Poor Bubbles! Really, I think that most adults have been where she is at least once. The most horrible part of it is that
there is no automatic correct answer. There is nothing more disturbing to realise that your subconscious hind-brain had come to decisions about your relationships without telling your consciousness first! This must be all the more difficult for Bubbles because, according to Jeph on Twitter yesterday, Bubbles usually tries to be very careful about what she says and the words she uses to say it. To have an ambiguity in the air is probably not something with which she feels comfortable.
Yes, Faye is running away from the conversation and that is an entirely human reaction. This is
especially the case the way the last serious relationship Faye was in crashed and burned. I can well understand her not wanting to even
discuss feelings.
But to me, looks like she thought it through, weighed it against everything she knows about Bubs, and came to the conclusion that a lot of us did. Platonic affection.
That may or may not be what Faye
wants to believe. Panel 4 explicitly states that it isn't what
Bubbles believes.