So I'm a 21 year old college student, the girl in question is 20 years old and she's been my closest friend for about 9 months now. Her boyfriend broke up with her back in April and I was right there for her. We were really close until June, when school broke for the summer. We live about 40 minutes from each other right now, and she's always been bad at communicating electronically, but I'm just afraid that maybe she's realized I have feelings for her and they aren't mutual.
She means the world to me. We're so alike in every way, and if I ever lost the friendship with her it would utterly destroy me. She's been stressed out lately, but when we do hang out and I get her to smile, it makes life worth living all over again. I just want to be able to tell her how much she means to me, let her know she's the most beautiful person I've ever seen and I'd like nothing more than to have the chance to make her happy. I just don't know how to go about it. We're close friends now, and I want to know the easiest way to find out if she's got the same feelings for me is. Something that, if it isn't mutual, still has a chance of saving our friendship. At the end of the day, the risk may just be too high. If that's the case, I'd rather stand by and just be her friend. I'm just afraid of seeing her get into another terrible relationship with an abusive boyfriend and have to sit by and watch her get her heart broken. I know I could do better, but is that the best choice?