GIANT BOY PROBLEM!!!! Help?

So I am 15 and about to be a sopre in high school and my friend Ben is going to be a junior. I really like him and I think he knows but I'm not sure. Our mutual friend Alexis was texting him one night and she told me she asked him if he liked me. He told her no. But then!, He told her I was pretty. I'm so confused. He sits by me every day at lunch and sometimes walks me halfway to cl in the mornings. Apparently he has told Alexis multiple times he is just my friend but once again, he told her I was pretty. Oh yeah, also, one day we had a band banquet and I was wearing heels and a dress and he told me I should be a modle for the way I walked in heels. I said, "Pssh, I'm so not pretty enough for that. " and he replies, "Uggh, whatever Emily." So does he like me or not? Also, if he does like me, how should I go about letting him know the feeling is mutual?