I’m friends with her for a while now, mostly through a shared hobby. Early on, there was mutual teasing, and I thought she was interested, but when I asked her to join me on a weekend activity, she declined, and I let it go. For a year or so, we got along well, seeing each other regularly, but nothing special.
Recently though, she’s showing me so many signs of interest: lots of prolonged eyecontact, playing with the hair and mimicking, laughing at everything I say, generally staying pretty close to me etc. We’re spending regular time together, both alone and with shared friends. I started noticing the signs, but was still in the mindset that she wasn’t interested so ignored most of it.
Last weekend, we went on a 3 day trip, and it was more of the same. She came up with the idea to drive up together, which is a 4 hour drive, so naturally, we got to know each other even better. There was a lot of personal conversation, talk about possible future plans and weekends etc. After driving back, another 4 hours one on one, I made another half-assed attempt and offered her food or a drink when we got back home. Instead, she thanked me and left.
Was that wrong to do? Presumptious, like I’m luring her into my home? I figured if she was actually interested, she would have said yes, but it was a long day, and already Sunday evening.
I’ve seen her again last night, in the regular social hobby setting, and she started out saying hi with prolonged eyecontact, but later, things were a bit…tense? Perhaps it was me, as I was paying too much attention to her, or perhaps not enough, as this whole development is throwing me off. Why the sudden interest after almost a year of nothing? Is it actual interest? A few weeks ago, she joked to another friend, with me there, that the only date she’s been on recently was with me, except that that was a social dinner with a few other friends.
How to move forward? Have an honest conversation? It is kind of scary as we both share the same small friend group. Should I actually ask her out on a proper date, even though we’ve already spent so much time together? Should I be more patient and let things develop naturally, even though the weekend only made things more confusing?
TL;DR: friend is recently showing signs of interest, which renewed my interest in her, but now how to proceed?