When someone who likes you says something hard, they spent their comfort to say it. Listen.

Most people choose silence because silence is free. Saying the awkward thing risks the friendship, the mood, and the chance you take it badly, so when someone who cares about you says it anyway, they have paid something to get it to you. Strangers rarely bother, and that cost is the signal worth noticing.

Hear it all the way through before you respond, even if your face is hot. Say thank you, then take a day. If you decide later they were off, you can say so, and they will still be someone who tells you the truth.