It does not take long to go from being friends to lovers. It’s just that you may not know that the transition has already begun. You might already have intense feelings and a deep emotional attachment without even knowing it. Or you may be in denial about your feelings because the idea of dating a friend you’ve known for years can seem too daunting or awkward. After all, you have so much to lose if things go sideways, and perhaps that’s why you’re dragging your feet on the friendship to relationship transition.
Your dilemmas notwithstanding, you can be pretty certain that the friendship to relationship stages have been set in motion if you’ve lost count of the number of times you shook your head and told a curious pal, “Oh, we’re just friends.” Wouldn’t you be a millionaire if you had a dime for every time you had to lay out the bestie meaning for someone who mistook your connection to be something more? If you just nodded in agreement, you might have at your hand a friendship turning into love.
Don’t we all know a lot of couples who, at some point, used to be “just friends”? That’s because a vast number of relationships are born out of friendship. There are enough real and reel life examples that point to the fact. Just in case you and a dear friend have a fair chance of hitting it off, we wouldn’t want you to regret not having done anything about it after 10 years. You just need to pay heed to the signs that you have fallen in love with your best friend.
That said, here’s the tricky bit: thousands of friendships don’t become relationships because the other person does not feel the same way. The worst part? Sometimes the friendship suffers and dies. That’s why you overthinking this situation and wrestling with questions like can friendship turn into love, is friends to dating transition a good idea, and most importantly, how to go from friends to dating, is completely justified.
Now, we want compatible friendships to turn into relationships without the fear of the two falling out. Given that you wouldn’t want to risk a solid friendship for an imagined potential love story, it’s only natural that you may not want to act on your feelings until you see sure-fire signs that you’re going from being friends to lovers. What are those signs, you ask? Fret not, we’ve got you covered!
10 Signs You Are Moving From Friends To Lovers
Can friends become lovers? Sally found herself asking this question even as she caught her heart skip a beat when her best friend Nolan’s text message popped on her phone screen. The two had been thick as thieves since high school and bore witness to each other’s train wreck of a romantic life over the years. Girlfriends and boyfriends came and went but Sally and Nolan stood by each other. But now, something had changed. Sally could feel it in her bones.
She had begun to care about Nolan a lot more than as a friend. There was a hint of flirting in the way Nolan spoke to her. There was a spark in their connection, the sexual tension was palpable and their love has clearly veered out of the platonic category. But was going from friends to dating a good idea? The thought kept eating away at Sally, and she imagined Nolan’s predicament was the same. When on their way back home from the movies, Nolan leaned in for a kiss and Sally couldn’t stop herself from going with the flow, they had no choice but to accept that they were in the thick of the first of the friends to lovers stages.
Over the years, Sally and Nolan not only went through the friends to dating transition smoothly but also ended up being each other’s partners for life. Today, they’ve been married for over a decade and are still going strong. So, can friends fall in love, and can that love sustain a long, meaningful relationship? Yes, and yes.
If your friend has been hinting that they want something more than a casual friendship, then you should pick up the clues about their feelings. And not let your apprehensions about the friendship to relationship shift get in the way of what can be the beginning of something beautiful. But sometimes you are unable to understand the hints.
That’s when you need to know the clear signs of friendship turning into love. The signs that you are transitioning from friends to lovers stage are always there. You just need to notice those and understand how your relationship is changing.
1. Harmless flirting could be the beginning of friends to lovers stages
This is a precursor to the friends to lovers stages and is often so subtle that it goes unnoticed. Most friendships that are on their way to becoming relationships feature harmless flirting. Why harmless, you wonder? Well, it’s not anything serious if it’s between friends, right?
You might have to be a little aware to spot this one. Often regarded as mere banter, flirting among friends is one of the stealthier signs of friendship to relationship transition. If you check out all the famous books on the friends-to-lovers theme like Take A Hint, Dani Brown, by Talia Hibbert or Friends Without Benefits by Penny Reid, you will see flirting is key to people becoming lovers from great friends.
2. Awkward group conversations – a sign of friends to dating transition
You’d think that group conversations should feature all or most of the people interacting with each other, right? Not when there are lovebirds in the mix. When friends become lovers or start developing feelings for each other, they, while being a part of the group on paper, usually engage with each other extensively.
Sometimes this makes the rest of the group feel like one big third wheel, and therefore, awkward. This happens when friends are on the way to becoming lovers. How to know when your friendship is turning into something more? If you would seek out each other even in a group, it’s a clear, tell-tale sign.
Even if you sit apart, you talk to each other with your eyes. Messages are passed through a smirk or a wink. There is a definitive undercurrent of mutual attraction that makes you want to gravitate toward one another more and more. You are always connected despite being in a group and that’s the most obvious sign of friends to lovers transition.
3. You can never have enough of each other
The daily dose of interaction just doesn’t cut it, does it? If you two are texting each other back and forth throughout the day, and then, top it up with long phone calls at night, it’s a sign of friendship turning into love. When hopelessly smitten, the suspects tend to have parallel conversations across multiple social media platforms. They can’t get enough of each other and are clearly going from friends to lovers territory. Just that they may not realize it yet.
This is often the first step toward dating a friend you have known for years. There is already an immense comfort level between two people who have been friends for years. When romantic feelings are thrown into this mix, they practically become inseparable. Going from friends to dating to more can become an almost organic transition in such cases.
Take the example of Monica and Chandler from Friends. What was meant to be a casual hookup proved to be their happily ever after. So, if that’s how you feel about a close friend, don’t spend your time wondering can friendship turn into love. Just follow your heart and take a leap of faith.
4. You have cute names for each other
If you’ve ever heard a friend of yours call another friend babe or use a cute pet name to refer to them, you know you’ve squinted at the scent of something fishy! Perhaps, you’ve even secretly rolled your eyes at your friends’ doing cheesy couple things without even being in a relationship. Now, if you find yourself in a similar situation, you know it is not as harmless as two friends having affectionate pet names for one another.
If you have names to pull each other’s legs, and no one else is aware of them, you’re not off the hook yourself. This is the beginning of friendship to relationship stages casting its shadow. If you’ve been aware of your changing feelings toward a friend but don’t know how to make that crucial first move, these cute pet names that you have for each other may well become your savior.
Have a special occasion coming up? We suggest you get a customized gift for your friend-turned-love to drive home the message. A customized pendant, coffee mug, beer mug, sipper, t-shirt, or pillow, with their or both of your pet names engraved on it, can be a great way to put your changing feelings out there. Once the ice is broken, you can even ask them out directly.
5. Body language can indicate friendship to relationship shift
Few things are as indicative of a potential couple as their body language. During interactions, make a stealthy analysis. If your friend’s torso and feet usually face you, they might be into you. A lot of accidental touches exchanged between the two of you are another strong sign you could be going from friends to dating soon.
If things between you two have reached this stage where your attraction for one another is spilling over, you may find yourself feeling a little self-conscious around your friend. For the first time, you’re paying attention to the way you dress and look before meeting them. This is all a part of the process of friends turning into lovers.
When it comes to impressing them and blowing them away, you have it easy. Loving your best friend and dressing up for them is easy because you know exactly what they like. This is precisely why being friends first makes a guy fall for you more easily or makes it easy for a girl to make the first move. To really turn up the heat now, it’s a good idea to start investing a little in your appearances.
Upgrading your wardrobe with new shirts or dresses, ordering a sensual perfume or cologne, and taking the time to shave or do your hair can augment your perception in their eyes. After all, you want to be prepared with outfits for the first date should one of you ask the other out. Your friend may already love you for the person you are. This renewed focus on your looks will give you the chance to charm them with your appearances as well.
6. You put them before anyone else
Your friend tops your priority list and you’re not willing to give that position away anytime soon. You change plans for them, put aside work to listen to their problems, and leave others on read only to have those 3 am rants with them. If you’re still asking, “How to know when a friendship is turning into something more?”, them becoming your top priority is a pretty solid sign.
If they are unwell, you will always be by their side. You help them out with studies, work, and chores; you become their go-to person. Guess that’s what love starts to feel like. If she wants to make a movie plan with you, you junk baseball with the guys to be with her. If he wants to go for a spin at midnight, you sneak out of your bedroom window without telling your parents. These are all signs that you’re already in the friends to lovers stages of transition.
7. If you get jealous, you’re going from friends to dating
This is an absolute sign that you are going from being just friends to lovers. And this isn’t one of the subtle signs, it is THE sign. If not anyone else, you’ll be extremely aware of it! Does seeing them dating someone make you feel jealous? Do you find the person utterly undeserving of your friend? Jealousy might be a definitive sign that you’re into your friend! In fact, this is one of the most important friends to lovers signs.
Veronica Liam, who’s dating her best friend, says, “I realized I have feelings for him when he told me he had a crush on a girl in our class in college. I just couldn’t take it. Looking back, I realize I started acting so funnily, but it also helped me put my feelings out there. In our case, jealousy gave us that final nudge to go from being friends to lovers.”
8. Sexual attraction is a sign you’re falling for a friend
When friends become lovers, they begin to desire each other sexually too. If you start fantasizing about a friend or find yourself turned on in their vicinity, it’s a clear indicator that your relationship no longer fits the friendship or bestie meaning. As long as you don’t act inappropriately on it, having the hots for your friend doesn’t have to be a bad thing.
Do you guys joke about being cool with making out or sleeping with each other? Even if you secretly find them irresistible, come clean to yourself. Trust us, life’s easier that way. The way to finding love can stem from lust. In fact, lust can be stronger than love and if you are feeling strongly physically attracted to your friend, then these are the ultimate going from friends to lovers signs.
9. You talk about them 24/7
If you love your best friend, then chances are you cannot go for 10 minutes in a day without talking to them. Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but if you two manage to make references to each other in every other conversation, you might’ve been bitten by the lovebug.
Give it time, and people will point out to you that you are transitioning from being friends to lovers, even before either of you realizes or acknowledges these changing feelings. You know you have got something much more than just friendship when at any time of the day you totally know what the other one is up to.
He could be just going to the grocery but you would know. She could be in her ballet class and you would know. It’s not that you keep each other posted, but you just know. That’s how you ultimately end up falling madly in love with your best friend. If that’s something you can relate to, don’t be wasting your time asking, “Can friendship turn into love?”
10. Your other friends sniff the romance brewing between you two
We’ve all had friends who’ve wanted to pair us up with other people. When your other friends see your friendship turning into love, they’ll take every shot they can at convincing you that the two of you are so obviously into each other. Friends can sniff what’s going on from miles away. So while you are asking yourself questions like can friends fall in love or how to go from friends to lovers, they may be wondering how long before you figure out what everyone else in your group already knows.
If you remain in denial about your feelings, they will make it a point to address the elephant in the room. You might be still wondering if you are a pair, but in their hearts, your friends would know, of course, you are. Elsa Raman says, “Our friends told us we were in love but we never admitted that. I always thought how could you be dating a friend you have known for years? But they told us James and I were made for each other and they were right all through.”
Two friends falling in love with each other – it doesn’t get more adorable. So, the next time you’re around your pal, keep an eye out for these signs. And if you’ve been checking all those boxes, you know what to do! Don’t let these friendship to relationship stages intimidate you. Just follow your heart and go with the flow, the most exciting love story of your life is about to unfold.
