Hey guys, I posted a while back about a girl (I'll call her B) who flirted a lot with me. After some advice from you guys and made friends, I ended up asking her out, and she told me she didn't feel the same way. We stayed friends, but it was difficult due to her flirtiness.
To help myself move on, I followed Erzengel's advice (thank you so much) and just started chatting up other girls. I haven't gone on dates, per say, but I have hung out with many of them. Have yet to find one that I really click with (different humor, different interests, etc.). That's not to say I've entirely moved on from B - it's more like I have two feet in different puddles. There's some attraction still, but she's just an option now like a lot of the other girl friends I have who I'm slightly attracted to, rather than "the girl in my life."
Now that college is back in session, I've resumed daily contact with B and we've started hanging out one on one again.
Thing is, being friends with her still has one hitch, as I am now incredibly confused about her feelings toward me: she's ramped up the flirting to 11, always looking at me and touching me, bitten me several times, spat water into my mouth (it was freaking gross), lingers with eye contact and hugs, always has to find me at parties when I'm socializing with others and tries to get my attention back to her, and has laid on me (but she does that last part with her other best guy friend, too). All our friends ask if we're dating and are super surprised to find out we aren't. I have reminded them not to bring it up, but her behavior is continuing to mislead people and I don't want any potential dates thinking I'm already taken and avoiding showing interest. It's weirding me out.
Among all the hints she's dropped, though, she has done two things to suggest she wants to be just friends. First, when I was taking her to a movie, she asked if we were going as just friends over text and I said, "Of course." She acted rather distant throughout the movie, something I assumed was her way of reminding me that this was a platonic relationship and I had no qualms with. Second, she jokingly told me when I do find a girl, she would threaten to keep her in line if she did wrong by me.
Yesterday, though, something strange happened. Backstory before we get to the strange event: I'd seen a cute girl one day on campus and we locked eyes and smiled at each other. I was going to ask her out, but as we were passing, I walked into an open door and she giggled and rounded the corner. I debated chasing after her to see if I could get her number but decided against it (I can tell you then and there B hadn't crossed my mind; I was just embarassed).
So I tell this story to B as I'd told it to the amusement of my other friends and the moment I mention that girl, B's eyes glaze over and her smile disappears. I don't think much of it and guess she's just listening to my story, though I had been expecting her to laugh and smile and be happy that I was making an effort, just as she'd been with her other best guy friend. But she only smiles when I tell her I walked into the door and did not end up with the girl's number. Even then, she's not laughing. She's just quiet with a small smile on her face. At that moment, alarm bells are going off in my head that she likes me.
Right now, I think she's developed feelings and is afraid to admit them because she doesn't want to ruin the friendship, or she thinks I might've moved on because I have been lukewarm in my response to her flirtations (I do it to keep myself emotionally at arm's length and to avoid falling for her again). I plan on talking to her this Wednesday to clarify things because if we keep acting like this, this friendship is going to have a time limit.
Do you have any tips for how I should bring up her behavior without making her look like the bad guy? Should I be blunt or delicate in my approach toward talking about our feelings toward each other in general?
