Crushes or Something...
I'm not an adult. I don't pretend to understand how adults socialise and I don't try to understand it.
I will likely understand when I am an adult. And I guess, paired with many other things, you are an adult when you understand it.
So, what do the not yet adults do when they feel this thing, that here on out will be referred to as a crush. Yes, it does share meaning the commonly used word by this demographic.
However, as defined by Oxford Languages, a crush, informally, is:
A brief but intense infatuation for someone, especially someone unattainable.
I would not call it brief in the way that falling down a rabbit hole about different types of grass on Wikipedia for half an hour is brief. But we will overlook that for now.
I will just start asking questions to get this flowing.
What does the not yet adult do when they have a crush?
Well god knows they will not confess directly, not under any circumstances(Assuming they don't think those circumstances are good ones). This would risk direct and instant failure of the entire circumstance. Which wouldn't be so terrible if it their emotions didn't rest upon it.
Another method is the use of a middle man. Even if only used as a jumping off point, it is not difficult to get a mutual friend to throw hints at someone. I might write another article about manipulating someone via the people around them.
Ok so. Why do we do this? Why is it that we overthink and stumble and fear the answer most of us seek?