They can, it really depends. Asexuals can get nervous around crushes or just people they find attractive. It just depends on the person, asexual is a veeery broad spectrum and it's you who gets to chose if that label identifies you, nobody else has to validate if the term suits you.
I worry that paying attention/compliment to someone being aesthetically good looking will be taken as a sxual interest when it isn’t. I’m as sxually interested in them as I am a cute cat or a pretty flower, which I also smile at seeing.
So I’m a bit more hesitant to smile at the pretty human than I am smiling at the pretty kitty or pretty flower.