Is it normal procedure for me to go ahead and confess my feelings...

...or would that be the wrong thing to do?

Here's the facts:
- I am a girl
- I like my friend
- My friend is a girl
- I have liked her for a long time
- She's a real triple threat :P Hot, smart, AND funny.

I've liked her for almost three years now ($:) and it went something like this:
First half of year one - I liked her, but I didn't know it. I hadn't realized I was bisexual yet.
Second half of year one - She kind of ignored me in school, so I stopped liking her. Kind of.
First half of year two - We start becoming friends again, feelings flooding back, and I realize that I like her, and it's not the first time.
Second half of year two - We are getting to be fairly good friends, we talk all the time on MSN, though not so much in person.
First half of year three - I really, really, REALLY like her. Dx We are closer now, and we still talk a lot online. We talk a lot more in person than before.

She seems like she's the sort of person who neglects her friends a bit :\ I'm not being cocky, we really do have the potential to be really great friends if she would let us. We get along really well, and we are pretty chill with each other. I flirt with her a bit, but I'm a naturally flirty person, so I don't know if she takes it as 'I think she's coming on to me' or 'Oh, that girl, she always sounds so flirty!'

I try to not get my hopes up when I like someone, but sometimes I can't help it. I'll describe the pros and cons towards her liking/not liking me. She often acts flirty towards me, especially lately as we've been able to spend more time together in person. She says slightly sexual things sometimes, sometimes she randomly strokes my face (That sounds creepy, but I can't describe it in a better way), SOMETIMES she'll come sit with me in class, and she's always complimenting my eyes ("Your eyes are so BLUE, I could just stare into them forever..") But at the same time, she often "ignores" me in school (as in, she focusses entirely on her more important friends), and when I try to be friendly with her she often pushes me away (Not literally).

I really cannot tell if she's into me or not, and I don't know how to proceed. I'm not openly bisexual, and she doesn't know. Though sometimes I think she might have suspicions that I like her, I'm really not a subtle person...

Sometimes I just want to tell her flat out how I feel, but I'm really worried about the consequences. I don't want to lose her as a friend, I feel like I've worked so hard to gain her friendship and I really appreciate having her just as a friend.

She seems like a pretty open person, I know she doesn't have a problem with gays/bisexuals etc, and she can be flirty with girls so obviously that doesn't bother her very much. But it's just the fact that maybe she wouldn't feel comfortable hanging out with me because she knew I liked HER rather than just liking girls in general as well.

I feel like I've said way more than was needed xD
So, thoughts?