Christmas Eve, 2007, and I was picking up my friend Ashlyn from her place on the way to a Christmas Eve party at my best friend Tim's house. We'd been part of the same group of friends for years, but in the last few months, we'd been flirting a lot. I hadn't asked her out as she seemed not only way out of my league, but the fear of rejection was real, and I didn't want to end up deep in the friend zone. However, I'd decid...