Should I pursue or am I misinterpreting
There is this woman in my life that I already now for probably 3 years by now.
There were not many chances to come closer, mainly due to I didn't allow/try.
By now we see each other in group activities probably weekly and I feel like there is a connection over just being friends. But I'm not sure and I'd like to hear some advice from you.
For context:
We're both in our mid 30ies and got to know each other in a sports club. Problem here is: I am the teacher and i made it to my standard to never pursue romantic connections to my students. It's just unprofessional.
However, time came, and we had a party where everyone had a lot of fun, alcohol and time. We ended up having a lot of fun, arm in arm hugging each other whatever. She invited me home but I denied. My last bit of professionalism kicked in while I was drunk.
We never talked about it after or did much together.
Fast forward 2 years, and we finally see each other more often. Purely because we do the same sport in the same club with the same friends.
However she looks a lot at me in the past 2-3 months. We laugh a lot, and she will make sure to talk with me more than with others.
When we go to a restaurant with other friends she'll make sure to sit next to me (as do I). She'll often look me in the eyes when there is something to laugh about. Sometimes we have our own jokes just the 2 of us can laugh about.
After some time she started touching my arm or shoulder when laughing. We'll share eye contact and frowning eyebrows when someone says something silly.
However: I never made a clear approach because we're always surrounded by other people where I am the teacher. I seem to be my own prisoner of the idea to keep it professional and not have people talk about how I'm after my students.
We do write eachother sometimes by now. There is some vibe, however she'll stop texting after maybe 4-5 texts. Never on a bad note, more like she doesn't have more time and simply is not much on her phone.
E.g. I wrote here today, she answered twice with good mood. I asked 2 questions and than it went silent.
More than once when time came and everyone says goodbye she'll just get in her car and drive off
.without much of sharing goodbyes and whatever.
She is always in a good mood and will laugh a lot with everyone. It's basically just the eye contact and touching that made me think twice.
What should I do?
I did make a move to ask if we'll see eachother soon to practice our sport just with the 2 of us. But I'm not sure if she maybe just is interested in the sport and sees this as a friendly meetup just like With everyone.