Is it normal i want to date my friend but he made an internet gf

I have a male friend and hes always had feelings for me said he's in love with me. We are similar people. I am autistic and my friend is not diagnosed but im pretty sure he is too. I struggle with commitment due to the intimacy and big life changes but I feel I am ready. I am working on myself and I feel positive.
Hes very awkward but sweet and funny. I usually like manly intellectual men but just like my friend is considered naive everyone thinks I am too. The men I have dated are not reliable, just like the women my friend has dated havent been.
We share similar life experiences and have the same interests.

We last met in January 2020 since we live in different cities and the pandemic came... We've met multiple times and i've even met his mom once.
A year ago he entered an internet relationship (never met her, different countries) which in my eyes is make-believe. He said to me about it that it's likely not gonna last since its just long distance but then hes claimed to be in love. I'm not sure if he still has any feelings for me. Sometimes it seems he might... He mentioned her the other day and so I asked about them and he was like "its okay but she busy often" then he said "dont need to talk about her" and changed the topic. What does THAT mean? He doesnt mention her often. He also has not updated his relationship status which says "single".

It's strange how it went because valentines day 2020 he said he wanted to take me on a date in the near future if I have any feelings for him like we'd talked a little about our feelings in the past and I said sure yes, but it came very surprisingly since we had not talked about having feelings for each other in months. Then corona came. May 2020 was the last time he talked romantically to me, he said something pretty awkward and cringy and wrong which caused me to get uncomfortable and so he distanced himself. Then we we talked again in August he was all "yeah I met a girl online a few weeks back :)". Honestly I should've asked about it but at the time I was like whatever and just said i'm happy for him. Too much anxiety and depression at the time to care much.
I guess it's a bit late to say anything now ?