What can i do about this girl?

me and this girl have been texting each other daily for about a month now. ive started to like her and im pretty sure that she has started to like me. but im the "tough guy" in our group of friends and she's the "sensitive and shy girl". so we would never never hear the end of it from our friends if we started dating. on that note our group of friend were supposed to go someplace to eat but i bailed on the last second. then i got a message on my phone from the girl saying that she missed me. i knew she was to shy to have sent it so i played it off. turns out some friends had stolen her phone and texted me. a little later a got a message asking if i liked her from her phone. once again i knew she was too shy to ask that herself, and that our friends had gotten her phone again. so i didnt reply. she said they had stolen it again but said that she did want to know my answer. i was caught at a crossroads here because i didnt know if it was really her, or just our friends being very clever at trying to make me slip up. so i said "i like you more than our friends". thinking that would work in both cases. well about three hours later she replyed "oh... thats understandable" and instantly i knew that was not the answer she was looking for. now shes been alot more stressed around me and doesnt want to hang out as much. i do like her but i dont want to tell her over the phone because thats childish nor can i tell her in person because the only time we hang out now with all of our friends... what do i do?