How to express (maybe romantic?) feelings to ace friend

[Meson_Seeker]

Hello AVEN,

 

I am a high school senior and a heteromatic (probably?) asexual male.

 

I have an ace friend, a girl who is also a senior — she's the only other ace I know, and she knows that I am an ace as well.

 

I don't think that I experience romantic attraction, but I definitely can experience heartbreak. Where I'm going with this is that I don't think I feel romantic attraction to her, but I may still feel romantically inclined towards her — there are certain ideas that come to me that suggest to me that I may be interested in her even if not consciously so.

 

Since I exist in this strange in-between of platonic and romantic interest, I'm not really sure how to approach her. I want to get closer to her for sure — but I don't know if I should do this in a way that seems romantic or not.

 

I guess to boil this down, I have two questions:

 

1. How would I know if I'm romantically interested in her?

 

2. If I cannot know if I'm interested in her, how do I get closer to her in a way that is not necessarily romantic but still open to the possibility? [I haven't asked, but her comments strongly suggest she is not aromantic.]

 

Thank you for your time.

 

EDIT: additional useful data

I have not been in a relationship before. I haven't experienced a crush since lower school (which can't really count anyway, I think) but did experience one week of limerence for this same girl.

 

We are good friends, but I don't see her as often as I would like.

[gisiebob]

start carrying around a bottle of two stroke motor oil. your brain can only attack you for doing one thing that it doesn't understand at a time.