If you care about your friendship more, and can be satisfied with him being a friend, tell him that too.  But you have to be prepared to draw the line at being just a friend.  You can't give in to that latent lust that seems to surface with alcohol!!  You need to see the relationship as one with a friend (try modelling it after one of your other friendly relationships).  The good thing about being friends is you can call him up and say hey, I thought we were friends, why are you avoiding me?  And be honest with him that way.

If the rollercoaster is just too much for you to decide right now, give yourself a break.  Tell yourself "this week I am going to take a vacation from the soap opera and just try to be calm".  Then at the end of the week, re-assess.  How did it feel to not be constantly up and down?  Were you able to stay away from thinking about him, or did your thoughts constantly drift back to the two of you together?  Then you may have figured out which direction to go next.