Disclaimer: All character references belongs to the wonderful JK Rowling.
Falling in love with him was like walking down a flight of stairs. It was slow and you felt like you were in control of your movements, that you could stop at the 8th stair or the 10th stair or even the second to last one before turning around and running right back up. Because you might be delving deeper and deeper into his being but when you find something you like you can run six steps ahead at your own pace and when you find something you don't you can take a step back. It's all very controlled, slow, with no reason to panic because you are taking thigs one step at a time.
And then one day, he's sitting with his friends under that stupid beech tree like he always does and you are sitting with yours just like it always should be when he turns and catches your eye and smiles in a delighted way and calls you over.
And then you miss a step.
It's only one step. You're not sure what number it is at this point or how far deep into his being you are but dear God you have missed a step and you are falling and there is that split second of the tumbling sensation coupled with sheer panic because dear God what if it never ends? What if you go tumbling to the bottom and miss all the steps, glaze over them all and end up straight at the bottom and break your elbow or your foot or most likely, your heart?
You close your eyes tightly and tense every muscle in your body to the fullest extent to brace yourself for the hard landing, but it never comes. Curiously, your eyes open to find that you have caught yourself, that God bless your upper body strength because your arms have held onto the banister and kept you from falling into untimely heartbreak with a boy you were not ready to fall in love with yet. Shakily, you get to your feet, your grip never quite loosening on the banister and with the realization that it is comically easy to fall in love, you observe the step you have landed on and decide to descend one more stair.
And then he calls your name again, waving his arms like a lunatic, that smile still perched on his face, and you are prepared for it this time, that damn smile.
"Go out with me, Evans?"
And with a startling stop you realize that you've began to run at break-neck speed down the stairs, a speed that will surely incline you to fall or miss another step, but you find, as you walk towards him and his friends and that damn smile, that stairs are not nearly as important as you made them out to be. And so, when the stairs finally end, you'll meet an abyss, and you'll jump in without any hesitation.
"In your dreams, Potter."
So he can wait a little longer for you to jump, after all he's put you through.