First of all I'd just like to say that am new to this forum and haven't used any of it's type. I am an 18 year old male engineering student, and while very intelligent I have a hard time reading people, and poor at social ediquitte sometimes.
So heres the scenario, in first year engineering everyone takes the same courses regardless of your intended field. I have a group of friends and theres 5 of us in all. Now for the complex part... One of us is a girl, who I happen to be very attracted to. We've all been friends for a few months now, and we are getting pretty bonded. So far I haven't made a real defined move to show that I feel the way I do. Neither has she sent any signals that I could pick up that she would be interested that way. However, the part that eats at me the most is that she seems more interested in another one of my friends. Now the obvious part is that he doesn't seem interested in being more than friends with her, and he is always talking about getting other girls around her, and trust me, he's the type of guy that would make a move by now. The delicate part of all this is that I don't want to rock the boat because things are going so well within the group. Options I've considered are: subtly hinting that i like her and see how she responds, leveling with my male friend and ask for advice, or just letting things run their course and probably losing altogether. The biggest problem is that this is eating away at me while so much is happenening and I just need to let it out! The main thing that is difficult is I can't read if she is really interested in him or not, simply because they are together often, but they have many courses together, and a buddy and me are constantly together just because we have courses together, too. Sorry I have written so much, there is more to this, but I just want any advice at all to be frank.