How do I tell if I like my best friend?

I (16f) have a friend (16f) we’ll call C, I don’t know C irl as she’s a part of my online friend group. First off, our group doesn’t live overly far from one another, we’re all east coast/midwest USA, so this isn’t a crazy long distance discord e-dating situation.

​

For the last 3 months i’ve been trying to figure out if I actually have a crush on C or if it’s just jealousy or fear of being replaced or something, as whenever C tells me about the people she finds attractive at her school I start to feel upset and kinda jealous. I don’t feel that way whenever my other friends (both in the group and irl) tell me about that kinda thing, however I can’t tell whether it’s just normal friend jealousy since I do consider C to be one of my best friends, or if I feel some other way towards her.

​

At some point (most likely in the coming year) our online group is planning to meet up, and to be honest C is one of the most exciting parts of the idea for me. I really wanna hug her and hear her laugh irl and see her irl, C is also a very touch focused person so while talking to her she’ll shake your shoulders, nudge your arm, hold your hand while walking kinda thing (according to friends of hers) which I really like about her. She talks about how lonely she feels and how far someone hugging/cuddling her would go, and when she says that I wish so bad I could do that. I wanna play with her hair and hug her while we watch a movie, I want her to feel safe enough around me to just be herself and say whatever comes to her mind. But I keep second guessing myself thinking maybe I just don’t want her spending a lot of time with someone else or trusting someone else more than me with a secret or something else (as it bothers me when friends do that)

As I said she’s mentioned quite a bit how lonely she feels, however she’s also expressed how she could not do long distance, for very understandable reasons. I do know she had a crush on me last summer (via C telling my best friend and her telling me) however I don’t know if that was because she was lonely over the summer or if she actually liked me. Either way I didn’t like her then, so I guess I missed my shot if I do like her now.

​

C just makes me happy. She joins call and my mood goes up, she’s always there for me and always know exactly what to say to help. She’s really really supportive and so so pretty. She says how she talks about me to her irl friends (since I am one of her best friends in her words) and how if she knew me irl she’d “show me off like a cool rock I found on the ground” and I so so wish I was friends with her irl, or at least lived a bit closer 🙁

​

I’ve been a few relationships before, but they didn’t feel like that. And I don’t know if it’s because I like C as a friend or some other reasons. But I’m hoping if she gets into a relationship soon whatever this is doesn’t get worse

TL;DR I(16f) have a long distance best friend(16f) whom I might have a crush on, but I can’t tell and even if I could idk if she’d like me back