he studied abroad and returned six months later. When I looked at him after he returned, he was more beautiful than ever. My heart sped up and I thought, I have to make a move on this guy. After some chats and text exchanges, I texted him — 'Hey, you notice that I'm into you?' — to which he wrote me back, 'Yes, I noticed.' He then asked me out on a date, and we have been together for 10 years, married for two years, and are more in love than ever."
10. "There was a local cover band that my friends and I would go see all the time. It was always a great time — the guys in the band were hilarious, but I never thought much about them because I was in a relationship. My friends and I had been going to see this band for about six years. Still hadn’t met anyone in the band, but we knew other people who knew a couple of them. Time passed, my relationship ended, and we were out watching the band on St. Patrick's Day, and the singer said I was adorable right in the middle of a song. He was also adorable and hilarious. After that night, I asked a few people if the singer was single, and he was."
"So a few weeks later, we went out to see the band while out celebrating my friend's birthday. I picked up on his drink of choice and bought him one while he was playing. We chatted during their break, and he was funny but also wonderfully sweet. We were still hanging around late that night after they were done playing, and I kissed him. Then, as they packed up, my girlfriends and I just left — I didn’t leave a number or anything. I’m not on Facebook, so without my knowledge, my best friends sent him a message and said, 'She’s not on Facebook; here’s her number.' He sent me a text and asked me out. Ten years later and still gleefully happy — I still insist I made the first move by buying him a drink. Worth every penny!"
11. "I was at a pub with a friend, and this girl from across the bar was being hit on by a creepy guy, so she locked eyes with me and said, 'Help me!' I walked over and put my arm around her and said, 'Sorry, I was in the bathroom.' Almost 10 years together now — married for three and a half — and a beautiful daughter later, I am glad she 'shot her shot.'"
12. "I was having drinks with a platonic college friend I'd known for a few months. I decided I liked him romantically that night and slid into a booth beside him, bumping into him. He knew then that I liked him. We've been married for 14 years."
—Anonymous
13. "I used to run a music venue and took a band out to a local bar after their set one night. I ordered too many shots and offered the two extra to an attractive guy and his friend who were standing next to me. We took the shots and chatted a bit. Someone bumped into him, and he ended up really close to me. I told him that if he was gonna stand that close to me, he might as well make out with me. He did. We got married eight months later and just celebrated our five-year anniversary. Shoot your shot!"
14. "I’m so socially awkward that I’ve never really been the first to make a move. But I was once out clubbing with friends, and I saw this really cute guy and thought he looked a little bit like Sebastian Stan, so I chugged my drink and went up to him and told him. My friends and I started hanging out with him and his friends, and we danced together and made out. If I wasn’t still living with my parents at the time, I probably would’ve ended up going back to his hotel with him (he was a tourist from Germany). It was such a fun night."
15. "We worked together, and I developed a crush over time. He ended up leaving for another job, and we were hanging out day-drinking with some coworkers not long after he left. At the end of the night, it was just the two of us left at the bar. Being a little tipsy, I told him I liked him. He was super cool about it and said, 'Let’s hang out some more.' We went out on our official first date about a month later and are now engaged and getting married next year!"
16. "I had just gotten out of a relationship with a man I thought I’d marry. I was at brunch with some friends, and the bartender looked exactly like Tom Hiddleston. My friends encouraged me to leave my number. I did, and he texted me! We talked for a while. It didn’t work out and I’m happily married now, but it felt good to step out of my comfort zone."
17. "I had a crush on a guy in the eighth grade. On the last day of school, my mom picked me up, and I sat there on the ride home almost in tears because I wasn’t going to see my crush until the summer was over and we started school again. Two weeks later, I knocked on his door and asked him to see a movie with me sometime. He was my first boyfriend, and we dated for two years."
18. "A girl once asked herself out on my behalf because I was so slow to pick up on her hints. Good thing she did — we've been married for 10 years now."
19. "I once saw this girl on her phone at a bar. She was absolutely gorgeous. I'd had a bit of liquid courage and decided to go for it. I walked up to her, held up my phone, and said, 'You can stop texting me; I'm right here.' Thinking back on it now, it was such a cringe line, like full-on 'Fresh Prince' in the '90s (if cellphones had been prevalent back then, anyway). But it worked! She paused for a second, probably wondering, Who the hell is this guy? But then she decided to play along and went with it, apologizing for not seeing me there. We ended up leaving the bar together."
—Anonymous
20. "When I was 14 and in my first year in high school, there was a cute guy in my math class named Mike. Four years of high school went by and I never had a conversation with him. I’m 22 now, and I swiped right on him on Tinder, joking to myself that now’s my chance. We matched. Last week, we had our first date. There was an instant connection and we talked for five hours. We are planning a second date for next week. Never give up on your crushes."
21. "I’m usually too afraid of rejection to make a move, but I somehow found the confidence with a guy in college. He and I met in a class with a mutual friend, and we both ended up sitting with her. We started chatting more and hanging out, but I knew he had other female friends, so I didn’t know if I could really take that as a sign that he was interested in me. He revealed that he had mono and that he’d been feeling lonely because so many people completely avoided him because of it, and he was happy just to have my company."
"I eventually texted him that I didn’t care about his mono. We waited until he was no longer contagious to kiss, which happened to be at the end of the semester, before we went our separate ways for the summer and he went abroad for a couple of months, but it was worth the wait. We’ve now been married about five and a half years, and I couldn’t be happier."
22. "I met a girl on Bumble. She was wonderful. Smart, kind, charming, classy, and gorgeous. She dumped me about six dates in to get back together with her ex. A year and a half later, I saw her online again. I sent her a card, asking if now is the right time — that was a week ago. I haven’t heard back, so I guess it’s time to move on."
—Anonymous
23. "I once told a coworker that I thought he was super attractive. We hardly ever saw each other at work, and it felt good to get it off my chest. He made a point to start trying to talk to me more, which was when I realized that we had nothing in common. I changed jobs shortly after, which thankfully saved me from any further weirdness. Another time, I was chatting with an acquaintance over text and mentioned how there was a movie I wanted to see again before it left theaters."
"He said he wanted to see it too. We made plans to go together, and a few days beforehand, I asked him if it was a friend date or a date date. Apparently, he’d been trying to build up the courage to ask me out for months. We’ve been together for five and a half years and are engaged."
