please help me decide what he means

so i met this guys at a new years party. im 17(F) and he is 20(M). hes made it obvious that he thinks itd be weird if we were anything too close because of my age. however, i am fairly mature for my age and weve been clicking so well. at the party, it was apparent to me that he was interested, though this is before he knew my age. he's definitely being a little friendly and sweet and i dont know what to think. i, personally, am not worried about the age gap, as i am turning 18 in febuary and its really only 2ish-3 years and i am very emotionally mature for my age, though i do appreciate and highly respect him for that. i guess my question is what do you all interpret from these texts, knowing just a fraction of the background 😅?? we had a blast and he came over a bit after 7, we hung out chatting listening to music until around 11 and we went to waffle house then he dropped me back home. so basically from 7:20pm-11:45pm. what should i do? what if i am developing a bit of a crush?