I've Just Had the Strangest Day...

I don't have first period on Wednesdays. Nor does Eliot.
When I got to school, he was already there, waiting for the bell to ring. He was in a large group of people, so I didn't go up to him immediately. When the bell rang, though, I caught up to him and said, "You wanted to ask me something?"
"Oh, yeah. Uhh...do you like me?"
There was a moment that I was at a complete loss for words. What was I supposed to say to that? I stammered something like, "Well, I--I mean, I like you as a FRIEND and all--"
"Okay, thanks. You've just made my life a whole lot easier!"
"What?"
"I'll explain later!" He ran off.
"...Okay."
I explained it to Lisa, who gushed for a moment and said that she'd win Kitty's soul, then we went to our separate classes.
I didn't see much of Eliot until PE, when he came out and walked over to his friends. I followed him and jabbed him in the back. He turned.
"Are you ever going to explain what all that was about?" I asked.
"What?"
I repeated it.
"Oh, right. That. Well, my friend was reading my emails..."
Faye-blurb (Copyright Rosie): Oh, nice to know that's so private. (End Faye-Blurb)
"...and he said that you liked me. Well, that's one friend I can cross off the list for advice!"
"...Okay."
Some of his friends came over to join him, and they got into an argument over whether, if you squeezed a pipe really hard, it would go through a parallel universe and come out backwards. When I asked Eliot how he came up with this theory, he said, "Math is boring." Figures.
Later, I caught up with him and said, "I have two questions. First, why did you ask?"
"Because I wanted to know." He shrugged.
Oh, wow. -.-
"And second, why did you say that that made your life easier?"
"Because there are a lot of things going on right now."
I still don't get it. Why would me liking him make his life harder? And why would he even bother to ask in the first place? And what would he have done if I had said I did like him? It seems like he was just trying to make things complicated...I dunno. Any ideas? Maybe I'll ask him. I'm really confused.

Love,
Faye

PS
In PE, I realized that I had only eaten a biscuit all day. Hmm. No wonder I thought I was going to keel over.