Super confused :/

I’ve been texting this guy for a while now, we are really good friends and we are super close. Lately I’ve kinda started to like him but I don’t know if he likes me back. One day he will flirt with me and the next day he acts like nothing ever happened...he says things like I look good today or that he likes my makeup. Then, a couple weeks ago. He says “maybe I’ve always liked you” I asked him about it the next day and he blamed it on getting hit in the head at baseball (he went to the doctor, he said he’s okay) and he couldn’t remember saying that. I’m still super confused as to if he likes me or not...can someone explain? 😫