What's He Thinking?

I posted here before...but now my relationship has gotten a bit deeper with him.

I think I'm just a close friend to him--but I'm not sure. Can someone spell it out for me?

He asks me advice on what clothes would look good on him, he likes it when I tell him he's attractive, and if I'm down he'll listen. However, he never IMs me...told me two months ago that he was bothered that his ex was with someone somewhere (but told me recently he would sleep with her, never want to be with her again), but, whenever I message him (which is nearly everyday) he answers me right away, and we usually have a very attentive back and forth going on until he has to go, or I, or we both have to go because we've talked for seven hours straight and it's the morning.

Recently, near end of school, I didn't speak to him for a week. It was a weird change but I needed...the space. I felt I was bothering him a lot, too. But then I imed him again when finals were over, and we spoke, and he kept talking about how much he already missed 'here' because he was leaving out of town...and had, months before, joked and said I wouldn't miss him once he left for summer. I said I would then, but made sure I did not say it now that his leave was so close. Before he left, though, we went out to the movies alone together--yet BEFORE that...all of a sudden our conversations steered toward sex (our sexual fantasies, etc). Now--back to the movies. We've never hung out 1 on 1, and it was sort of an 'indirect' deal--he didn't ask me to go but said he 'would go alone if he had to' and i volunteered to go...so we went, and it was nice, comfortable, relaxed. He was going to pay for me, too--but I refused. I did notice that...we were more touchy with each other (or at least, I was able to allow my arm to brush against his subtly, things of that nature) because in class, everytime he 'accidentally' bumped me, he would freak out, retreat, and say sorry automatically.

And though he kept talking about going away, he said I would still be able to talk to him while he was out of town. When he left (he's still out of town), we've been talking more openly about sex...he sometimes 'flirts' with me by saying indirectly that I've a nice ass, or comments on how my form is suitable to 'handle' well in bed... And then he'd talk about something completely different, like how cute his pets are back home. Yesterday, though, when I asked him about the girls he wanted to sleep with, he told me they were all unsuit

unsuitable* , but he might still go for some. And then, I added that there was this 'hot' guy I couldn't get over. Immediately he asked where I met him, only later to tell me that, when I said I'd go for him if the guy wanted to sleep with me, 'you wouldn't'--and that I had a good attitude...basically, he complimented me and told me that he found it interesting I would hold back--that I would be 'reasonable'--because a lot of people weren't that way...used the term darling with me, told me to keep that up, and then left.

I'm unsure of what he thinks of me...does he see me as just a close friend? Or what?