What are some good ways to start a conversation with a guy??

I don't really have any advice for you but I have a fun story. When I was in high school there was this guy who I had classes with during senior year that I had a massive crush on. I loved everything about his personality. He was smart. He was witty. I was jealous of how outgoing he was. We liked the same music. We liked the same movies. We even had the same taste in art. But I never made much of an effort to become friends with him because 1) I'm shy and awkward around new people and 2) I melted into a gay little puddle every time he was near. And since I was closeted, I was obviously going to make every effort possible to hide the fact that this guy made my knees weak.

So fast forward a year and I'm looking on Facebook, just seeing what some of the people I went to school with have been up to. I look at his profile and guess what? Not only do we have a ridiculous amount of stuff in common but he's also gay! I have no idea if he was out in high school or not but he is now. Now, I obviously don't believe that if I had made an effort to become friends with him we would have automatically turned into some magic fairy-tale couple. And for all I know. He might not have even found me attractive. But since I didn't socialize with him more I'll never know. So uhh yeah... if you think someone might make a good friend it's probably a good idea to make some effort in getting to know them.

 

You are way overthinking this. Saying "hey" will not come off stalkerish. You only feel like that because you like him. (You think you will seem like you have ulterior motives because you DO have them.) Actually, just striking up conversation is completely normal and friendly. You will just seem like you are trying to make friends with him, which is not offensive to anyone in any way.

Just chat with him more, and then invite him to do something. It's not weird to invite people to do things, people do that all the time.

People are not offended when you are friendly toward them and act like you think they are cool. People like other people thinking they are cool. He's not going to presume that your interest is romantic unless you do something to make him think so.

You feel nervous about talking to him. But it isn't that he'll actually have any kind of problem with it. The nervousness is all you.