Long story short, I had been seeing this girl socially 2-3 times a week for 5-6 weeks. A lot of the time was spent with her little brother (i.e. she'd bring him to most of the movies we'd see.) or with her roommate. Because of this, and because I'm a pussy, I didn't go in for the kill until I was mad-friendzoned. I did it in the worst way possible, by putting her up on a pedestal and showering her with compliments.

So, I decided to start reading and the diagnosis was clear: an obvious case of one-itis and lack of balls. I also liked reading about the freeze-out, and that's basically what I've done. I stopped initiating all contact for about a week and a half. She would send me the odd text every day or two, I would keep my replies short. Based on her texts the past couple days, it's working to perfection. She seemed a little jealous when I told her about the other girl I took out for a couple drinks in our little time apart (who turned out to be a sociopath, but had the intended effect with girl A).

With that, I think I'm going to get the rare second chance, but this time I won't be hiding my intentions like before. I'm almost completely sure I would have been in the first time if I hadn't been a pussy and fucked it up. My gut tells me I can still salvage it.

My question is how thick I should lay it on when I see her again (she asked to see me sometime soon when I talked to her today). The thought of showing up and seeming sort of disinterested ran through my head, but I think I need to be a little more direct. How do I pull it off?

tl;dr: I need to stop being a pussy and close a girl, but need to thread the needle between "the guy that fawns over her" and "the guy friend".