How do you suttly take the relationship to the next level?

If you want to move the relationship forward, you are going to need a good foundation as a friend. The long way is to just be there, the more he trusts you, the more he will be around you and the more physical it will get because physical boundries will be broken.

The quicker way physically would be to start touching him casually - gently guide his arm while you are walking, remove hairs from his clothes like that. But be careful for body language, if he stiffens up or starts moving away, it says you are pushing him too far. Hopefully though, he will reciprocate. When you are comfortable, hold hands, and after holding hands stroke his arm or lean into him to have his arm around you. From there things progress naturally with comfort level of both parties.

The quicker way to move it forward overall is to become friends with his friends. If they are comfortable with you, you are no longer a time competition andhe can be with you more in a shorter period. Also, just a laid back date, say a movie whereyou don't spend all your time smooching but you spend your time with a game of truth or dare or just firing questions back and forth will really open you guys up. When you guys are both open, you will both know what you want in the relationship, know what each other want from life, and the closer you are, the more forward it goes.