Was he trying to find weird ways to get closer to me?

I knew this guy in one of my classes.
He’d talk out in class a lot and wasn’t afraid to share his opinion which really intrigued me. I noticed how frequently when he’d talk up, he would always look at me and we’d hold eye contact in front of everyone for seconds while he was talking it was really weird lol now looking back.
There would be various conversations in the classroom where he’d be joking with someone else then he’d always make his way to me with his eyes and it looked like he was talking to just me. I would smile at him a lot because I found him entertaining and he’d always smile back.
Once I was looking down at my phone and smiling and looking back up and he was smiling and gazing from me to the person he was talking to.
The very first time we talked the seats got rearranged because we were going to be watching a movie in class. He came in and sat near me out of all the seats and was like “it’s gonna be nice to watch a movie today” I asked him if we were watching a movie then left and said I had to call my boyfriend under my breath.
Literally when I came back and class started he mentioned his long distance girlfriend ( for the first time ) and the issues he had with not being able to see her. Then he randomly spouted off how he was going for his master degree and stuff like that in front of the whole class.
Every time he mentioned his girlfriend after that it was something about how terrible her family was.
Also that same day after class, I stood outside to talk to the professor and as the guy was coming out of class, we made eye contact.
I gave a presentation and he clapped for me and answered all of my questions
Also once he stopped in the middle of talking in class and looked at me and asked if I was gonna say something. ( I also spoke out in class frequently)
After the semester ended he waved to me both times in the hall that I saw him. I’m black and I found out that he was taking a black girl literature class lol.
Was he interested?
Was he trying to find weird ways to get closer to me?
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