Met A Guy Online? Safe? Real?

About 10 months ago, I met a guy online. I'm 15 and I turn 16 at the end of the year. He is 18 but I met him when he was 17. I want to meet him in person. He and I agree that if we do it won't be at my house, it will be in in the middle of the day, it will be in a very public place, I will have at least one friend who is 17 with me, I won't get anywhere near his car, and that it's only so we can be friends. ONLY FRIENDS. We met on chatango and talked for a while. I then we exchanged cell phone numbers so we can txt. We then added each other on Facebook. I looked through all his pictures and facebook stalked a couple of his friends. He seems to be what he says he is. We've talked over the phone. He says he moved to the US from whales about 4 years ago and he has an accent. He wants me to be comfortable meeting him and he's understanding of me keeping my guard up. He says he respects me and has never done anything a girl told him not to do but words are words. I want to know if meeting in person the way I plan to is safe and okay.