Ant and Dec Prompts

Insane Courage

Ant and Dec are 18 and Stephen is 16.

I watched him out of the corner of my eye. He had my attention for the whole week, yet I couldn't muster up enough courage to talk to him. 

"Dec? Hello?"  Stephen snapped his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my thoughts. Rude.

"Are you seriously still pining over him? Unbelievable! I thought you said you were going to talk to him."

Blushing, I rolled my eyes at him and turned my attention back to the raven haired waiter, who was smiling and laughing with his co-workers. My obsession with him had slightly annoyed Stephen.

"I know I said that Steve, but what if he doesn't want to talk? What if he's busy? What if he's into girls? What if..."

"Dec, Dec, Dec, calm down!" he interrupted. "Just go ask for some water."

"Water? I can do this, right? I mean, he's cute and I definitely am so there's really no reason for me to start stuttering or stop functioning when he's taking to me... is there?"

"No there isn't. Now go!" Stephen dramatically whispered. "I believe in you"

He pushed me towards the counter. I approached it, discreetly checking my hair in a mirror.

I repeated my dads mantra in my head: You know, sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage. Just, literally, 20 seconds of just embarrassing bravery. And I promise you, something great will come of it.*

Before I knew it, I had reached the counter and was face to face with him.

He smiled widely, his friendly grin lighting up his entire face. 

"Hi, what can I get you?"

"Umm, I think... errr, I don't know"

Just a simple question, I know, I should've been able to answer it, but my mind went blank and I started stuttering some incoherent nonsense. All the while, he stood there with a confused look on his face, waiting for my order.

I turned around and my eyes found Stephen. "Help", I mouthed.

Shifting glances around the room, I was just about to excuse myself before I felt Stephen's arm around my shoulder steering me back towards the counter.

"Excuse my friend here, he's been obsessed with you for the past week and he thinks you're really cute. I told him to come to you to ask for water, but really, he wanted to talk to you and ask you out." 

With that, he turned around and walked back to our table and left me standing there, eyes wide and mouth gaping, sweat literally pouring down my face. Shifting from foot to foot, I prayed he would say something to break the awkward silence.

After what seemed like a million years, he coughed loudly, making me look up to meet his eyes.

"I'm Ant" he said, extending his hand for me to shake. "It's alright, I've seen you staring at me, I don't mind. I think you're cute too."

"Oh, okay well that's good..." I mumbled, fiddling away with my clothes. 

"Here's your water by the way." he said, handing me a cup and a tissue. Then, he turned away to continue serving other customers.

Disappointed, with my head hung, I walked towards the table. I sat down and looked at Stephen as if I was about to burst into tears.

"What happened?" He asked, concerned. His eyes widened in shock. "Did he not give you his number?"

I shook my head in response, the tears threatening to fall. Stephen reached for the tissue Ant gave me and was about to give it to me before he paused. 

"Dec, you idiot, LOOK!! He's written a note here!"

"What!? Give it here!"

I finish in 30 minutes. Wait for me? Antx

I laughed in relief and looked up to see Ant smiling at me from the counter. He held a thumbs up in question and I gave an eager nod and an uncontrollable smile in reply.

What 20 seconds of courage and bravery can do is amazing.

*From the movie We Bought A Zoo. That's what the man said to himself for courage when he approached a beautiful woman in a café who later became his wife.

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