TL;DR I’ve been in love with my close friend for over 4 years & we have an upcoming lunch date that is making me very anxious. Should I be flirty & risk the friendship or take the safest bet?
I am so beyond love-drunk and stupid about this man, please be kind.
I’ve been in love with a close friend (M,25) of mine (F, 24) for a little over 4 years (since 2018) and it almost killed me.
He was working at a coffee shop across the walkway from me in a mall & when i saw him for the first time, i felt like i just met my Prince Charming. I never thought I’d get a chance to meet or even speak to him though so i just watched from far away. Then, I made friends with this girl (we’ll call her Sarah) who ended up introducing me personally to him.
After that the next two years were full of drunk nights with the whole friend group, celebrating big holidays together, etc. it was an exciting little friend group we made! we ended up all going separate ways except mr. Prince Charming and Sarah, but I think it’s just because they’re such good friends.
Now Sarah is married & Mr. Prince Charming is broken up with his long term girlfriend.
Well cut to 2024, me & mr. Prince Charming match on bumble. After working up the courage, i sent him “omg hi! long time, no see! hope you’ve been doing well lovely :)”
and he responded immediately with “Thank you! I lost it when I saw you and I thought oh I’ll just text you and I never had your number. We have a lot to catch up on”.
I told him I was feeling the same and was trying to make small talk through the bumble chat, then dropped my phone number if he ever wanted to call.
Then, HE CALLED ME. I genuinely couldn’t believe I was talking on the phone with him because he’s never called me to chat like this before.
So naturally… I FREAKED TF OUT DUDE.
We ended up talking on the phone for two hours about what he’s doing for work, his cars, what’s going on with me, etc. (i’m genuinely reeling) then at the end of call he asked if I wanted to go grab some lunch with him at this new place he likes. I agreed & he set it up for next wed!
I ended up saying “it’s a date” playfully when I was trying to get off the phone & gave me this weird/nervous little giggle then hung up.
I don’t have too many girlfriends or friends in general since i moved to the city, so I genuinely just want advice on how you think I should carry myself on this date. Do i risk being flirty so i don’t spend the rest of my life wondering what could be or do i just keep it cordial as friends not to weird him out?
Edit: this man is GORGEOUS. he has a lot of women swooning over him, so if there’s something there I’d love to risk it. I do love having him as friend though, so that’s why I just want to gauge where he’s at.