<human>: Well, I (20F) have a pretty good (20M) friend I've hung out a lot with since beginning of high school; we became friends due to mutual interests (geeky shit) and he is also a family friend of one of my closest friends (seriously, they might as well be related). We go to the same college currently, and despite being in different departments still hang out. He's a great person: funny, nice, helpful, incredibly smart, etc.

At first I just saw him as a fun person/friend to be around, and totally did not acknowledge him as a potential, uh, "guy-that-a-girl-would-be-interested-in". Like, among us friends we unanimously agreed he was the Forever Alone type. And we did joke around with him a lot.

But I kinda started liking him a little more than the rest of the group, but wrote it off/kinda tried to ignore it because I figured it was nothing big and I was honestly a little shocked at myself for liking him, the Forever Alone geek (okay maybe seriously shocked, I mean, "*how could I possibly like him* he's like [close friend]'s family member wtf self"). I then noticed (later) that he was kinda liking me a little more... I got worried/scared and started being harsher in my jokes and tried to distance myself from him. (and dear heavens, I feel *terrible* for that--he didn't deserve that.)

I'm scared that I like him, and a little part of me is worried that if we were to have a relationship I would end up ruining him. He's super nice and hardworking, and I'm kind of a terrible person who says a lot of mean things and isn't very compassionate or nice in general. And I know people hate this excuse, but I seriously value him as a great friend and would hate to lose him if the relationship went sour. Unfortunately, I think we're starting to like each other a little more lately, and we both might have noticed the changes in each other's behaviors?

Summarize the given text in a few sentences.
<bot>: I like my friend, but am being a scumbag friend-zoner because I am scared and I might ruin him as a person. Help?