How to ask a girl out?

You practically just described falling into the friend zone and then said things might come out of it. That's exactly what I said =P. Anyways, Harrison is right about one thing, confidence is key. However, confidence doesn't mean being full of yourself, nor does it mean being a prick. There is a fine line, don't cross it, or you just look like another pimento in a sea of assholes.

As for whether other people look at you in a negative light because of this, ignore it. That's the best advice I can give. People will always be judgmental, it's in their nature. To me, if I don't respect someone, their opinion has little to no bearing on me. Once someone earns my respect, their opinion counts.

Friend leads to either close friend or relationship, or stays at friend (casual). What I was trying to say (but probably got muddled up) was that if you don't know the person well, the best way to scope out how they feel about you and vice versa is to spend some time with them. How you spend that time affects whether you go towards close friends or relationship. Just don't stress or rush things and you'll do fine in most cases. If you seem to be getting negative responses, don't push, just quietly back off without making a big deal of it.