Your thinking seems logical in pretense when it comes to the anything but logical hamster it probably did no good. I've had women that I've hooked up with give me the LJBF answer when I reached out to them again and I simply say something to the effect of "ok, but I'm not interested in just friendship with you. If you change your mind let me know" and then I go completely radio silent from there. No more "ping" texts, no more wishing happy birthday, holiday, Friday, or anything else.
If she later on reaches out to me again I don't dither at all and immediately go for setting up some kind of a date or meetup. If she does anything but enthusiastically agrees I cut it short and say "It was nice hearing from you but I need to go x right now, keep in touch" and then back to radio silence. The only attention, validation or support she will ever get from me is my trying to close on a date and then I'm gone.
If she later on reaches out to me again I don't dither at all and immediately go for setting up some kind of a date or meetup. If she does anything but enthusiastically agrees I cut it short and say "It was nice hearing from you but I need to go x right now, keep in touch" and then back to radio silence. The only attention, validation or support she will ever get from me is my trying to close on a date and then I'm gone.