…good advice. 
On the contrary, over the past two years, more than I care to admit.
Oh, jeez! It’s not bad enough that I seldom agree with BobLibDem on political subjects, now we have to differ in a kissy-face thread too!
I’d say don’t involve friends in this matter unless you want the situation confused by a magnitude of, oh, say ten. The opportunity for mis-information grows exponentially with each additional person involved, and the OP and her fella are long past middle school age.
From Chuck’s song, “Anthony Boy”.
That’s dead, solid, perfect, Twix!
Thank you, and yes it was!
Yep. Kiss the fool. Now- just so as to give him a chance and not suprise the hell out of him- start by holding his hands, and looking into his eyes while you sit side by side. Then, bring your face close, next tilt you head slightly back, and half-close your eyes. If he doesn’t kiss you (or draw back) then kiss the fool. Sitting in his lap is a hint, too. Subtle. 
'Course, I believe I got my husband to show interest in me by saying to him (after knowing him like nine years during which time there was lots of flirting, but never any dating) “why haven’t you ever asked me out?” which I maintain gave him the nerve to know he wasn’t going to get turned down if he ever did.
He doesn’t remember it this way though. And since he was dating someone else at the time, there was a little delay between this conversation and the two of us getting together.
It was sort of that way with Mr. Caricci and me, except I was pretty sure he liked me liked me, not just liked me. After all, he had done a little skip of joy when I agreed to be his date at the wedding of mutual friends (what he didn’t know is, the bride put us together at the same table - we’d been on a few chaste dates already). But, he was shy and all. During the “Kiss of peace” at the wedding or whatever it’s called, he did kiss me very quickly on the lips, but it wasn’t sexy or romantic, so here’s what I did: I brought him home after the wedding (well, I let him bring me home) and said, “Oh, I really need to change. I’ve had it with these dressy clothes.” No, I didn’t get all naked or anything! I went into the bathroom and got into my cosy but unsexy robe and then showed him some minor detail of the robe. This showed him that I was okay with him kissing me and by him looking at the minor detail, he showed me he was interested and then I kissed him. I mean,it was my robe! But it was unsexy. It showed him I was okay with being around him in my robe, but if he rejected me romantically I could say well, what are you talking about, I looked like a sack of potatoes, how could I be coming onto you. It was perfect.
this works if he’s taller than you…at some point, if you’re standing around chatting, stand real close then look up with big eyes - it’ll make it or break it - with no risk - he’ll think you’re just listening when really you’re gazing wishfully at his lips…
I think you should trip him and get under him before he lands. I think most guys would get that hint. 
Ya know, he and I have this recurring joke that if we had a personal ad, it’d have the tagline, “Sometimes, I fall down.” So that could work.
I am such a coward. I don’t know what’s holding me back here. I think it’s fear of totally screwing things up, or being too hasty. I did talk to a mutual friend about this and he said my gentleman friend was a notoriously slow mover when it came to women, and also quite close-mouthed about such things. Thus, his lack of physical affection is not an indication of disinterest.
I’m going to invite him to dinner this weekend, complete with wine, or maybe I’ll make Mexican and bust out some margaritas… tequila is the great disinhibitor. Don’t worry, if anything happens, y’all will be the first to know.
Most importantly, how is Dolphie doing? What does she have to say about all of this?
Ah yes, Dolphie thinks every man that comes to the house is auditioning to be her consort, so she sits right down on him like the Queen of Sheba. She is not pleased to note that Dog aka Sasha, the notorious man-hater, seems to like him. She does not bark at him when he comes to the house, which is unusual.
Dolphie throwing herself at him is no achievement, though. That cat is a hussy (but don’t tell her I said that or she will gnaw on my head tonight as a I try to sleep).
You should take your cue from Dolphie. Plop yourself down on his lap and proceed to lick him with your fragrant orifice. :).
Dolphie has the confience of a true sociopath. I, on the other hand, am not so sure of my charms. I should be more like my cat, eh?
I second the plan of either burying your face in his chest or holding his hand tight during a scary/intense scene in a movie. Or the ol’ Gosh I need a neck rub ploy. That’s pretty popular.
nothing screams “have your way with me!” like “oh, i need a neck rub…could you do it for me?”
…then again, just saying “have your way with me” IS preferable…and i’d rather that being screamed…
this is what we professionals call, a “digression”.
Do you consider yourself not too good looking ? Try to evaluate how your friend and you are in terms of good looks. If your more or less the same level… that is good.
Also shy guys like myself really value a girl they can feel comfortable around… more than looks. Naturally one prefers cuter rather than not… but that can be overcome by having a great time together.
Do things slowly but steadily… he will eventually get it
I think I’m OK. Some people think I’m pretty, but I have a hard time being objective about my own appearance. It’s not even that I don’t think I’m attractive, I just am not sure if he wants to date me or not.
You also have to understand that my cat Dolphie assumes that everyone in the universe finds her irresistible and therefore loves her. She also has no shame and throws herself at any man who I’m ever able to lure into her lair. If I were that brazen, I wouldn’t need to start a thread like this.
God, I hope so. I can’t express how afraid I am to fuck things up, mostly because I’m neurotic and recently got out of a really stupid relationship.
I’d say that at this point alcohol is necessecary since it appears that neither of you is willing to go out on a limb. But you better do something soon, because you don’t want him thinking that you don’t think of him in that way. He wouldn’t be spending time with you exclusively if you were just a friend to him. Unless he has no other friends. But usually I’ll have 2 or 3 groups of friends with whom I rotate stuff with and its not necessecary to stress that. Anyway, again, alcohol and inadvertent physical contact are what you gotta do.
Also, you need to enlist a mutual friend to help. Preferably one that can force you two to go out. It would be best if there were 4 to 5 people. If you spend the entire night together, then that’s a good sign
Pop on Jimmy Buffett surely that will work.
That never seems to work for me … of course, I’m so insecure I usually say it after he’s left the building. le sigh
Ruby, I understand where you’re at. But I’m going to hop on the bandwagon and say that if this guy is as slow-moving as he’s rumored to be, you’re going to be tearing your hair out before he gets around to the kissin’. Start snuggling up, at the very least. You don’t have to be overly agressive, but let the inner tramp out just a tad–she usually knows how to handle things.