Help :( need advice

Okay so here’s my situation… I was seeing this guy for a little over a month. He’s 25, I’m 20. He’s done with college, he works 3 jobs and he’s a rapper, he’s signed to a label and chasing his dream…. At first he kept pursuing me, and I said no due to a friend of mine who had a crush on him…. Anyways… He took me out on a date to dinner and the movies and it went really well. He took me out a couple more times after that and then he came over a couple of times…. Things went well, except he acted distant for awhile and I pointed that out to him and he said we would talk before he left for California. So we did and he toon me out on a date again and we talked and everything was fine. He texted me a couple of times while he was away and then he told me he would call me… And he never did so I pointed that it to him in a playful way and he called me and we were fine. He texted me on the Saturday before he came back and he said that he would see me when he came back and whatever. So I texted him when he came back on Monday saying “I miss you.” He never responded… I waited a couple of days and said “hey, idk if you’re busy or not but I need to talk to you about some stuff when you have the chance.” He told me he was working a double and asked if everything was ok and I said just call/text me when you’re done working. I never heard from him, I caved one night and asked him if he was still interested and he said this to me a day later This is what he said to me “…I love hanging out with you, don’t get me wrong but I just don’t want to lead us on to something serious.. It’s just bad timing.. I gotta be a little selfish and focus on me if that’s makes sense” 
I replied “Thanks for letting me know. I like hanging out with you too and now I realize I need to be a little selfish and focus on me too…have a good weekend.” So it's been 8 days since this conversation wth him...
And tonight he texted me saying 
"Funny with friends talking about girls with pretty eyes and I thought about you" 
He sent me this on Saturday night. How should I respond?
I was thinking...
Oh is that right? Or glad to see you were paying attention :) Or how sweet! Thank you :) Or “Thanks….I bet you did because I do. ;) Heading out the door to _________. (breakfast, lunch, dinner, bowling, etc) Enjoy your _______(morning, afternoon, evening” 
Help!!!