Struggling to figure out whether a close childhood friend (old crush) has a crush on me
My guy friend (M17) and I (F17) have been friends since middle school (currently in high school), known each other for longer, and we've always been just friends. Our parents are in very similar social circles, so I see him outside of school pretty often as well.
For background info, I will admit that I had a crush on him near the beginning of our friendship (9th grade-ish), but I never said anything. In fact, we became much closer friends after I got over my crush.
Recently, I've had a good number of completely unrelated mutual acquaintances and friends tell me that he's into me, that he treats me differently, etc. I've always insisted that he doesn't see me like that, but when people say these things, you can't help but question it. What confuses me even more is that our closest mutual friend (my best friend) has said that she hasn't seen anything. For context, she's also very aro/ace, and generally doesn't really get the romance stuff that I talk to her about, which could be a factor in reliability??
He's the stereotypical "kid in the back of the classroom:" quiet, whip-smart, but once you get to know him, a complete goofball and dumbass. I have noticed crush-esque behaviors: he remembers little details that I dropped into conversation weeks ago, we have inside jokes, he constantly teases me, he reads my mood (notices that when I'm down, I become quiet, and makes an effort to make me laugh), consistently asks me how my day's been, and makes an effort to have meaningful conversations about our interests. What gets me is that these are all the markers of a good friend, not necessarily someone who's crushing. I have noticed that in the past, whenever I brought up another guy into convo, he would get quiet and become disinterested besides for asking me if I was okay. Again, don't know what that means, could just be a friend thing??
Idk why it's been bothering me so much, but I would appreciate any outside perspectives rather than getting in my head about it. My friend is also betting that he's gonna confess in the next year (she claims supernatural romantic instincts), so an "I-told-you-so" is at stake here (not really lol).
TLDR: Childhood friends with a introverted guy that I used to have a crush on, general public consensus is that he has (or is developing) feelings, and very confused.