As-salamu alaykum - feeling unsure about having lunch with a non-mahram classmate

As-salamu alaykum, I hope you are well. I’m an 18F Muslim student and I’m a bit confused about a situation with a male classmate. We have one class together on Fridays during the first semester and that was the only time we saw each other each week. We met there and since then we’ve worked together on assignments, helped each other, and got good grades. He’s always been respectful and his presence hasn’t led me to do anything wrong, alhamdulillah. During that first semester all our interactions stayed in class. After the class we each went home separately. But later there were three Fridays where we had makeup classes and those days we had long gaps from morning until evening, so we had to stay on campus and eat lunch there. After class we were talking and before I knew it we walked to the cafeteria together and ate, just the two of us sitting face to face. Normally he sits with other friends (guys and girls), but on those days when it was only us in class he chose to sit with me - maybe his friends weren’t around, I didn’t ask. I didn’t feel unsafe and we were in a public place, not somewhere private. Still I felt a bit uncomfortable, not because he did anything wrong but because I was raised to keep some distance from non-mahram men. Being alone and face to face with a man feels exposing in a way I can’t fully explain - I hope other Muslim women will understand. I also noticed he doesn’t eat pork; I didn’t ask about his religion because I prefer to mind my own business, but it made me feel like we might share some values. Now the second semester timetable changed and we have more classes on those days, so we’ll be on campus from morning until late afternoon (around 6pm). I’m already anxious even before the semester starts. I keep worrying: will we end up staying together between classes all the time? Will we form a habit of eating together? Most of all, will people misunderstand our relationship? The thought of being regularly that close to a man stresses me out, even though he’s never done anything wrong - I’m not accusing him of anything. I’m also not confrontational, especially with men, so I don’t know how to address this. I don’t want extreme answers like “cut him off completely” - that’s not practical in real life. I’m looking for realistic, practical advice, like polite excuses or ways to keep appropriate boundaries without making a scene. JazakAllahu khair for any help 💗 P.S. I thought about telling my mum (or cousins), but I don’t want her to overreact and think I’m being ‘influenced’ or getting into something, especially since she didn’t have much higher education. On Mondays I don’t see him directly because there are many people around and that class isn’t a practical/lab class like Friday.