Relationship help please?

[Claire]

So I used to date a nice guy. We texted each other all the time, and got along really well. But because of how far apart we lived, we decided to stop dating. We ended on good terms, and stayed friends for a while, but we lost contact after a bit.
Recently I got in touch with him again, because I was getting spam from his old number. He helped me find out that it was a friend of his with an annoying prank app. Anyway, after that we started talking again for a bit. And this is where things went wrong.
We were just talking (via pm) about some of the pictures on his timeline on Facebook. I was teasing him about the pretty girl in his profile picture (just as many of his other friends had done in the comments section earlier), who he adamantly claimed was not his girlfriend. He said she was' just a good friend', which is most likely true. But I teased him (in a friendly jokey way, I would like to make clear) by saying, 'yes, I could tell she was just a good friend of his...a special friend even'. But then he replied 'No, the special friend is somebody else'. And then he went on to say 'until she friend-zoned me, that is'. NEXT ENSUED THE MOST AWKWARD SILENCE IN MY LIFE (drama-llama). So he quickly ended the convo by saying 'It's getting late, good night'.
Three questions now:
1- Do you think he is referring to me as the 'special friend'?
2- How the heck do I start out next conversation?
3- Can we stay as just friends? I like him, but I don't want to date anybody right now..
I don't want to ignore what he mentioned. It will probably just lead to a problem somewhere down the line. I want to know what I should say to him to make it clear I don't want to date him but I want to stay friends, but while being honest, polite, and not hurting his feelings. After the awkward end to the convo, I don't think I can just start another one, and forget about what he said. I want to talk to him about it, in the least awkward way possible.

[Priscilla]

Q1: I think so, and There is a possibility that he still likes you.

Q2: Just start it as u normally would. Dont make him suspect that you know, and he probraly doesn't wanna ruin your friendship.

Q3: Yeah if course, Just tell him that you just wanna be friends.


&& I would really appreciate it if you help me with my question https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=ArtQvLup5nNid.EkoC2ZsoGc4yA5?qid=20140326145519AAEhi2v