Before my now lovely dh and I started going out, we were the best of friends for 2 years. He told me one day he loved me. Not just liked, but loved! He told me he would always love me no matter what I did, forever and he just knew it.
So yeah, I freaked out a bit! And the next day, just carried on with our friendship as if nothing had happened because I had come out of a sour relationship several months before, and another relationship just wasn't on my radar.
Four (yes, four!) Months later, it dawned on me one day when I was changing the wing on an aircraft at work. I was hanging upside down at the time, which may have had something to do with it, but I suddenly realised I couldn't possibly live my life without him. In true 'officer and a gentleman' style, I walked out of my work on the pretense of needing to go to the post office and drove to his work and told him there and then if he'd still have me, I was his. The overalls dripping in grease and unwashed oily hair with a pen stuck in the back only made it more romantic!
I'm not saying this will happen, I'm bot trying to get your hopes up. But think of him in his situation. It probably never occurred to him you liked him before yesterday (?) And he is probably shocked with this bolt out of the blue. Just give him a bit to get used to it.
Everything always works out for the best in the end.