Is he shy, or not interested?

What that really makes him is shy or gay. If he's never had a girlfriend, that means he's never been interested (and he's not now) or else he's never followed through. Likely the latter.

You say he "chickened out." Not sure if that's how you see it, or if that's what happened. That could mean he's scared of either hurting your feelings, or scared of taking things further for whatever reasons he may have.

But if he did 'chicken out', it sounds like a classic case of boy-meets-girl nerves. So, basically, I'm blaming you.

No, just kidding. But seriously, folks -

The only weird thing is his "just friends" explanation. That's a girl line. We're guys, and for us, that just doesn't ring true. It's possible he's not attracted to you, physically, in which case he probably never really wanted to hang out in person. Most guys need that spark when it comes to hanging out with girls; it might seem crude but it's something we can't help. Girls are - well, girls - and our fascination with you is what makes us want to be around you.

But there are exceptions to every rule - the fact that he only spends so much talking to you on the internet might mean exactly what he said. Hard to tell. If he likes you but is shy, he will look at you a lot from a distance, but might "ignore" you when you're close.

My advice? Press the issue. You'll torture yourself about it otherwise. Try to get him to hang out again. And again. If he still can't do it by that point, say something like: "Look, it's okay if you don't want to hang out with me. I know you said we're just friends, but I really like you. I just thought I'd give you a second chance to hang out in person and see if there was anything there."

You can be casual and still make it clear you'd just like to know for sure. If you've made it clear that you are interested in more, and he can look you in the eye and tell you, in a somehwat succint manner, that he only likes you as a "friend", then he's probably telling the truth.

If that happens, you must realize that life goes on along time, and you will meet a lot of guys. More than once in your life, it's pretty much guaranteed that you'll be convinced "he's the only one for you" - and if he doesn't feel the same way, it can be devestating. But then time will pass, and you'll try to be bitter, but eventually you'll meet someone else that affects you in the same way. It kind of sucks, but you'll just have to deal with that as it happens.

Sooner or later one of those guys that you can't stop thinking about will feel the same about you, and hopefully you'll both figure it out and make something out of it, Even then if he slips away you'll meet another, whether you want to or not.

But if you want to know the truth about this particualr guy, all you can do is be clear that you need to hear it, even if it hurts your feelings, and you need to realize that that may actually happen.

Good luck.

He sounds shy in general, which means you can't rush the relationship. I don't see any reason why he wouldn't want to eventually hang out, so just go at his pace.

As for being uninterested, I think it's too early to tell.

i think he's shy

I think your relationship is too internet-based. It's easy to talk to people online, but it's completely different from talking to them in person. I know a guy who I can have these long conversations with online, but meeting him face-to-face is so awkward, I don't know what to say.

And that's not just me speaking from experience, I read an article that said the same thing.

But I'm also really shy, so this guy could be the same way. I think you should take it slowly by talking to him in school rather than hanging out right away. You really don't know each other in person, so you have to get used to it still.