Im in love with my best friend, is it normal?

Let me start by saying I'm 20, gay and in the closet to most (my family and most of my friends) and don't know what love is but feel as if I have had a taste of it. About 2 years ago I became close friends with this guy I have known since the 4th grade. We started off a little apprehensive but eventually grew to really like each other. We think the same, act the same and do the same things, we are both just so similar. We hangout all the time like almost every day. We rarely talk about girls. One time we were smoking on the beach and he grabs my inner thigh and actually used this move on me that I taught him. I rejected it though and played it off because I felt as if I engaged I Wud be rejected and he Wud be like "i was joking." He also has a girlfriend...... that cheats on him and treats him like shit. He is a door mat these days. We have had other touching encounters but I always reject because he has a girlfriend and claims to be straight. I don't really know how to explian this feeling I have for him. When I have gotten in trouble he has been there, in ways a partner would be, it is the same for when I'm sad or mad or anything. He is always saying I love you wen I hang up the phone too. I am in the closet (witch I know is pathetic but want to come out when I am no longer relying on my parents money wise) and understand how hard it is for him (who might be closeted) to express his feelings. But am I retarded and just missing all the signs or am I blowing this out of proportion and we are jus really close Friends.