Naomi

...without making it sound like I'm flirting. I'm kind of paranoid about that.

Well, IMO the only time those sound like flirting is when ppl start saying things like "Wow babe someone needs to take you out to dinner ;)"

Duly noted. The first time I had a crush on a girl, I didn't say anything but she apparently read me like a book and figured it out.

Having a crush on someone and them figuring it out, vs casually complimenting people and worrying that it'd be taken wrong... Big difference

That's true. And that might not even be what started it. It was just the closest thing I could think of.

Ahhhh... Understandable. I had similar incidents in middle school, but was not let down easily.. Much heartbreak. Poor little namoi.

Now I'm a mess if I like someone, but everyone else is like a platonic blob to me

I pretty much have no face-to-face social skills, period. I'm told I can carry on conversations just fine, but I have no social confidence.