Why does he never text me first?

So, for a couple weeks, I've been texting this guy (we'll call him "Joe") So I have a HUGE crush on Joe... but no one is really aware of it. I ALWAYS have to text him first (Heey, Heey :), Heey!, are the usual ones) but he never, not once, texted me first. He always replies really fast, and it really has a happy face with it. A few times, he's been like "so, Who do you like, anyways?" and I was said "Patty Spin, he makes my heart stop, HAH" (this is gonna sound mean as ever, but Patrick has a learning disability. Don't get me wrong, he's really nice and all, it was just a joke, to cover over the fact that I like "Joe") and he replied with "no seriously, who? Hahah ..." and I told him no body . Then another time, he asked me again, and I said "You, of coursee ! <3;D" and he texted me back "yess, score! <3" so were good with joking around, when were texting eachother. But then another "issue" is that when I hang out with my best friend, and she goes to talk to him, theyre always laughing, and "Joe" says mean stuff, like, racist, but as a joke, cuz he's really a sweetie. But then I go to talk to my best friend, and it feels really awkward for me. He stops talking, and looks a different way, and I have trouble looking at him for more than half of a second, and then have to turn away. I can sometimes make a few little jokes, here and there, laugh at his jokes, and stuff, but its hard. When I pass him in the hall, it takes all my guts to say "Oh, Hey!" And all he does is do this smirk, and jerk his head.. :/ . But once, coming in from lunch, he put his hand on my shoulder, and said "hey kiddo!" But he was like, looking up the stairs... like he's scared to look at me, like I am to him. But he told me his parents were fighting, and all this stuff, so Idt he's afraid to tell me stuff. OH! And "Joe" is kinda popular at our school, so its not a social thing. And its not like I'm a loser at my school, either. I asked him who he liked, and he said "Nobody." We are both 13 in G7