I (18F) am confused about whether my close friend (18M) has a crush on me too

Hi Reddit, I’m really confused and honestly I need non-biased opinions on this. This might be a little long and I apologize, but I want to give you all the full picture.

So I, 18F, have a male friend, 18M, let’s call him J. We met two years ago in high school in grade 11 when we had classes together, and we became friends, but we only really grew close since April this year. Fast forward to today, we’re still super close and he knows me better than anyone else. We both started our first year of university in September this year, and we go to different universities separated by 2h distance (I stayed in our hometown, he went away) but we still text every day. I’ve always had a little bit of a crush on him from the first time two years ago, but I’ve always known I would never act on it because I value our friendship too much and I would never want to make him uncomfortable if he doesn’t feel the same way.

I’ve always wondered if maybe he felt the same way about me, but the thing is, J is naturally a pretty teasing and smiley person, so I often question if I’m really misreading the situation. But the past few months I really started noticing things that made me question his feelings.

It started a few months when I realized that J would pick up on my feelings if I’m feeling upset/frustrated when no one else would notice. I’m pretty good at hiding my feelings from others and I’m also pretty quiet, but J sees right through everything and pays close attention, so he’s able to see me on a much deeper level compared to other people. He would notice physical things about me too, like if I wore my hair differently or got a new shirt.

Another time in May, I did my hair nicely and I also got my lashes done for the first time, and in class, J noticed, and I could tell because he had been staring at me the whole class. At some point, he begged my friend to switch spots with him (she used to sit between us) so that he could sit beside me instead of her. While it’s true that sometimes we sat next to each other, be had never actually BEGGED to sit next to me before. Eventually my friend gave in and the whole class J was cracking jokes and scooting closer to me and distracting me from my work. He also told me I looked different that day but he wouldn’t elaborate when I asked him.

And then in June, at the prom after party, I tried a blunt for the first time that he offered me and he stayed with me the whole night because I was kinda freaking out but he was able to calm me and even walked me out to my mom’s car when I told him I was gonna go home.

In the summer we never hung out, in October I asked him if he wanted to come to a concert with me for an artist we both really liked, and he said yes ofc and that he has never been to a concert before. But we didn’t go because of timing issues on my part.

He was also back in our hometown for Halloween and invited me to his house along with some of his other close friends, but because I had other plans already, I had to decline. Now, I haven’t seen him since early July, but he comes back to our hometown next week for reading week at his university, and he said we need to hang out and I said yes absolutely.

However, the biggest thing that makes me skeptical on if he likes me is because of the relationship he has with another one of his close female friends, let’s call her R. R and J are closer than him and I, and he treats her basically the same way he treats me, and I know for a fact he doesn’t like her because she is dating his friend. They also hang out a lot more than him and I. Another thing is that he has never told me he likes me romantically, so he might not like me at all.

I’m honestly just confused on if he likes me or not and I want to know your opinions if I could be misreading this or not, especially before I see him next week. Based on his behaviour, how would you interpret his feelings towards me? Thank you!

TL;DR: my (18F) close friend (18M) and I have been friends for two years and although we go to different universities now, we still text every day. He notices small things about me and is very caring at times but he treats his other female friend the same way and has never explicitly told me he likes me. I’m confused on if he reciprocates my romantic feelings or not.