Hanz, I'm concerned that you've not quite grasped the 'bros before hos' thing here. I think you want to believe it, but I don’t think you actually do believe it.

There's nothing wrong with liking a girl that your friend is into. We can't pick and choose who we like. The crux of the matter emerges when it comes to acting on it.

I’m not convinced at all by this, and actually think it’s a load of rubbish. You chose to flirt with her, for your own benefit. Don't excuse it as representing an opportunity for practice, and don’t abdicate responsibility for your actions. You didn't have to flirt with her. You chose too. Take ownership of that decision, because it was a decision you made.

Later on, your friend says to you ‘You’re a dick for flirting with her’. You respond: ‘I was only practicing’. Is this a reasonable answer? No? Of course it isn’t.

Take responsibility for your actions.

If you value your friendship with this feller, then speak to him about it and tell him what’s happening. He might tell you that he'd rather you backed off her altogether. Then: is it bro's, or is it ho's? And when is a bro a bro? If you value your friendship with this person, then you will respect his wish that you back off, if indeed that's what his wish is.

So, he isn’t a bro? Do you think you have any loyalty to him?

…which was that you have loyalty to your ‘friend’, and wish not to make a move on his woman… But then to continue to flirt with her, and then ask yourself whether it is AFC to believe in ‘bros before hos’? There is more than a dose of uncertainty here in whether you really do stand by the ‘bros before hos’ concept.

Its one or the other – it can’t be both. Which is it? Only you can answer that.

I further think you don’t quite get (or, perhaps, don’t quite believe in) the ‘bros before hos’ thing after having read the following contradiction in your post:

If you don't value your friendship with this person (not all male to male relationships have to be valued, remember), then feel free to act any way you wish. You will have made a decision to accept the consequences in terms of your friendship with this feller, whatever they may turn out to be.

If you do value your friendship with this person, then sit down with him and explain to him how you feel. The value of your friendship comes in telling him that you don’t wish to harm your friendship, and therefore if it is his wish that you back off (and thus no longer flirt with his woman), then you will do.

Worried that this approach might mean you’ve got to back off from a woman you like? That’s the risk you take, and the variable in whether you take it or not depends on how much you value your friendship with your flatmate.

I sense that flirting openly with this girl, in front of him, has already made it pretty clear where you are in relation to the ‘bros before hos’ thing: in this case, the ho is coming first. There’s nothing wrong with that – its your decision. And maybe he isn’t a bro in the first place.

If you do value your friendship with him, however, then you haven’t done a great deal to demonstrate it.

You definitely left me with more questions than answers!