I've known a girl since she was about 4 or 5 years old and she is now 21 (I'm 25), so it's been quite a while. She was my best friend's cousin and was obviously younger than us so it's not like we were ever good friends or anything. When I was 21 I started dating one of her friends who I broke up with after a year and then saw off and on for the past 3 years. Her friend I had dated has finally moved on and is with another guy, meanwhile, I'm enjoying the single life. Although, I just recently found myself being extremely attracted to this girl I've known forever.

I realized this when she came over to see my roommate (someone she had formerly hooked up with) and basically ended up talking to her the whole time (my roommate barely getting a word in and had no success with her later on, nor has he seen her since). I found her to be witty and, due to her early successes in life, very respectable (not to mention gorgeous).

A few reasons why I don't know how I should go about this are : A - my roommate and long time friend will be jealous and probably hate me because he's very into this girl. B - my ex will definitely feel disrespected and is very likely to talk shit on me and try turning her away. C - knowing me for approximately 17 years might be a cause for her to feel very strange about me asking her to hang out. D - a lot of her friends know me from either just being around or dating my former girlfriend. some of them hate me, some of them love me, so there'd be a lot of controversy over her seeing me among those nuts. And E - she might not be interested in me altogether, therefore, risking all this drama to come out with nothing would suck.

I'm definitely not looking for a serious relationship at this point in my life, but I'm very interested in seeing this girl. Any reassurance or advice will be extremely helpful, even if it means not pursuing. I normally don't have issues with girls and rarely think anything of them as of late, there are just so many complications in this situation that I am at a total loss.