So I had met a friend of a family member after moving to a new area and we became fairly close after a few meetups. She helped me work through some dating issues and we opened up to each other about a bunch of stuff. I approached it as an entirely platonic friendship and have been enjoying it.

Here’s the problem. We got dinner and some drinks a few weeks ago (with another friend I introduced her to), and I got her a gag gift. The way she reacted to just melted my heart and little, and it flipped a switch in me; now all of a sudden I’m romantically attracted to her.

We hung out again recently (with the mutual friend) and I was more flirtatious with her, and she did reciprocate at times. But I texted her later and she used the same tone and response time she did beforehand, it’s not like anything changed significantly and certainly nothing happened to indicate underlying interest from her end.

I’m concerned about doing just a straight-up confession because I understand that puts pressure on the other person. I want to spend time with her and hang out with her sometime soon, but I also want to make my intentions clear. I also sort of feel like that if I have to make them clear she never was going to feel the same way in the first place. I’m between just hanging out with her more frequently and slowly escalating, or somehow showing my hand and letting her decide accordingly.

I don’t know, I’m stuck. Any suggestions y’all?