Wanna ask someone out but afraid I'm not good enough

So I'm convinced this girl and I are meant to be together. She's a friend of mine, I've liked her for a while, she's bi but has a preference for women just like I do, and she's single now. I think there's a pretty good chance she might like me too? It really just feels like we both like each other and are both hesitant to be the one to say anything. I'm trying to decide how or when to ask her out, and what I'm really nervous for is if she says she feels the same

I realize I'm getting way ahead of myself and she might not even like me, but we just have such a connection. I think about us possibly becoming a couple and it makes me really excited. But the more I think about it, the more stressed I get.

She's had a couple serious relationships, so most of all I'm insecure about my lack of experience. I feel like she's completely out of my league. She's doing better than me in school. She's had a couple jobs already related to our future profession and I haven't. I just feel almost uncultured next to her. She's a musician, which I know next to nothing about. She's into healthy clean eating/cooking, and I don't know how to cook anything. You get the idea.

Despite all this, she seems to enjoy my company. I make her laugh a lot and we have similar views on a lot of things, similar struggles with anxiety and with being in denial about our sexuality before college. I may be inexperienced, but I still know what it feels like to have a connection, even a "spark" with someone. I'm just afraid we're gonna start dating and I'll be a total letdown. Bad at intimacy, needy, comparing myself to her ex, constantly needing reassurance, all of it.

I obviously don't wanna be that person who changes to please the significant other, but is it really enough to just to try my best? I'm just trying to be realistic. Is being a nice person, loyal, and devoted to her really enough when compared with an ex who had so much more to offer? Or is something like this just destined not to work out? I'll be so embarrassed if she thinks I'm a sad excuse for a girlfriend and has to let me down easy and feel bad for me. And then our friendship will be awkward. Should I even ask her out? How do I raise my confidence?

 

Thank you so much!! You're definitely right, confidence goes such a long way in making someone appear attractive. I personally think it's more of a factor than looks in a lot of instances. Looks are actually the one thing I'm not insecure about, because she told me once she doesn't really care about looks very much in a partner, more about personality.

It's more me feeling like inadequate compared to her ex, who was a musician and an artist and just seemed more this girl's "type". But clearly they didn't work out, because the girl I like is the one who ended it. She has a ton of different hobbies and interests, a couple of which we share, but it's mostly stuff I have no experience with. But I'm open minded and definitely willing to try new things for her.

I'm gonna try my best to be confident and self-assured whenever I see her. She's been the one who's suggested we hang out and initiated the conversation the last few times, so I feel like it's my turn. I'm so insecure, I feel like I'm bothering her if I ask her to spend time with me. But I know she enjoys my company because she always seems so happy to be talking to me. All my awkwardness just goes away when I talk to her, she just makes it so easy. We could talk for hours on end (and we have). I really feel like she sees the best in me and as a result, brings out the best in me. I think we could be great together. I just have to get rid of my inhibitions.