Do I Like My Best Friend?

Hello people! I've been wondering for a while if my best friend likes me. Our friendship started when we were 15 (now we are 18) at school. At the beginning of our friendship I liked him, later I realized that we can be nothing more than friends. I managed to swallow my feelings. I caught a boyfriend with whom we stopped contact for about a year. When we started writing and seeing each other again, I felt a different attitude on his part. He had said that I had become more beautiful and more fun. My mutual friend and I often went out. On my birthday, I invited them and a few other friends. Then I also felt a change in his attitude, he constantly hugged me and was happy. One week after my birthday, he told me that his exact words were "I liked you a week ago" (which we all know, that you can not like someone for a specific time and suddenly stop) I told him well why only now you tell me if you could not then, nothing answered me changed the subject and began to drool. Some time has passed since then, summer has come we started working and we didn't have that much time to write and go out. I found a friend again. When he found out, he started looking for me again, asking me questions in a serious voice, "Are you happy," "Why are you with him," and so on? People, I'm very confused by this whole story, as if we were disagreeing. Now that we go out, he will always find that he grabs my hand while he speaks and then lets it go like a scald, hugs me and cares much more for me than in previous years. Please give me some advice whether it is friendly or something more. I can think of an expression right now,