We've never met but he's one of my best friends. We've never met but I trust him more than anybody else. We've never met but I think I love him.

Six years ago I was playing in a chat room and I stumbled across another kid about my age, he lived in New York, and I in Chicago. I talked to him everyday online. I'd come home from school and race to the computer to chat with him. I never told my parents about him, they'd fear he was an internet stalker, but I knew he wasn't. Something about the way he trusted me was not like an internet stalker.

When we got our first cell phones life changed completely. I no longer had to rush home to talk to him and I could talk to him more. Now I knew this was no internet stalker. It had been two years and we were speaking over the phone and I could hear adolescence in his voice.

I had to make up tons of excuses as to who I was constantly on the phone with. My parents still would never understand and they'd be furious that I had talked to this guy for two years now without knowing if he was really my age or even a guy. Now that we had no long-distance charges with our cell phones, I knew he had been the guy I thought he was the entire time.

Six years later and we've never met face-to-face. Part of me is afraid because I love him and I don't want to ruin whatever our weird relationship is by changing it. I've had boyfriends along the way, he has had girlfriends, but neither of us can keep someone for long because no relationship can compare to ours. I judge guys based on how much they are like him and sometimes write them off immediately because they'll never be able to even be able to sort-of fill his shoes.

I love him and he loves me but we're separated by lots of land and no money to travel. I've never believed in marriage but if there is one person out there for me, he's the one.