I've been told I'm emotionally intelligent, but I've been wondering if that's connected to my autism, and maybe that's why it's putting off some people?

I've been told I'm a good communicator, and are very emotionally intelligent for my age (F16) by people I used to be friends with and adults alike. But usually when I make friends, it goes (for simplicitys sake) one of 3 ways; I'm able to communicate and they reciprocate the energy and we stay friends, I'm able to maintain the friendship till--to quote one of my priorly long lived friendships--"we're not a bad match for friends, I just genuinely lack the communication skills", or I let the friendship sizzle out because I don't morally stand for something they did or said.

I took the Embrace autism RAADS-R assessment with my old therapist, as well as their masking test, and got 1 point under the mean amount for autism RAADS-R assessment (my therapist suggested it's most likely because I'm high masking), and I can't remember the exact amount but I definitely got a score in the autistic range for the masking assement. If I had to place myself on a level from one to three, I think I'm level one, but I honestly am new to this and don't know alot beyond surface level things.

I tend to aim for 2-3 close friends, (and have 2 right now) but struggle to maintain friend-friends without getting overwhelmed by pleasantries and feeling like I have to conform for all of them. I've been in multiple friend groups, and even was very active on social media and had a good bunch of mutuals and 'friends', but deleted it in one night cause I was just so fed up with the performance of it all.

That aside, I've been struggling to make friends recently since I graduated high-school early last spring (aswell as me no longer having instagram and tiktok to socialize), and are thinking maybe I need to be more lienent with my standards/boundaries? I'm a very sensitive person and take alot of things to heart, but are willing to communicate my issues to not be misunderstood, or missunderstand something, especially since I sometimes have trouble grasping social cue's and norms. I'll try my hardest if I think my attemps will be heard and accounted for, but I don't know if it's me, my age range, my social circles, or my autism, but something is making me exhausted with feeling like I have to over-extend myself and get bare minimum back.

I want to be able to make small talk without being anxious that they'll think something is off about me, and I want to be able to maintain friendships without taking everything so personally. I want to be able to be good enough with making friends that I'll maybe entertain the idea that I deserve something beyond platonic love, and I most of all just want to feel comfortable in the way I express myself.

My point is, I wanted to post this here cause I wanted to know if I'll ever grow out of feeling like this, or if anyone has advice to make something, anything, easier when it comes to being social as an autistic teen girl. Also because I like this boy, and I'm pretty sure he likes me, but I'm scared to do anything cause I can't even keep friends.