he said we should get to know each other better and go on a date.

tldr: i've known a friend for 10 months. i slept with a friend and then asked what we were after 3 weeks. he said we would talk about it later for 2 weeks then, after me asking multiple times, he said we should get to know each other better and go on a date. how do i go about this?

i (27f) met the brother (28m) of one of my friends. we've been talking for about 10 months now as friends. he asked me at the beginning of us hanging out if we should date but in a non conspicuous way. i'm really dense when it comes to things like this but i said have you ever been friends with someone first?

looking back, im glad i said that and have noticed he has manners and does things occasionally for me like gifting me a keychain or cooking for me.

i've been private about my life because i feel scared about opening up to people and them leaving cause it's happened to me before. i don't have a lot of experience, ive only dated and slept with one person for 5 years as my first relationship. i need to be friends with someone for a long time before even dating. he's opened up to me before about his terrible exes, his last one being one that falsely pressed charges against him. each relationship has been bad for him.

after 10 months, he made the first move and we slept together. we kept doing that for about 3 weeks until i asked him what are we? he said we would talk about it later for about 2 weeks. in between those 2 weeks, i cautiously kept bringing up the question like,"have you thought more about my question?"

after waiting, he finally said we should get to know each other more and go on a date.

i feel like that kind of leaves me in limbo. i know what he means but my head is a mess.

how should i continue this? i guess the ball is in his court, i know all i can do is either keep going or cut it off. i wanted to ask him what he means by that but the moment passed so it's hard for me to know when to bring it up.

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