dating help

so i’m going into my senior year of hs (17) and he’s going into freshman year of college. we’ve been friends for not even a year, but he asked me to prom (canceled bc covid). he’s brought me lunch to school multiple times and i thought it was just friendly. then he started proposing to me in front of some of my classes, which was incredibly awkward. since quarantine, he calls me everyday at 2 and i feel like have to stay on the phone for a few hours each day with him even though i really don’t want to a lot of the time. he’s asked me out before and i tried to divert the topic and asked him to at least experience some college first (bc ppl change w experience yk). now he keeps talking to me about waiting for him and asking when’s the right time to get married. i really wanna break off whatever this is but i don’t wanna hurt his feelings bc he cries easily and also he knows where i live and has walked 3 hours to my house to give me something before. my friend told me to wait until he’s in college (out of state) to break it off and just block him, but tbh i really don’t think i can continue on until then (and i’ll feel bad bc he said he’s going to mail me his hs grad cap to keep despite me saying he should keep it). if i miss his call or take too long to respond to his messages he starts texting asking if i’m sick or apologizing for some random/unrelated thing and i’m just tired. i don’t wanna be mean, i’ve just never thought of him as anything more than i friend but he clearly doesn’t think the same. what do i do?