Exhausted and confused

Hi guys. I'm new to the forum so I just wanna do the standard please be nice, I'm a noob and just wanna apologize in advance if I accidentally break any forum rules disclaimer. Having said that, I will continue with my sordid story. Stop me if you've heard all this before...

About a year ago, I met this really great girl and we sorta hit it off. We both go to the same university and quickly became friends. Lots of emails and sms's soon followed. It was all friendly and I asked her if she was single and she said yes. We went out a couple of times. I helped with a bit of homework and to thank me, she brought me to a really nice restaurant. The bill was a little high and I offered to pay but she insisted. Then after a few more outings, she went completely silent. I texted and emailed a few times but nothing so I just cut my losses and moved on.

After the summer break (couple months later), we got back in touch with each other and started up with the whole text and email flirting thing again. We went out a few more times then one day we were supposed to meet but she was in tears. I asked if everything was alright and she just insisted that she had to go. The next morning, I called to see if she was ok and she said she couldn't talk at the time. Later in the day, she told me that her bf/ex-bf who she just broke up with was outside her house and wouldn't leave until she came out. Apparently she tried to break up with him the day before and he made a bit of a scene and that's why she was in tears. They had been dating for a year but she wanted to break up because he was too immature.

So she wasn't telling the truth when she told me she was single...

Since then we've been in regular contact. We continue to meet up, go on dates (?), text and call. This went on for another couple of months. A couple of months of ago, I asked her out properly. She rejected saying she just didn't have those feelings for me...bummer. But I continue to give her attention and prioritise her and I flirt with her just to remind her that I'm interested in being more than just friends. I tried to kiss her one night but she rejected...sigh.

Recently however, she's been stepping up the frequency of our contact. Previously we would meet up say every couple of weeks and message every other day. Now we are meeting up sometimes twice a week and messaging nearly every day. I've even met her folks - we went skiing together! She tells me how she's feeling sad since all her friends are coupled up and tells me how she never accepts a guy the first time he asks her out. We're going out this weekend to watch swan lake. She likes the ballet and was over the moon when I got tickets. She kept saying how no one has ever taken her to the ballet and how she really appreciates it, etc... I think she's quite looking forward to it. I was thinking of going the whole nine yards: flowers, dinner at a nice restaurant, etc. and I'll try to seal the deal with a pash.

Things seem to be looking on the up and up but I've been disappointed by this girl before...so many times and I don't know if I'm just getting ahead of myself. The other day she told me that it's been a year since we've met. I've been after her for a whole year and I'm just tired of the constant disappointments.

I wanna give things one last shot and my friends keep telling me she's just using me to make herself feel good. I don't want to believe this but on some level I know its kinda true. I want to move on and cut all ties but haven't the strength to do so. It's killing me everytime I'm with her and we are having a good time but we are nothing more than just friends. It's the strangest thing. I feel happy when we're together but I miss her so much the minute we're apart. I'm angry at her for making me wait so long but can't stay mad at her. I've given her everything but received nothing in return. I'm slowly going crazy here. I'm exhausted and confused. Is there any hope of a real relationship? Is there any way I could change her mind? I'd love to hear if anyone else has been in the same situation and how it turned out. Advice anyone?