Search Results: why you should ask out a shy guy

I met this guy online and we have been talking for months. He initiates the conversations 99% of the time, but I admit that he does disappear for like 2 days sometimes. (This has happened about four times) When this happens, I'll message him "hey" or something and it reverts back to normal. Anyways, we video chat (which consists of him being shy and staring at me dreamily) and what not and he's truly amazing. He sweet, intelligent, smart, etc. Basically everything I've ever dreamed of in a guy. He compliments me like crazy and actually asks me how I'm feeling and listens to my problems. The problem is that he lives in Australia and I live in America. Oh and I'm 16 and he's 17. He wants to visit me/me visit him but my current situation prohibits that (my mom would not let this slide and it's not like I can afford a plane ticket there anyways) but I don't know I'm also worried that if we finally meet up, he would only want sex. Although I highly doubt this as it took months for the topic to finally come up, I'm just worried. It sucks that everyday I anticipate that our "relationship" or whatever you want to call it, will end either soon or terribly. This is the only guy I've ever gotten this close to by the way. I just want to know what you think. Is he interested in me? And why does he disappear sometimes, is it because he wants me to initiate the conversations and check if I'm interested? I admitted to him my fears of the possibility that we may never gain the opportunity to actually meet in person and he admitted that made him sad also, however he was still optimistic that it will happen and when I asked him "And if we do meet up, then what?" he replied, "we'll see *smiles.*" Oh and I don't know if this is big but he still refers to me as his friend which I guess makes sense since I'm not too keen on the idea of dating someone not only long-distance, but without ever having met them in person either. Anyways, any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Thanks :)