Backstory:

Freshman year of college I had a giant crush on a girl that I would see around the gym all the time. I would talk to her occasionally, but never had the guts to ask her out and our relationship never extended past this. She didn't even notice me in our life and I was thoroughly acquaintance-zoned.

Fast forward to Junior year and one of my best friends started dating this girl. We got to know each other better and became sorta-friends, but she broke up with my friend after about 6 months. I keep in loose contact throughout the next couple of years up until recently.

Last week:

We end up matching on Tinder. She messages me "hey cutie ;)" and then proceeds to apologize, stating that it was a friend and not her. Anyways, we agree to meet up later that week.

A few nights ago:

It was a pretty standard date. She met me at my office after work, I drove her to a restaurant. We had dinner, caught up with each other's lives and had a pleasant conversation. We ended up getting drinks at a bar nearby and I had initiated light kino. I ended up second guessing myself because I wasn't getting too many signs of reciprocation, but I wasn't really flirting too hard.

The whole affair felt very "friends" to me and I think I slipped into that mentality. I never ended up feeling any mutual spark of attraction and so I reverted back to our typical means of interaction. The date ended with nothing happening between us.

Going forward, I'd like to see if others have had a similar experience and how they overcome this. It's really a mentality shift to go from "friends" mode to "seduction" mode and I wasn't able to shift my frame.