Well, group dates are a great ice breaker. That's how I started dating my current, through Track dates. We kind of became friends through events and eventually a six hour bus ride did us both in. Assuming you don't have six hours to kill on a bus...I'd just go ahead and use the direct approach. I mean if your friendship is that great, you may just be really close friends. Love has come to mean just sexual tension now a days but it can also just mean you care about someone enough to let yourself be vulnerable. I'd say go for it, and if your friendship is strong it will perservere through the awkward stage of a week or so.