Hi everyone,

I made a thread here a few weeks ago but I doubt anyone remembers so I'll just give a brief recap of what's happened that got me to where I am now. I have a lot to type so hopefully someone is willing to read it all =/...
A few weeks ago, I met a guy who I have been friends with on another internet forum I frequent. I've known him through there for almost 7 years now and have always felt pretty close to him on there, but this was the first time I'd met him in real life. Prior to our meeting we'd been communicating a lot more than usual (We started texting one another in February and had been in contact almost every day since), and I found that my feelings for him were starting to grow deeper (I'd had a crush on him for awhile before then). I'd always kind of wondered if he felt the same, and at the end of the night that we met, we ended up having sex. He was my first, and he knew that.

Fast forward to now and...I'm still kind of confused. Ever since that night I'd been thinking a lot about what exactly it all meant. I started noticing that he seemed to be texting me less, and that I almost always had to be the one to initiate conversations whereas before that night he'd often start things, too. Last night I finally decided I'd had enough of wondering and finally found the courage to ask him. He said that long distance relationships had always been bad for him in the past, and that ours would be the furthest one he's ever had (He lives near Chicago and I live near Cleveland). He said that he felt terrible for what he'd said and did that night (We had talked about getting together again sometime in the near future), as well as for not communicating with me as much lately, as he'd been unsure of how to bring up the issue as well. But he said that there was no changing how he felt about the long distance thing. That upset me, but at the same time he brought up the term "relationship" without me having said anything directly, so I guess he must have been having some of the same kinds of thoughts, which I take solace in.

I brought up the fact that I would be graduating college in two years and was planning on moving a bit further away from home anyway, implying that I would be able to move closer to him at that time (Which is true, I have been seriously considering getting a bit further away from home. It's not just because of him though, so don't think that it is). Asked if he thought there was any chance at anything in the future. He just said that he couldn't say either way, but not to get my hopes up. Which I suppose is all I could have hoped to hear, at least he didn't completely shoot down the idea.

My biggest problem is that I'm relatively certain I love this guy. At the very least, my feelings for him are something more than liking him. He's also still a very dear friend and I don't want to lose him completely even if I can't be with him in a romantic way. I just don't know what more I can tell him, and how I can cope with these emotions. Also, I know that part of this is probably just because the pain of the heartbreak is still fresh, but I can't help but feel that it will take forever for me to develop feelings for someone else as deep as the ones I have for this guy. It's just that I've known him for so long, and I have such a difficult time talking to people in real life that the internet is often the only way I communicate with anyone outside of my family on a normal day, I don't know how I'll ever manage. I feel that if I keep communicating with him I'll just keep comparing every new potential boyfriend I meet to him, and never be able to get serious with anyone. But at the same time if I stop communicating with him I'll lose our friendship.

I know that it's fairly common for good friends to fall in love, and that it can be a difficult thing to cope with. I could just use some advice on how to cope with this. Will this start to go away with time?