typical "i have feels for close female friend of mine and

>more time passes, i ask her if she remembers when i confessed to her. she said yes and acknowledges that there's always "a little something" between boy-girl friends and i basically told her that as long as she stays the way she is, the balls in her court (mid 2016)
>catch feels for another close friend of mine in the meantime, but its a fairly toxic crush that brings out insecurities in me
>learn with some talks about her crush that hers is toxic as well and brings out insecurities in her, but she keeps trying with this guy
>according to her brother, appearently they go through this pattern of randomly getting mad at each other, not talking for a bit, and then talking again (for more than a year)
>shes confessed to him a couple times and he's not interested but "is pretty adament on staying friends", even though her brother and friends try to warn her that hes toxic since hes insecure about himself and generally uses people
>learn through her toxic crush that my crush is toxic, move away from my toxic crush (but remain friends with her) and share this with my crush, while also letting her know that i think her crush was toxic
>that conversation didnt really have any conclusion but i gave her the food for thought but also let her know that my experiences =/= her experiences
>at one point she told me that her and this crush will probably stop talking after an argument and she's had enough but haven't heard any update in regards to him ever since (late 2016)
>much more time passes, she's still definitely the one person i'd date if i had to choose just one
>since meeting her, have drastically cut down on my marijuana habits, matured a lot generally, became much more mentally healthy, cut some toxic friendgroups out of my life and have a pretty established career direction
>she says she sees huge improvements in me and is proud of me
>in a car ride once with some friends she was saying "for example, "X" friend has nice hair, and (me) has nice eyes and beard"

>her brother (that im now pretty close with and actually have talked to him about this) has said that she's told me that im very mature for my age and he agrees with me
>some other female friends in our friend group tells me that I'm a very good looking young man and definitely one of the more attractive, if not the most attractive of the boys in our group (they have boyfriends so didnt have a problem telling me that)
>went out for wings once and kind of impulsively wanted to play l4d2 with me and some friends, even though she spends most of her time studying for nursing and this was even around exam time when it was crunchtime for her (she later pulled out)
>her and/or her brother must talk to their mom about me a a fair bit because their mom was able to reccomend a kdrama to me (im white, they're asian) which had a storyline relevant to my interests (Healer)
>despite her regular school+workload a while back she asked me if i wanted to play video games with her
>she got me for secret santa and got me chopsticks (they were on my wishlist) as well as these asian candies "from her childhood" and a masterball lanyard (she knows i love pokemon but given its a masterball and i have feels i cant help but be autistic when i think about what it might imply because i know girls can be cryptic)(Dec 2016)
>that night when we were eating at a resteraunt we made eye contact across the table (we were sitting at different ends of the table and across) and we did like this cute cheery facial expression to each other
>went iceskating later, did a few laps with arms latched to each other and when we unlatched it was kind of slow and lingering and our hands were even touching for a couple seconds
>recently had my birthday and the friend group got together to surprise me with karaoke, KBBQ, billiards and bubbletea

>she buys me this cute cat-dressed-as-a-maid keychain (Sassyfran from neko atsume because we both have that game on our phone)
>normally when we hug goodbye its like my arms are over her shoulders but this time she went for her arms being around my shoulders, this was cash cause i was able to get a hand up to her head and stroke her hair
>later posts ig photo of "happiest of birthdays to anon!" with a heart and cake emoji in it
>in the group chat that night i let em know i was hella thankful of them are for a dope birthday and she says "D'aw. Anon, we all love you senpai!! Never forget that xoxo :B you deserve it"

So I think that there's definitely something there, i mean she even admitted herself indirectly that there's a little something there, though there's always that bit of physical attraction between boys and girls and normally we just stay friends anyways. I know she thinks I'm attractive looking and definitely loves having me as a friend.

I know she's busy with her own grinding schedule and I'm honestly the same way too, I don't think girls are by any means a priority or anything and our friendship the way it is is still pretty something. But clearly I'm interested in maybe trying dating out with her. I'm thinking of maybe asking her to hang out one on one to perhaps lunch or dinner where i can ask her if she's ever though about back when i said that "the balls in her court", or maybe just casually asking her that the next time the friend group is hanging out and we happen to be walking side by side or anything like that. Would that be an appropriate way to go about this or do you guys think that I'm in some friendzone that I can't recognize? Sometimes I can feel a little insecure over the fact that she's older than me and as such might see me as a boy instead of a man, even though she knows that I've got my life in order and have demonstrated more maturity than a couple other boys in the friend group.

(Long-ass story done)

for additional context, im currently 21 and she's turning 24 this year. In the OP i say "its a 5 years difference" but that's between me and the oldest person in the group. Most of them are around 23-24 and the oldest is 26

Holy shit TL;DR

If she has a bf or rejected you already, give up
If she hasn't rejected you and is single, ask her out.

>>18071547
if i super super super condense it:
>confessed to her nearly a couple years ago around the time when i was still just getting to know her but she liked someone else at the time
>she never got with that guy, i never got with anyone else in that time but liked a couple other girls to pass the time
>we're a bit older now, times have changed, and im much more closer with her and her friends are my friends
>thinking about asking her out, wondering what the best way to go about it would be

>>18071558
>>thinking about asking her out, wondering what the best way to go about it would be
"Hey yo, lets go get food." Then make a move(I.E. hug her, flirt) and see if she responds positively. If she reacts negatively, then she wants to stay friends.

Words are pointless, actions are more important.

>>18071634
yeah the way im picturing it, I can;
>ask her to go to a restaurant near her place
>open the door for her at restaurant and gently put my hand on her back as she walks past
>generically talk and whatnot and compliment her
>walk her back to her place which is where i'll ask if the idea's ever crossed her mind
>let her know that I love the idea of taking it slowly with her and being mindful of boundaries and individual plights and can still easily be her friend if she says no or if we take it a step further but then decide that it's not what we want

i guess its a win-win for me anyways, being her friend is still a huge plus anyways and its either we start dating or i can move on