jk lol
Here’s a secret that all women should know about their male friends: most of them have thought about becoming your boyfriend at one point. Now, they may not act on those thoughts, but if the opportunity ever presents itself, you can bet that they won’t turn it down. This is true in at least 99% of cases.
This guy tried to crawl his way out of the friendzone by “joking” about asking the OP out on a date via text. While that’s not too uncommon, claiming that you were merely joking and didn’t want to compromise your friendship is. Dude, just take the L and move on.