Hey all,

excuse me if my post looks disoriented and all that, but a lot is currently going through my mind and I hope you understand.

Not long ago I met a really nice and cute girl through a mutual (female) friend which I really got to like recently.

I'm slightly introverted in my nature, but I'm working on my social skills very hard recently. We hung out for the very first time when we went ice skating with a couple of mutual friends. It took me a bit of time the first time to approach her, but I finally got the courage and started conversing with her. The conversation went much better than expected, after that we all went for a coffee and all went well. The evening after I started texting her and since then we've been texting a lot every single day. As far as I can see, she didn't feel annoyed by me at any point while texting. Since then we've hung out twice irl, 1v1. The first "date" went pretty good, at the end we were alone on a bench in a park and she expressed that she enjoys hanging out with me. The second was also fine, although a bit shorter and not as significant as the first one. After both dates she texted me saying that she enjoyed the date. We didn't make out or kiss, only sincere hugs. There's one thing that bugs me a bit though. On the first date she brought up her close friend in school that's actually gay and since then I learned a bit about him. I got the feeling that they are pretty good friends. However, the second time we hung out we came to the subject of parties. Then she brought him up again and she mentioned that since she doesn't want to be approached by guys at parties and neither he doesn't want to be approached by girls, she mentioned that then they use a tactic: they pretend that they're together, like they touch each other, they're always together at parties etc. When she said that, something struck me inside, but I didn't make it visible in the moment. However, after the date it really, really bugged me and I felt jealousy to the point of tears. I guess that it shouldn't bug me, especially considering he's gay. And overall she brings him up pretty regularly.

I'm really, really confused at this point. How should I feel about this? I'm not sure why she's doing this, even though she mentions that she enjoys my company. I think she's into me, but I'm not yet 100% certain. Does she intentionally want to make me jealous so as to make me escalate and take action with her faster and sooner? Does she want me only as a fun friend? Or something else?

I'd really value advice on this matter.

Thanks.