How to Date Your Best Friend (Girls)

If you don't want to date them, then tell them. It could be because they have feelings for you, which you truly don't reciprocate, or it could be because you don't want to impair your friendship. If you have feelings for them, then tell them! They will not feel the same towards you if you reject them, so don't expect things to be exactly the same between the two of you. They may avoid you, or even harbor feelings of hatred, because you two were so close.

• If you're interested in men, studies have shown that men often mistake signs of friendship as signs of desire, so don't expect your guy to be all happy when you reject him. He honestly thought you two could have something special.

If you do want to date your best friend, then tell them straight away. If your friendship up until that point had been extremely fun and witty and open, then expect that to continue. Tell them how you feel, and then arrange the date. This should be easy since you know each other well! Keep things the way they used to be, and try to keep the laughter in your relationship until the big date.

• Before making a move, make sure that's exactly what you want and you're not simply mixing things up. It's pretty easy to project romance just for it being convenient.^[1]

Talk about where you'd like to go, and try to avoid the "Where do you wanna go?" "I don't know; where do you wanna go?" situation. You know each other really well at this point, so you should know where the best situation would be. Classic date-situations are movies, ice-skating, dinners, bowling, entertainment parks, walking around town, and even tutoring. Tutoring may sound kind of lame, but if one of you is smarter than the other in certain areas, then try to play to that aspect. Teach each other something, shared learning will help secure your bond. Bowling is fun because it sparks a friendly competition that will help keep conversation rolling. Ice skating is perfect in this scenario, because then there is an excuse for you to hold hands, and the cold can encourage cuddling .

Once you've decided about where you'd like to go with them, don't immediately tell all of your friends. If you and your date are already best friends, then you are probably in the same group of friends, and it's best to keep things personal and private for a while. If things don't work out, then you don't want to have to go through the agony of telling everybody why not.

Pick out something to wear a few days before, and make sure it's something comfortable, but a little bit more dressy. Jeans are always fine in a casual date between you and your best friend, as long as you have a little bit more of a dressy top, like a shirt with sequins, or a nice necklace with a sweet tank-top and cardigan.

• Try to let your personality shine through, so that your date knows that you're still who they think you are, and that the only thing that has changed is how you're going to act towards each other. A skirt is fine, but don't go all the way with a dress. That says "OK, I am trying way too hard, and I am extremely nervous". Unless you're at prom, or a dinner, or a party. Hopefully, it should be just the two of you for a first date. Anything else isn't private enough. Keep it simple, although less casual than usual.

On the day of your date, make sure you're relaxed enough to be around them. When they arrive, and this will probably be the first time you see each other after the date-arrangement, don't be awkward. Show that you're still you, but that your feelings for them, are really there, and so that will eliminate their nervousness.

If they're your friend, they should have already met your parents. Don't be in a hurry to change their status with them until you are more comfortable with the relationship.

On your date, to show that you really like them, talk about slightly more personal things than you would usually talk about. That does not mean, however, old partners, intimate gossip, school, or anything else that you usually talk about. You can bring back old jokes, and relive old memories, and talk about yourselves. You need to get to know each other all over again, but in a different light. Don't talk about your grades, because you probably know a lot about each other already! Talk about new things, and what you think of each other.

Touch them more than you usually do. That doesn't mean groping, or else they will definitely think that you're not the person they thought they knew, and the end of your relationship is definite. Touch their arm when you want their attention, or when you're trying to make a point. Keep it above the waist, guys.

The first kiss. This one is important; if you get this wrong, your relationship may not work out. It has to be sweet and innocent, not a wet fish. No tongues. Go for about a 10 second kiss, at some point during your date.

• Keep the lips firm, yet open. Don't let your mouth hang open, but don't be tight-lipped. You don't want your date to think that you don't like them. If you're going in for a second kiss, go for another 10-20 second one. No tongues on the first date.
• You don't want them to think that you're different than who he thinks you are, which is why they like you! At the end of the date, hopefully you can both say that you've had a lot of fun, like you used to, yet your romance was the key ingredient. You're still best friends, except you're more now, so hugging is great too.

Leave them some special message after the date, to know that they're secure in your affections. They will probably be punching the air, except you don't need to know that, in their opinion. Don't worry; it's a good thing!