Should I ask my Mate on a Date?

You’ve seen the movies, right? The cheesy flicks where the romantic lead with the broken heart realises their true love was actually their best friend all along? Anyone who’s ever developed a crush on their bestie would probably give their right arm for a Hollywood ending. Unfortunately, the real world doesn’t always resemble a rom-com.

Making a move on a mate is a high-stakes gamble with your friendship on the line. Pull it off and you get to take things to another level with your potential soul mate. Crash and burn and you could lose a potential lover and a good friend in one fell swoop. Asking your mate for a date requires a bit of soul searching and a lot of balls – what you have to decide is whether the gamble is worth the risk.

Our clip above from Selfies features Nat who, after having his heart broken by online date Barbara, decides to make a play for his best friend Verity. But will he sweep her off her feet? Catch the whole short on All 4 to learn Nat's fate.

Friends with benefits?

Planning to 'fess up to a massive crush on your BFF? By considering the following questions you might just stop your romantic triumph becoming an epic fail...

Is it really what you want?

If you’re considering confessing your feelings to your friend, you should really think through the consequences first. Make sure this isn’t just a crush or a temporary infatuation and be prepared to lose a great friendship if the romance fizzles out. Think about how the relationship will affect your mutual friends and what the fallout could be if it all goes wrong. If you still feel the same after weighing up all the options then go for it. Just be prepared to accept the repercussions if it doesn’t go to plan.

Are you reading it right?

There’s no foolproof way of telling if your mate fancies you back short of actually blurting it out, but there are some clues to look out for. Flirting is obviously a good sign, though this is notoriously tricky to interpret. Long, lingering stares, being touchy-feely and dressing to impress are all positive signals, though they are by no means definitive proof of romantic interest. If your mate asks you out or agrees to come out with you, that’s a definite green light, but be prepared to decode whether the purpose of the date is romantic or just friends hanging out. This can be tricky even while you’re ON the date!

The G-word

If confessing your feelings for a friend doesn’t carry enough jeopardy as it is, things can get even trickier if you’re both the same sex. Here you might not be only asking them to reassess your relationship, you might also be forcing them to question their own sexual orientation too. Just because your mate isn’t gay doesn’t mean that it’s an automatic ‘no’ for your romantic prospects. However you do have to factor in the added difficulty and you should take this into account when assessing your chances for turning friendship into romance.

Handling rejection

Sometimes when you gamble, you lose. If your romantic dreams are suddenly ripped into tatters then you’ve got the tricky task of trying to salvage your friendship. In some cases you can make a joke out of it or turn it into another interesting twist in your long-standing relationship. In other instances you can probably expect things to feel weird, at least for a while. Take some ‘me time’, hang out with your other friends, try dating new people and allow your friendship to heal.