He said he likes me but seems hit and miss

[artsygirl]

A very good friend of mine recently got in touch with me again (we have spoken on/off for the past 7-8 months). He text me and just asked me how I was. I met up with him at Christmas just for a catch up, nothing flirty or sexual. When he reached out to me again recently, we talked on the phone for a good couple of hours, just talking about our recent activities. He's a really decent person. A lot of the guys at my high school were immature, rude, or generally disrespectful, but he was never that sort of person. After we got off the phone, we continued texting, where he began admitting he actually had some feelings for me, liked me 'more than a friend' or that it's 'more than a friend on his end'. I was flattered, and as we've got on for so long I told him if that's how he felt we should perhaps spend more time together in order to see if we clicked properly in that way.

The tricky situation is that he's just got out of a long-term relationship, and says that despite feeling how he does for me, he is not ready for a relationship at the moment. I understand this, and haven't pressured him towards anything, and told him if he ever felt pressured to do anything he should tell me. He says I've been really nice about things but seems hesitant to arrange a date. We are both going to be in the same town for the whole of next week and so I suggested that we could meet. He's agreed to it, although nothing has been arranged and we haven't spoken for the past couple of days. As someone who has chased guys for such a long time I'm really not ready to do it again, and he knows this. How should I play this?

[Xylitol]

I think you should hit off with him and date him. Just do it a bit slow, and build it up slowly. See if things work out.