Dear Bitter Guy -- Relationship advice for singles and not-so-singles

Dear Mr Bitter Guy, I need dating advice ...

This seems kind of tough to explain in a condense way. There's a guy and we've been talking for almost a year now. We've talked constantly pretty much everyday, we've flirted, hung out, and he knows that I like him. In January he had to leave for 6 months, but he'll be back where I am in 2 weeks. While he's been gone we've emailed each other a whole bunch and I'll talk to him online. When he gets online he IM's immediately before I even have a chance to. We've made plans for when he gets back and still flirt with each other. Over this past year we've pretty much talked about anything and everything. The problem is that I don't know for sure if he likes me, sometimes it comes across like he definitely does and other times he seems distant. I know that he probably isn't having the best time where he is right now, so that could be part of the problem and I also know that I could be reading into things. Does it seem like there is potential for more than just friends here, he has said some really sweet things to me and you don't think I am wasting time with this right?