Spring Training(4)
Even though Matt has been pushing Josh, he's still scared of making a move. Seeing Josh taking no action, Matt continues to speak. "Listen, Buddy, I like you, but sometimes you are just being an annoying baby. It does matter if she will give you a chance or not. You have to try." Josh looks away and says nothing. On the other hand, Matt keeps saying "Sometimes, you just need to take that risk. Embrace that risk. I can guarantee you that something good will happen, ok? Maybe it won't come in the way you want, but it will always be good."
"Are you sure about this?" Josh asks.
"Yes, you go there and even if she turns you down, it's still good. At least you won't regret that you didn't take any action." Matt replies.
"But I …" Josh says.
"JUST GO!!!" Matt loses his patience and yells at Josh. The volume of conversation goes high, everyone on the street hears Matt's voice. People turn to look at them to figure out what's going on, including the girl.
Noticing the concern from everyone on the street, Matt and Josh turn around to look at each other, breaking any eye contact with others. "Why would you do that?" whispers Josh.
"I'm sorry. I got too mad because you were being annoying." Matt feels sorry and apologizes.
"What do we do?" Josh asks.
"I don't know. Oh, wait…" Matt looks around then looks back to Josh. "I have an idea."
"What?" Josh asks.
"That girl, she is staring at us. Now it's your chance. Go. We got her attention." Matt says.
"What? No. I'm not doing it." Josh shakes his head.
"Josh… I promise you…if you don't go talk to her, I will punch you in the face, I swear." Matt's losing his patience, and he speaks with a little anger.
Josh hears it, he sighs. He looks at the girl then turns around facing Matt. "Fine…I will do it." Josh walks to the girl thinking of millions of ways to break the ice in his mind then he stops and opens his mouth. "Hi, I'm…"
"Do you want my number?" The girl asks. She stares at Josh.
"I'm sorry, what?" Josh's stunned, and can't believe what he is hearing.
"Well…actually, I heard your conversation, the whole thing." The girl says.
"I…" Josh doesn't know what to respond and feels embarrassed. His face turns red. He did not see this one coming.
The girl continues, "You guys were really loud, and I heard the entire conversation about taking risks and other stuff." Josh listens to her and stands numb. Seeing Josh not saying anything, the girl is concerned, "Sorry, should I pretend that I didn't hear anything and let you do your thing?" she asks.
Josh is processing the shocking news, then he realizes she is waiting for his response, "NO! NO! I mean…it's fine. I'm cool." and he goes. Two of them stand in the street in an awkward silence, Josh looks at her and recalls everything that Matt just said to him. He takes a breath, looking into her eyes. "I…ok…I…I don't know. To be honest, I don't know how to do this. He continues to go, "I'm Josh, I just found you attractive, so I wanted to say hi to you. Is it possible that you would meet me for a cup of coffee?" he asks.
The girl scans Josh from the bottom to the top, her body's shaking, it seems like she's trying to hold in laugh. She waits for a second to speak. "I have a confession. I thought you were a weird guy in the first place. But now, I feel like you are kind of cute." She laughs. "So…I don't know…Maybe?" The girl stares at Josh and shrugs, "I'm Zoey. Nice to meet you." Zoey speaks with a warning smile. She offers her right hand to shake hands.