K so I'm 20 and I work at a pretty nice sales job. Got hired like 7 weeks ago after getting canned from a shitty customer service position. From the first day, there was this one girl tm who I couldn't help but be immediately attracted to. Hb8, at least. Extremely modest and nice, to boot. I think she's 21, so a little older than myself. She's an impossible combination of mature and innocent. Pretty sure she doesn't have a boyfriend, if she does she hasn't said anything. Virtually certain she's a virgin, by choice. If i told you how I knew that would be giving too much detail. 

Iknow, I know: don't shit where you eat. This is different, k? It's really not, actually, but I've always thought the ramifications of such behavior were overstated here. As a rule I'd agree it isn't a always a good idea, but rules are meant to be broken. This isn't a dissent post.  I love trp, don't get me wrong.

So I asked her out Thursday and she said, verbatim, "yeah totally let's hang out!" and gave me her number. I didn't think I would make it that far, so I was kinda at a loss of what to do so I just I said I'd text her. Anyway I didn't do anything for a whole day. The next day I had sort of a cordial conversation with her but that's it. Later that afternoon I actually called her, but it went to voicemail after like 2 rings. Not a good sign, I know. Remember, though, she didn't know my number, I only knew hers.

Being an autist, I really wasn't sure how to break the ice from there. On Sunday I decided to text her about whether we had work the next day, despite it being labor day. Any person remotely paying attention knows that labor day doesn't start until September, but not me. She has the courtesy to reply, telling me "labor day isn't until next week" exclamation point. Then I made some cute excuse for being retarded and asked her how to spell her name. Idk. This time she didn't reply.

Next day I "happened" to run into her in the hall. She smiled really big and said hi, as per usual. This is a really nice girl, and it's extremely difficult to decipher whether she's showing interest, or "just being nice." Her consideration really jams my IOI radar. Anyone else run into this often? She's not the first where I've had this issue.

So at that point I made a little small talk, then touched her arm and said we should really hang out. She asked me when, I said why not today. She says OK, but she has to do some shopping and she'll text me if she ends up having time. She asked if it was me who texted her about labor day haha and I said yeah haha. So I left it in her hands.  Not necessarily unexpectedly, she didn't text me. Maybe a the end of the day, someone conservative such as she didn't feel comfortable taking the lead. The stories I tell myself.

The next day, yesterday, I kinda just ignored her. Not out of anger, just retribution. The worst thing you can do after any degree of neglect is drowning her with attention - I know that much. It wasn't the first day I hadn't approached her, but it was actually her last day before leaving to another office about 45 minutes away, for college.  I knew it was her last day but idk if she knew I knew.  As you can see, the logistics were destined to be limited from the outset, but I tried nonetheless. 

The absolute last interaction I had with her I didn't instigate. I was sitting there, minding my own, when she says hi how are you as she walked by behind me. I turned around and greeter her, but nothing more. I don't want to read too much into such a basic interaction, but at the very least this suggests she wasn't avoiding me. Whatever.

So now there's nigh a chance I'll ever see her again, unless I have the chutzpah to reach out to her digitally. She's not really that far away: The real problem is,  I'm more autistic over text than I am in person. I'm actually not that bad in person. I had multiple conversations with her that lasted more than 15 minutes. I can do it with almost anyone, really. Deep, shallow, small talk, banter, I'm really not terrible at any of it. Escalation is a different story, but making interesting conversation is easy. It's online where I'm at a loss. I didn't get a phone until 10th grade and I'm just so behind the curve. I don't even social media, like, at all. Can I maintain this in the modern age? Should I just buckle and get on.

Yes, I know, there are other girls. But at some point I need to get the ball rolling, I can't just pass every opportunity up based on the philosophy of "abundance." I don't meet girls I'm attracted to very often. I really have no right to be so selective, yet I can't bring myself to change muh standards. if there's a semblance of a chance here, I should probably take it, right? What do I have to lose, right? I know what you're thinking. Yes, I'm attracted, but this isn't oneitis. I know what that feels like, trust me. There will come others, I'm just getting really impatient at this point.

I'd appreciate both general and specific advice, if you please. I'm always stuck in limbo whenever I get the phone number. My biggest question is: What's a good response time, generally, after getting someone's number? Is 10 minutes after obtaining the digits the only socially acceptable thing, or is days, even a week or two later ok? Should I go for the number at all, or instead just focus on setting a hard date in person? If it should be judged on a case to case basis, what indicators should I look for?

Now to the specific: Have I already missed the boat with this chick? Should I just cut my losses and let this one go? I have her number, I want to believe that there's still a possibility. I mean, I think I held decent frame when I was around her. I can think to at least one instance where I passed a shit test of her's.  Never acted too needy even though I am too needy. If anything I wish I had shown more interest, tbh. If I can't do anything at this point, what could I have done?

If you can't tell, I'm kind of choking on the pill. Yes, I've read the sidebar. I'm not bad looking, i go to the gym, and I think I have potential. At this point I'm learning, trying, and mostly falling short. If nothing else, tell me what I can do to avoid these "what if's" with girls. How can I make shit happen?