Attempted to Flirt, and May Have Made Things Awkward Within a Group

I (18) recently started my first semester of college. One of my classes fits into my schedule, so that I have an hour break after the class ends. The awkwardness stems from these hour breaks. I use this hour to study or to grab lunch. Since I don’t have many friends on campus, I decided to ask an established friend group (All ages 18) within the class if they would be down to grab lunch. Everything seemed fine until I think I kind of ruined it.

A few weeks passed, we gathered and had lunch a few times, and I developed a crush on a girl (18F) within the group. We had a few conversations, and they all went well, and I felt that we had pretty good chemistry (nothing romantic, but I felt that we seemed to get along quite well compared to others that I’ve spoken to, maybe my crush on her was blinding me) So one morning in passing I nervously stopped her for a minute (this was my first time doing something like this) I asked if she would be down to talk more. She said yes, I told her straight up that I didn’t want to be weird or anything, and that I thought she was pretty. She thanked me, and I told her that I’d message her later. Throughout the day we saw each other in passing and exchanged greetings, I would’ve talked more but we were both on the way to classes in opposite directions. Later that day I messaged her, and she responded in a pretty nice way while also keeping the convo open for me to respond. I responded and I’ve been left on delivered (for about 2 weeks now). Since this we’ve continued to greet each other in passing. I would’ve preferred a straight up rejection, but I understand people are very considerate of the feelings of others, so I’ve come to the conclusion that our feelings are probably not neutral. P.S. the messages were not bad, romantic, or creepy in any way. I asked her something along the lines of, “how are your classes going, and she answered a few hours later and asked me the same thing. I then responded, a few hours later as well since she replied late in the night at (around 3am) and I didn’t see it until I woke up (around 6am). I replied in a way that left the conversation open, but also concluded it just in case she wasn’t interested in responding. Since, she didn’t show interest (not even opening the message). I just let it be, and didn’t confront her, or try to make a move in person, or by double texting because I didn’t want to come off as desperate.

Today, after class, I walked into one of our eating areas on campus, where the group and I usually eat at. I was not invited but I was alone, and didn’t want to seem dismissive of the group, so I greeted them and pulled up a chair. I should have mentioned this earlier, but I never really felt a part of this group, they seemed to already have their own thing going on, so I have the self-awareness that I have been a tag along. I feel like every time I interact with them, I regret it and I try to fix it by interacting with them again whether it be because I didn’t talk enough during lunch, or if I didn’t include everyone in a conversation. I honestly thought they were cool people, and I still do. I think the girl I have a crush on was avoiding socializing with me, but I’m not quite sure since she isn’t always the most talkative when I’m around at least, but at other times she has been. She still responded to things, but I couldn’t tell if it was to just be respectful. I started to regret my decision to sit with them, when I noticed the eye contact her and one of the group members kept making, which was obviously meant to be some sort of inside joke. I did not want to be awkward, and thought by sitting with them at lunch, I’d make things less awkward in passing, which I was wrong about. As we walked to our classes I walked behind them, and as I left and said goodbye, one of the members (18M) said, “I guess” after saying “see you later”. I don’t know if he was continuing the conversation that I interrupted while saying goodbye or if it was a diss. I may be overthinking this, since I thought me and members were on pretty good terms, I was pretty nice and respectful to everyone throughout every interaction we had. This may sound egotistic, but I have tried my best to be as respectful, and kind to everyone, so it’s hard to tell if someone if being the opposite to me, since I don’t really see a good reason for it.

I do believe that I may have come off as too friendly rather than flirty, and that may be the reason she accepted my advance to “talk more” and she may not want to actually wanted to do so romantically. Did I do the wrong thing by attempting to flirt? Should I just stop attempting to socialize with this group (while remaining respectful)? Am I overthinking, or are these things I should be concerned about?

TLDR – I Developed a crush on someone in a friend group (18F) and may have made things awkward between the entire group and me.