Basically dating

Urim

I have or should I say had this one really nice guy friend that I would always hang around. We would walk to every class together and spend most of our lunch and breaks together but we weren’t dating though most people thought we were, we were just friends. Or at least that’s what we said. I really like this guy and I never got a chance to tell him before he left. Now he still does text me every now and then but I don’t wanna just straight forward text him and asks if he ever had feelings for me. I feel like that might ruin everything he had. If he was any other guy I would ask but the thing is he’s different in a way that I can’t even explain. Help? Anyone?