what does it mean when he does this?

okayy so here's the deal. this guy and I were best friends for years, and this spring we fell for each other and had a thing for a little under two months. we agreed that we didn't want to date because we didn't want to mess up our friendship or make things awkward. we would hold hands, cuddle, stay on the phone talking until 2 am, all that stuff. we never actually kissed, although we got close to, but things never seemed to work out, even though we both wanted to. we would sometimes fight over little things, but it was never anythings serious. I liked him more than I had ever liked any guy, and he was insane about me. we had both never felt that way before. one day we got into an argument because naturally I had wanted him to actually ask me out at this point. it made me feel like I wasn't good enough for him, and even though he said it wasn't true, I still was bothered by it. I told him that maybe I just should give up because summer was approaching and even though he had said he was planning on actually asking me, it seemed like we were never gonna be more than a thing. i decided that I really didn't wanna end things and told him I wanted to just start over, but he said no.

after that, we spent the entire summer arguing a lot about everything that had happened in our relationship. for 3 months straight we fought, even though at one point he said he still liked me and would be nice to me occasionally. we just couldn't seem to get over everything that went wrong with our relationship. we recently agreed to just be friends, and he apologized for everything and I accepted. he then later mentioned something about us dating in the future and bringing up something from when we had our thing, and we agreed to just start off by being friends again and seeing where that goes. we've been texting a little and flirting but it hasn't been much more than that.

so here's what I'm asking: is it ever okay to get back with your ex? or more specifically, is it okay for me to get back together with him? or is our relationship permanently screwed? thanks so much xx