Can I date someone who is 17 if I am 18?

Anonymous
For more context, we knew each their when we were little because I used to be best friends with his sister who is my age from birth to about the age of 10. We went to different schools and after our families grew apart I didn’t see either of them until high school. I hadn’t talked to either of them at all, but had recognized that we now go to the same school. Anyways, now I am a senior and just turned 18 this summer. He is a junior and is 17. We have a class together and I made a joke about how we used to be close family friends. He told me he remembered me we kind of reconnected. (I had tried to reconnect with his sister my sophomore year but she has turned into a very judgmental egotistical person and it not someone I want to associate with.) Anyways, we talk all the time and are friends. We have a lot in common like music and tv shows and we both like to read. He is attractive, i can’t deny it, but I wasn’t ever going to go for him because something feels wrong about it. Anyways at one of our high school dances we got to talking and he pulled me outside to this like seating area where we could talk more one and one. We just continue to have similar philosophies for life and similar dreams. We both like English and want to write and do things that are creative. That night he kissed me which I was not expecting at all and confessed that he had a crush on me. A few weeks later he asked me out with like roses which he knows I love and a handmade card because I’m a sentimental gal. I’m just so confused. Do I say yes because I have genuine feelings for him too? Part of me feels like I’m taking advantage of him but I don’t know why because logically I’m not. I feel guilt for having feelings for him but I do. I just turned 18 and he is going to be 17 until he is a senior is high school and Im in college. Is what I’m doing wrong? Should I end our friendship and ghost him?
Can I date someone who is 17 if I am 18?
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