Don't worry about the friend status! They will still play the role of your admirer, just now they're also your friend so the labels in their profile change accordingly. You can still date them no problem. I'm not sure as to why their storyline isn't triggering for you though but it's definitely not affected by becoming friends. I agreed to being friends with them and wasn't locked out of their storyline. They also recently asked my MC to be exclusive so you don't need to worry about that locking you out of their romance either. It might honestly just be unfortunate rng 😅 I hope their storyline scenes will trigger for you soon!