My friend [25m] and I [23f] have been hanging out for around 5/6 months. We met in class at university and hit it off. We’d see each other around campus and eventually decided to hang out. This led to us becoming close friends, which then led to us having casual sex. We’ve talked about dating but neither of us are ready for a relationship at the moment. Plus there’s the fear of spoiling a solid friendship. We spend a majority of our free time together, we’re open about our feelings towards each other. I can’t help but feel like this is the starting foundation to a healthy relationship. But I’m trying to manage my expectations as well. The thing that made me post this is a few nights ago we got pretty intoxicated and he told me he loved me. I told him I felt the same way, but since then we haven’t talked about it. So now I’m wondering how he meant it and all that. I feel like I’m in a place where even if it didn’t work between us I would put my feelings aside to keep being his friend. I’d swallow my pride and watch him date other girls if that’s what it came to. I’ve never felt this much or this kind of love for a person before.

TLDR; A close friend and I have been hooking up for months and (I think) were falling for each other.