So, while back I had a huge crush on a girl. We hit it off, had tons in common, I told myself circumstances weren't right but the reality is that I was a little bitch. Got drunk, made out, woke up the next day and asked her out, she said she wanted to just keep being best friends. I said I like you, but that's not gonna work for me, respectfully cut her off and went three months without talking to her. Got back into the gym, back into playing guitar, honestly I was crushed but used it as motivation to improve myself.

Fast forward. We're in the same circle of friends, couldn't avoid her forever. Got back to talking, hit it right back off, but this time I don't have any excessive interest in her. Happy just to be friends.

Until she starts dropping hints. She's cold and wishes she had a boyfriend to warm her up. She grabs my arm while walking with a group of friends. She jokes about what if we were married, I laugh it off, she says I'd be missing the best sex of my life. But then the other half of the time she comes off as blatantly uninterested. So I have literally zero idea what's going on in her head, but I do know that I'm not trying to get attached again.

Normally I'd just go for it and say fuck the consequences, but I've actually come to value the friendship. I don't want to get my hopes up and I don't want to lose a friend, but I don't know how to accomplish both. So do I get my hopes up, try to make something happen, and be prepared to deal with the emotional fallout (and cutting her out again) if it fails, or do I stamp it down, ignore the mixed signals, and stay on as a friend? Most of Reddit would say to ask her out and then be "mature" and just be friends if she says no, but I'm not putting myself through that clusterfuck of emotions. Hence the question here.

So, TRP, what to do?