What does it mean to be romantically interested in someone?

[Tsuyogari]

SO here's the question that I've been having for a while... What does it mean to be romantically (not sexually) interested in someone?

I know from what people tell me what it means to be sexually interested in another person, but its so hard for someone to explain exactly what it means to be romantically interested in someone. Does it mean that you care for them in a way that is more intense than normal? Or like a friend, just that you care for them more? I'm simply curious, although I want to see whether or not thinking someone is more interesting than other people can be categorized as "romantic" interest in another person.

[Asexy Existentialist]

Well, I'm demiromantic, so I experience it a bit more... intensely, maybe, than other people, because I only experience it after forming a connection with the person. But to me, romantic interest is that fuzzy, squishy feeling you get for someone. And for me, being so sentimental, it usually means I want to hug them, hold their hand, send them flowers and pretty cards, cook for them, be around them all the time, etc. Just generally... I want to be in a romantic relationship with them. :3 Basically.

[. . .but there are sounds]

Romantic attraction, I think, is something akin to a desire, specific to an individual, as a person, for a certain closeness. I hesitate to define that closeness because I believe that nature of the desired closeness is highly individualistic and that the above statement might be as specific as one can get while still pertaining to all romantic attraction.

Sexual attraction might have nothing more to do with an individual than their physical characteristics which I believe to be, at best, only a glancing blow at the actual individual. This is not to say that this is always the case, an individual might be attracted, in a sexual sense, to another because of personality traits, but I don't believe that romantic attraction can exist in a vacuum populated only by appearance. That is not to say that physical nature might not be a factor in romantic attraction, it may help to define degree of attraction, for example, but I don't think it can be the basis.

Of course, the other, implicit piece of sexual attraction is that it includes some sexual component. Romantic attraction is not defined as not sexual, but if the attraction felt is not sexual then it follows that the attraction is, most likely, romantic and certainly not sexual attraction.

[Great Thief Yatagarasu]

I hate to sound like a cliche, but it's like a lantern in your chest - light and gentle, and really warm and flickering. It's a wonderful feeling, and you'll know it when you feel it. If you feel like that around a person, then that's definitely love. Romantic attraction is a bit different. Everything they do is wonderful and they're just SO awesome and you want to get to know them so badly...every time I've loved a person romantically, I've wanted to be "close" to them...not sexually, just close. If they're a friend, you want to express your friendship/love with physical affections, like hugs and whatnot, and if they're not a friend, you'll want to be. It's a want for intimacy and openness with a person who you may or may not know that well, and the feeling that you'd do anything for them. At least, that's how it's been with me.