@OP: Heh. I actually did just that 2 years ago. Friends with her for... pfffff 8 years? Sounds right. One night away at college, I had a very real option to ask out this cute girl - who was sitting on my lap the day before
- and, for the first time in my life, get laid. I spent the night freaking the fuck out, because I've always felt that if you're not in it for the long haul, then what's the point, and I knew that girl was just a little bit too crazy (not good crazy; wont-go-to-a-doctor crazy) for me.
And I started thinking about the other girl, my friend, with whom I loved to just hang around and talk... and I knew she was single (due to douche ex cheating on her, not that anyone was surprised by that :| ), and, the more I thought about her, the more I realized... I'd been in love with her since we'd met. At 12. I was just young and stupid, and VERY unconfident with myself (always been the weird one, always been overweight, never really happy with my body), and, to my shame, couldn't see past the image of beauty that the world'd force-fed me - specifically b/c she has MS, and the lazy eye and crutches always made me awkward (gotten over that now). But, well, I figured I didn't have much to loose... and over the course of... oh, about 3 hours (on AIM, she's not at my school
), I managed, while trying not to vomit up my liver from nerves, to confess that I loved her, I was her friend, and I asked, finally, "Would you consider entering into a romantic relationship with me?" I know; the wording of everything was all couched in indirect poetic terms - waaayyy to nervous to just ASK, you know?
She thought I might have been joking up until I called and she heard it in my voice. It was kind of funny, actually. We both treated that first... 'date' like some kind of business dinner, at least as for plans. She said... something like "Uh... I don't know about romantic...we could.. try?"
Finally, over Thanksgiving break, I show up at her house in the evening (with ice cream for her and her mother, for which I, apparently, won serious points,) and we're talking awkwardly on the couch for a while... I decide to bite the bullet, and just said "oh, come over here so I can hug you," and... well, pretty much she's been like putty ever since.
The long distance helps, I think, in some ways. For instance, I know it's not just sex - I barely got to speak with her for a semester while she was in Ireland - because, when you can't have something (eg sex), you want it more, and if you're willing to go through that for another person specifically... well, it just speaks for itself. (not that there's been any sex anyway ><. Bad self-image = all sorts of issues around sex. I'm still helping her get though it all, and she's still not comfortable with her own sexuality.)
tl;dr bite the bullet, try writing out what you'll say - but don't make it too flowery, just what you'd say (and don't edit it much), and if it's about being with her more than sex, than you've got it gold.
Unexpected gifts do well too. I didn't bring flowers the first time for a reason. Just like I didn't buy her flowers for Valentine's Day - I had a pineapple delivered to her dorm.
...holy crap that is a wall of text