When you express romantic feelings for someone that aren’t returned it will change the friendship. Some people aren’t comfortable staying friends with someone who views them as more as it can feel awkward.
It can also make women question if they ever had a real friend or if the sole aim was to date or in other cases, just to sleep with them.
I would consider your motivation for getting to know these women. If you go into it wanting to date them from the offset but that isn’t clear, it will be perceived as a friendship.
You can usually tell when you meet someone if it has the potential to develop beyond this as it will feel quite flirty. If you talk a lot, spend time together frequently and you are already best friends it’s harder to distinguish.
If it’s just friendship they might mention other men in-front of you, ask for dating advice or a wingman. There is less physical contact. It won’t feel overly romantic.
I’ve had people tell me they could pick out my fiancé in a room full of men based solely on how I look at him.
I get confused for my best friend’s girlfriend all the time but it’s usually because we are both comfortable around each other. If you look more closely we behave much more like siblings than two people in love.
When I’ve wanted to date people I pay attention to what they are looking for in a partner. Both personality and looks wise. If you know how your friend acts when they like someone and they don’t behave like that around you, it’s likely you’re friends.
I had a long term guy friend accuse me of giving him mixed signals once. Multiple friends in our group came to my defence and said she is not subtle when she’s interested in someone. I had politely rebuffed him for years. He wound up getting really nasty because I didn’t want to date him.
When I was single I tried dating events to put me in a situation where I could meet new people looking for a relationship. Everyone had a profile on the site and if you hit it off with someone you could contact them on there. It built my confidence and helped me get better at talking to people.
Good friendships can develop into relationships but it isn’t a clear cut path. Dating can be a good place to start. Even if you take time getting to know someone you met on an app, you know there is romantic intention.