Did I fumble?

So, this summer I (24M) matched with a girl. We shared a hobby that was very important to us both and quickly hit it off on that. On the app and soon over text, she showed so much interest in me, easily the most I’ve ever gotten from someone else, and I reciprocated best as I could. We went on a date soon and afterwards she said she didn’t feel a romantic connection but was still open to being friends because of our hobby. Obviously I was bummed because I was definitely into her, but it is what it is. I said I was open to being friends too just to not burn a bridge, but inside I didn’t expect to hear from her again.

But that same day or really soon after, she texted again to ask me something about our hobby and we quickly got into another one of our electric-feeling text conversations where it was back and forth with detailed, thoughtful responses to everything we said to one another. It felt like she was even more interested in me than before the date because she found a blog where I post stuff about that hobby and she read through most of my posts, sending me screenshots and highlighting things she really liked. I knew she wasn’t romantically interested though and I of course didn’t want to push a boundary she’d established, so I just went along with it.

We texted on and off for some time. We matched and went on that one date in June and texted through August or September. I haven’t heard anything from her since then, and the drop-off was a little abrupt considering there was something hobby-related we were in the thick of discussing, if that makes sense. I know she’s fine as she’s been active on socials where we added each other. Eventually I noticed she deleted her Hinge and now has a boyfriend (per her socials). I mean, good for her and I hope it goes well, but the way she suddenly dropped off before this has made me kind of rethink that timeframe where we were still texting frequently after I was in the friend zone.

I discussed this with my friend and his take is that after she initially said she wasn’t romantically interested in me, she eventually changed her mind for some reason and was willing to give it another chance but might’ve been afraid to say so directly, hence her conversations after the date still showing lots and lots of interest in me. He says she was waiting for me to ask her out again. But because I did not broach the topic of dating her at all after that, she got bored and once she found someone else, she “didn’t need” to talk to me anymore. I don’t like that take because like I said, she put up a clear boundary and I didn’t want to test it. If she changed her mind about dating me, it should have been on her to communicate that.

I’m not hung up on her particularly anymore. I’m just not an experienced dater at all so I’m horrible at picking up on the little things about it. I’m curious if I did the right thing in not pushing her romantically any further beyond the first date, because if it was a mistake I don’t want to make it again in the future.