For background: I've been crushing on one of my best friends since September. I'm in high school, in Year 10 (sophomore year in America I think?), and she's in year 13, so a bit older than me. She knows I'm bi but as far as I know she's straight, she's never said either way and she's dated guys in the (fairly distant) past. Although I've felt strong attraction to her *in that way* since September, it's only since January that it's got really serious. She makes me tongue-tied in a way no-one else ever has, and yes, I think about her at night and try to find ways to be with her as much as I can and crave her attention yadder yadder yadder. All the usual kinda crush things. My problem is that I don't really know much about flirting anyway, and especially in a girl-girl situation. A lot of my friends are very affectionate anyway and we hug lots and I think hers do too, maybe not to the same extent. So basically, I don't know what's flirting and what's just friendly. We hug when we say bye or if one of us is sad, and quite often if we're sitting next to each other one of us will put our head on the other's shoulder or put our arms round each other etc. Also, we have this joke (I think joke idk?) where if I'm sleepy (I have a sleep disorder so that's most of the time ) I take her hand and stroke her thumb 'to keep me awake'. She doesn't seem to mind, quite often she offers me her hand. Also, I know I glance over at her way more than I should do, but quite often she's looking at me too or smiling at me. We text a fair bit too, most nights. I'm pretty sure it's all wishful thinking and we're just good friends, but I'm just very confused about what counts as flirting between girls and what doesn't
It's difficult because it can count as flirting but as you say sometimes friends kind of cross that boundary too. Maybe you could ask her if she has ever questioned her sexuality or if she has ever liked a girl?
