[Landofett]

I'll start by saying I met a girl a few months back. Well, I've known her for a while, but only as an acquaintance, until certain circumstances pinned us to hang out together one-on-one. I won't go into details, but we had a fantastic time! As I mentioned that I knew her as an acquaintance, I knew that she had a boyfriend of a little over 2 years. I made it a point to not flirt excessively or hit on her for this reason.

However, we start texting back and forth for the next couple of days, and she invites me to hang out again, just the two of us. She's really cool, so I did. Another great time, and a lot of inside jokes were formed. She also mentioned her boyfriend, but only because the conversation kind of called for it, and she mentioned him in a negative light. He lives hours away and doesn't see her very often. We continue the texting for the next week and hang out yet again.

At this point, despitey original plan, the flirting escalates greatly, and I find out that we have everything in common. She starts dropping hints that she is interested, to the point where there is no doubt in my mind. So we have plans to hang out again the next week, and the texting reached an all-time flirtatious vibe, hinting stronger than ever that she was into me. Now I know this girl now. I know she is not the cheating type, and neither am I. We joked about doing "things" before, but it was always very playful and just talk. But by this point, I developed strong feelings for this girl, to the point where I couldn't stop thinking about her (still can't).

So when we hung out a couple of weeks back, after a night of excitement and a fantastic time, I stopped thinking and kissed her. I knew she wanted me to kiss her too, and she kissed me back hard. We kept it up for a few minutes, and then said goodnight and parted ways. I felt amazing. Well, the next day, she tells me that she feels bad about it. She says she doesn't regret kissing me at all, but regrets doing it while she was still with her boyfriend. I tell her that I'm sorry if I pressured her of misread things, and she says that I didn't at all... that I have nothing to worry about. She couldn't have been more wrong.

We agree to pretend like it didn't happen, because she was still with her boyfriend. She had never kissed another guy while in a relationship, so I know it was something that was hard on her. I felt terrible, but she kept reassuring me that I shouldn't. I start noticing that our conversations aren't as flirty or lengthy for the next few days, so I start worrying, but I don't say anything. Then one day, she brings up the kissing, and says that we would be more than friends if it wasn't for her boyfriend. Then the flirting starts coming back slowly, but surely.

We hang out again, but I make it a point not to try anything else or do anything to put us in another similar situation as before. We still have a great time, as usual. But then... she starts talking to me less and less throughout the next week, which is so confusing to me. I feel like she is confused too, but is afraid to say anything. We have unavoidable plans to hang out in the future as well... one of which involves me sleeping over her place afterwards. These plans are also long-term.

The problem is, I am absolutely crazy about this girl. I've NEVER felt so strongly for someone before, and I don't know what to do. I feel like she knows (she is not stupid), but at the same time, I've never officially come out and said to her. Maybe she wants me to? Maybe she feels the same but is afraid to say? Maybe because I backed off on my flirting the last time we hung out, that's why she talks less to me? I feel like I should tell her, especially if we're going to hang out more. She means a lot to me, and I have to be honest with her, right? She just feels... right. I can't explain it. But I know something is there.

Advice?