My young lady, please allow me to correct you You are not "in love with" the boy; you are "attracted to" him. To say that you love him means that you have an open communication channel and that you actually got to know him up-close and personal. If you are that close to him and you feel shy, then he is not sending you welcoming signals, and that means that he is not into you. My advice in this scenario is: move on. But if you do not talk and you are attracted to him, then you can start by showing genuine interest in him - there is no rule against that. Forget about nailing him down and think of him as a person worthy of your interest; share his interests, hobbies, and activities. It is always easy to talk about general stuff; for example, if he is into tennis then you might want to get to know more about the sport, try it out yourself, and strike a conversation about it. If he reads, then books would be a good topic. If he travels, then cultural differences are a good start. The key word here is: genuine interest... get to know him as a person then decide of your attraction is mental, emotional, physical, or all the above.