My friend (20F) wants to be friends with me (21M) but I'm not sure how much longer I can go

I know it's kinda dumb thing to ask, but I could use a little advice, because I'm kinda at the end of my rope.

So the backstory is. Me and my friend started out in the same program in community college. I started to crush on her a bit, but she starting dating someone so I backed off. She ended up breaking up with him, and I started falling for her again. I asked her out a couple months after, but she said she wanted to be friends and I chalked it up to her still being hurt about the breakup. We ended up transferring to the same 4 year school with the same class schedule and I was getting close to asking her out (we had gone out to do other things before, but I never officially asked her). Then I found out a couple weeks ago she started dating someone she knew from high school. I told her how I felt, and she said she wanted to be friends still, but she said she was afraid that if we did start dating if something ended up happening, we wouldn't end up being friends at all.

While that's a weird reason I felt the same way about it, which is part of the reason why I never did anything. Now we're trying to be friends, but it feels like the more I try the worse I feel, i dont want to stop being her friend, but idk

Again any help would be appreciated