I [18F] can’t figure out how to get over my feelings for my best friend [18F], despite living across the world

Me and my one of my best friends met about four years ago towards the beginning of high school. We became friends kind of slowly, but we shared an extracurricular that had us spending a lot of time together, and then we did a month long project that was mostly just the two of us, and by the time we finished we were firmly best friends.

About a year and a half after meeting her, I realized I had serious feelings for her. However, she had a partner at the time (and I was kind of scared of confessing anything because I was so unsure) so I kept it on the back burner and just talked about her a lot to my other best friend (who believed she would be interested but supported my decision to keep quiet).

Fast forward a bit, and it’s our senior year of high school, and she no longer has a partner. However, she is on a six month ‘no dating’ ban, self inflicted, as none of her past relationships had been particularly good. Obviously I supported her, but somewhere in this period of time, something in me decided that this was it, and I should say something.

Over a video call, I tell her that I liked her (I accidentally did it in a way that implied past tense, which is definitely my bad) and she responds that she had liked me too (also implying the past). We immediately move on, and nothing comes from the conversation except jokes about a love triangle that would take too long to flesh out. But the only way it gets mentioned is in brief jokes every so often.

Flash forward again, and I start my first year of college earlier this year at a school that is literally across the world from where she is going to college in our home town. A few months in, I have an abrupt realization that I have not moved on from her. My thoughts keep circling back to her, we text fairly frequently because we are still close friends, and I keep having to skip certain love songs on my playlist because they remind me of her. Its bad.

Right now it’s spring, and things haven’t improved. I think about her just as often with the same sappy thoughts. But she likes a guy, and I (of course) support her pursuing someone that she likes, so I figure it’s time to finally move on.

How do I do it? I really want to keep her as a friend, because she’s a fantastic friend beyond being someone that I like, and I’ve given it about 7,000 km (x miles) of space. I have a good amount of friends at school, interests and hobbies, and I keep in contact with other people from home as well. What do I do to move on?

Tldr; I [18F] can’t move on from my crush on my best friend [18F], despite moving across the world for college. How do I?