Is he into me??

I have been talking to this guy for a couple months now but we are not technically dating. He has told me I am the girl he wants to be with but wants to get to know me better. I have a hard time knowing if this is true or not....I mean I do really like him but I'm worried about getting hurt. Before we started talking this time we had tried before and got off to a rocky start. I have a hard time opening up to people so I was a little closed off when we tried the first time. Not too mention he's a huge flirt with everyone and I had found out he lied about sleeping with someone I know. So we decided we shouldn't try to pursue anything. A little bit later we started hanging out and talking again which is where we are now. He has told me multiple times he wants to date me and a part of me really believes him but I have some doubt in my mind. The doubt comes from knowing what happened before plus his flirty personality. To top it off I feel like I also have to contact him first....I mean he will occasionally be the one to message me first. To be fair he does work a lot during the week so that could be a reason. I would like to talk to my friends about it but none of them like him for me. One of my friends went as far to say he's only talking to you because no one else is around (I live in a collefe town and we are on break so most people have left) So I need some advice does it seem he's actually into me or am I just a time waster for him?