Is it normal that we act that way?

So this will be a bit long sorry..
I am in my first year of college and i met this guy. He's extra nice, very thoughtful, always there for me and he's always complimenting me. we got really close and we'd usually hang out a lot as friends. anyway, i started to fall for him, and with his compliments it got too overwhelming for me to hide it. So, i decided to tell him, and i did but unfortunately he doesn't feel the same. After he knew he kept apologizing that he made me feel this way and he truly cares about me and he knows how rejection feels like because he's been put through a heart breaking situation before. The whole thing ended in laughter actually and we both took it lightly. Now the weird thing is after this happened i expected that we'll kinda drift away and our friendship would be less stronger and i hated it but i knew i'll have to handle it one way or another. Funny thing is we got much closer, I don't text him as i used to but now he's texting me all the time, we got much closer we act like pretty close friends and he's still complimenting me as before, our friendship hasnt been affected at all, better yet it became much more stronger. He never brought it up again, like it never happened. I just think it's weird especially that Its not hurting me or anything but a part of me deep down is still hoping that he might like me back. Also when he knew he asked me to talk to him if i ever feel like i am unable to get over him, that he's there for me :s so what do u guys think? is it normal we're both acting like nothing happened? is there anything to this that i dont know about?