Are you sure that you are 26, this whole scenario, as well as this thread, seems very immature. If you like the girl, ask her out. If you are worried about your buddy call him and let him know that you and this girl have been talking. Don't be a Richard about it but let him know that you are interested as well. Sounds like the girl is using him anyway so you are probably doing him a favor; in fact, it sounds like he is a doormat so maybe he can drive you two around. Why do you feel like you need to meet a girl in the club? You seem to have a hard time with one on one interaction. Try this: Call girl and ask her to meet you either at a lounge or dinner (some guys on this board don't like the dinner thing, I could go either way). Spend the night with her instead of getting drunk at a club. You can still have drinks but you don’t have to worry about 20 other dudes trying to hit on your girl. If she likes you, your chances of getting lucky go up exponentially.
I'm not afraid nor do I have a hard time with one on one interaction. Actually, looking forward to it because I present myself tons better in person than text, phone calls, etc.
I'll ask her out eventually, but like I mentioned previously things this week are pretty busy for me. I'm leaving for Hawaii on Thursday and I work everyday until then (1500-2330) so no real free time to ask her out this week. Only reason, I invited her out last Friday was because I was in the area (again I can't drive) and the club we were at wasn't the best. If she showed, great, if she didn't, no biggie [how do you properly punctuate this sentence? ",", ":", or ";"?]. I would have had fun either way.
Also don't see why I need to let my buddy know and honestly, there's not much to know at this point. We've only met each other twice (my break at work and Friday) and only had 2 real "chat" sessions on Facebook. Not much ground to call "dibs" and even then what does it matter? He's a dude and I'm a dude and our friendship isn't "that" close.
I have no expectations or hopes with this girl. If nothing happens, if we become friends with benefits, or something more doesn't really matter to me. Just going with the flow. She's a cool chick and certainly the type of person I would want a relationship with vs the HI coke dealer, who I knew all I wanted was to bang her, but we'll see.