What do you do when you meet a guy..but other girls are into him too?

There is a guy that is new to a group of people I hang out with and he recently moved here from Florida. He is extremely nice and gentlemanly. He will poke me a lot or try to touch my face jokingly, or touch my back when he pes by. If my friends "pick" on me he will come give me a hug. They were doing it today and he said "aw, you are beautiful". He will also call me sweetheart a lot. He is straight and several people have suggested we would be cute together. I feel like we have some sort of crazy connection, but it could be just me. He maintains great eye contact and I can feel him glancing at me sometimes. Could he be interested? The only problem is there are 3 other girls that hang out with him as well and I can tell they all have a "thing" for him and are very "possessive" despite not knowing him long. These girls (not trying to sound mean) are very vicious and aggressive, and not very attractive personality or looks wise. I am not very aggressive with guys and I am worried that I will lose my opportunity (if I even have one!) due to this. Should I do anything or does he even sound interested or is he just being nice? We are all 19 by the way. Thanks!