Should I ask her to be my girlfriend, or wait because of our age gap?

I’m 19 and a freshman in college, and the girl I’ve been talking to is 17 and a junior in high school. I know it’s only a two-year age difference, but we’re at different stages of life, and I’m worried that people might think the age gap is weird or inappropriate.

We’ve been talking since the end of July, so it’s been almost two months. We originally knew each other through softball, and since we started talking, we’ve hung out one-on-one a lot. We normally get food, watch movies, drive around, or just talk, and our hangouts usually last a few hours.

We both know we like each other. She has told me that she wants me, but she’s also said she’s nervous to make a move because she’s never been in a situation like this and doesn’t want to make me uncomfortable. We haven’t kissed or even held hands yet, but I think that’s mainly because we’re both nervous and waiting for the other person to make the first move.

She can sometimes be difficult for me to read, but she’s also really thoughtful and makes it clear that I’m important to her. For my birthday, she sent me a really meaningful message about how glad she is that I came into her life and how she’ll always be there for me.

I really like her and have been thinking about asking her to be my girlfriend with flowers and a sign. Would it be okay to ask her now, or should I wait longer because she’s still 17 and in high school? Should I make a smaller move first and see how she responds, or have a conversation with her about the age difference and what we both want?