this isn’t an actual story, but maybe, who knows. :)

just something to help ldr couples fight the distance sadness

if a picture could tell a story, this would be ours.

we’ve waited two years for this moment.
two years of Skype dates, phone calls, late nights, text messages, tears, letters, late packages, missed birthdays and anniversaries, 2000 miles between us… they all led to this moment.

our time together has been absolutely amazing. I have no words to describe the feeling I get when I can just reach over and he’d be there, with his hands ready to take mine or the times when I look over at him and our eyes meet because he was already looking at me.

home is not a house for me anymore. home is his arms. he provides a safe haven from the rest of the world; from the people against us. he gives me strength; when I’m tired, he gives me reason keep going.

if what we have isn’t love, then I don’t know what love is.
he’s seen me at my best and my worst, yet still wants me - flaws and all.

I don’t know what I did to deserve him or the love that he’s shown me, especially in our circumstances, but I’m forever thankful to the One who gave him to me.
he’s my answered prayer, the best blessing.

as I slowly make my way back to reality, I treasure every single moment we’ve had.
if love was all I needed to stay, I would have stayed forever.

I was sure before, but I’m more sure now. nothing is gonna take me away from him now. I’m not going anywhere. it’s forever for us.

This is me and my boyfriend, Cam. We met on an online game (Tera) last summer and currently live on the opposite sides of the U.S. I will be moving in with him at the end of this month. I couldn’t be happier :)

I’m Elizabeth, and this is a picture of Alex & I meeting for the first time in person in Baggage Claim :)

A little over 2 years ago, we met each other through (I still feel weird admitting this) World of Warcraft. It was my thing at the time to keep myself occupied, and I wound up in a random dungeon with his paladin Hakurro, and his RL shaman friend Volzul. We thought it was cool we were all on the same server, so I joined their guild. We talked a lot, about all kinds of things, and found out we had a lot in common. Eventually we started skyping. He didn’t have a webcam back then, so I only heard his voice and seen pictures of him on facebook (which he rarely ever used before meeting me lol).

Not long after, maybe two or three months, I finally admitted to him that I had feelings for him. I was rather comfortable telling him this because he’s the first person in my life I have no filter with - everything I think about can come out verbally and I know he embraces every one of my thoughts and would never judge me (no matter how embarrassed or gross or remorseful I feel about it). He admitted he felt the same way, however I was still leery because I was already in a relationship that had started maybe a month or so before I met him, and I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to give up what I had for someone so far away from me.

That didn’t stop us from talking every chance we got. I still feel bad for technically having two relationships at once - I kept Alex completely secret. I only mentioned my feelings to my cousin, who knows what it’s like, and there came a time I mentioned him to my boyfriend at the time (I’ll get to that in a sec). Alex and I were very close, and he was probably the only thing that helped me through a tough time in my life when I started at SUNY New Paltz; I had moved in and registered for classes and purchased a meal plan only to find out I couldn’t click with anyone, and the only person I knew there was on the other side of campus and had a different schedule than mine. I felt alone and homesick, starting walling myself up in my dorm room, skipped classes… and the only thing that could comfort me was Alex. Sure my mom came and drove me home for the weekend (only an hour’s drive) and so did my ex, but I only dreaded returning. Eventually I dropped out, my dad came and got me and my stuff and I came back home.

A few months after that, around Spring 2011, Alex and I became a little distant. He had been feeling burdensome, being the “other guy”, and we started talking less and less until finally there was a period where we hadn’t talked at all. I pursued him, after not speaking for almost a month I got in touch with him again. He had gotten a laptop with a webcam, so I was finally able to see his face (and boy was I shy!). We caught up with each other, but then he distanced himself again. I was honestly upset - I would get worried if I didn’t hear from him, I didn’t want to lose him again. He was also fixing to enlist in the Navy, I would have been devastated if the next time I even heard about him, it would be that he had died or something, and I couldn’t even be there - we hadn’t even met, we hadn’t done all the things we said we were going to do with each other. I couldn’t live with myself not knowing what we could have had.

The new year rolled around. I remember messaging him on skype on my birthday (Jan. 18th) and pointing out I was finally the same age as him (which was 20). He would turn 21 in April. After that, I didn’t here from him. Yes, I was still with my ex, and this is where things started getting really bad between us. He wasn’t treating me the way I wanted to be treated - I realize now that I was only a girlfriend in that he was allowed in my pants, and I was often the blunt end of his jokes. There was no friendship that I craved so much during the almost 2 years I was with him. Not the friendship that Alex and I had.

By March of this year I was becoming increasingly lonely. I had gotten a new phone & number, and it occurred to me I should let Alex know. I didn’t text him because I was sure he wouldn’t respond to it, same with FB messaging, so I went to skype. I left him my new number and that I would like it if he texted me. Some time later I received a “hello” from a 912 number I didn’t recognize at first. My instinct was to reply, “Hello! :o Who’s this?” I then googled the area code, and found it was from Georgia, where he lives. My heart seemed to leap out of my chest. He responded, said it was him, and I was ridiculously happy he answered me, but knew I had to keep my cool. I didn’t want him to stop talking to me again. We texted that afternoon and the next day (IIRC), and every time I didn’t hear from him for a while I’d get nervous and say something completely random, something I know he would respond to. When I knew I had him back, I asked if he’d want to skype, and sure enough he called me.

All at once the emotions I had felt for him came rushing back. Nostalgia became reminiscing, and I admitted I still love him. I was relieved to hear that he still did too. We talked about why we stopped talking, how I wasn’t doing so well with my imminently-ex boyfriend. Alex already disliked him (not just because of jealousy), and after the things I divvied to him about how I’d been feeling, he really hated the guy (and still does).

Just a few days after that, I finally worked up the gall to break it off. It was difficult for me because, at the time, I didn’t want to hurt him. At first he seemed frustrated with me, and the conversation (which was over the phone because he was a half hour drive away from me in the next state over, and it couldn’t quite wait to happen) didn’t go my way. I wound up blurting the word “break” and then he hung up because his mom was pestering him. I’m not going to get too into detail with this, it’s not important I guess. Just know he realized a few days after of sparse texting that I wasn’t coming back, not even if he was virtually on his knees begging. I even let him know that there was already someone else.

Then there was the awkward stage between relationships. In Alex’s mind, I was already his. I felt the same way with him, but was afraid to make it public because I know I’d get some nasty feedback from a handful of people (mostly my ex’s friends whom I’d grown fond of). I was going to wait until his birthday (April 5th) to make it official, kind of as a birthday present, but I got a little impatient and decided to on April 1st.

After that, we were dying to finally see each other. I wanted to fly down on spring break, but that didn’t fly so well with my mom (no pun intended) so he came to see me. We decided he should come up after I was done with the semester so he could stay longer. That was an interesting, rocky week to say the least. The first and last few days of it was wonderful though. Midway through, there was so much tension between my mother and I that I almost got on a plane to go back to GA with him after she kicked him out of the house (back to his motel room) and demanded he fly back home. Thanks to my dad, who doesn’t even talk to my mom ever since they divorced, we wound up compromising and Alex got to stay.

No sooner did he go back did I plan on flying down to see him. I worked for my aunt that summer and used the money to buy me a ticket, and July 2nd I went - at first, for two weeks, then a month, then 2 months. I didn’t want to leave. I love his family, and I loved living with him, and I loved GA (it’s so different from NY). I returned solely because I wanted to go to my community college for another semester to pick up on my grades (the last 2 semesters sucked).

So now, here we are. I’ve decided I’m moving down there in December, and his parents are letting us live with them til we find our own place. Alex’ll fly up here, and we’re going to drive down together in my car with my (many) things. I’m also flying down for Thanksgiving. :) I’m beyond happy with him - being away from each other is hard and yes we get into arguments of all kinds, but we always work it out somehow. I love that I have things to look forward to now, and a reason to do well in college. My only problem now is deciding what I want to do with my life, but I try not to think about that too much right now. I just want it to be December already. <3

This is me and my boyfriends Nikos story <3

About 5 years ago i decided to get an Xbox Live account. It was my first day playing Gears of War on Xbox live and so like the chatty little 13 year old i was, i put on the mic and started talking this boy named Joe. He was really funny and we talked till 5am that night, the next day he invited me to a game and there was 2 other boys in his party, their names were Niko and Bobby. We all got along great and we would play Gears of War and Halo all day together for about a year or so. Then we all kind of went our separate ways except me and Niko, we would talk everyday and make each other laugh like no other. We decided to trade Myspaces and i found out he was really cute, but i never said a word about my little crush on him, plus he lived in Oregon and I in southern California. We continued to talk to each other everyday for about another year or so and we were the best of friends, but then he got a girlfriend, it was his first girlfriend and he was head over heels for her. Of course i was a little sad but i just shrugged it off, but the thing was she didn’t like me. No, scratch that, she down right HATED me. He made Niko choose between her or me and of course Niko chose her. I was hurt but i didnt let it get to me, we stopped talking for about a year and then one day (back in December of 2011) he messages me on xbox asking if we could talk, i said of course and i joined his chat, he apologized for everything asked if we could be friends again and i said of course because i really did miss him and our stupid little late night talks. After that night we were closer then ever before, we didnt just talk about video games, we talked about life and i started to get a crush on him all over again, only problem was that his old girlfriend was still trying to get with him even though they broke up and he could not get rid of her (She even went to his house unannounced all the time, talk about stalker) but we continued to talk despite her always trying to get with him and her threatening me. It was around February that my mother left my father for another man and i was completely crushed, i didnt understand how a mother could just leave her whole family, even her own kids behind for another man. I told Niko what happened and he comforted me the best he could and cheered me up, it was a few days later that he texted me saying “I’m moving to California!” It was probably the best text of my life, he was only going to be an hour away from me and that made me so incredibly happy. He moved here in the beginning of May and we made plans to meet up at a nearby mall, 2 days before we were supposed to meet, the most horrible tragedy in my life occurred.  My uncle had been murdered. I texted Niko what had happened, only 2 hours late I flew out to Mexico for the funeral and stayed there a week, when i came back i saw my phone had over 30 messages on it saying that he loved me and he was so sorry for everything that was happening in my life. I turned off my phone and laid in bed, i couldnt wrap my head around my uncle passing away at all and it led me to a horrible depression which eventually led to drinking almost every night. I didnt talk to Niko for a few months until one day in August he called me, of course i was hesitant to answer but i did, his first words out of his mouth were “Valentina, i love you so much and i care about you, please talk to me” Thats when i broke down and told him everything, from my cutting, my one night stands and eating disorder to my alcohol problem, he even cried with me. The next day i checked myself into rehab and i got better, we texted everyday and we eventually started skyping, he was just as cute as i remembered. But this time he had snakebites, an eyebrow piercing, and gauges which i find really really attractive. One night (3 weeks ago to be exact :p) we stayed up very late talking on Skype and we got on the subject of love. I laughed and said i used to have a really big crush on him when we were younger, he smiled and said he used to have a big crush on me too. We both got silent and just looked at each other, I then said “To be honest, those feelings never went away.” He instantly smiled and started blushing, he said his feelings never went away either, of course that got me smiling and blushing as well. He then started laughing and said “5 freakin years of having a huge crush on you and i finally admit it.” We ended the call 20 minutes later and headed to bed. The next day when we were texting he asked me to hang out that weekend and of course i got so nervous but i of course said yes. On September 23rd we finally met in person, it was the most amazing day I’ve had in years and the happiest I’ve been since i could remember :) We went on a walk that night and sat on the grass, and thats when he leaned in and kissed me. My heart literally skipped a beat, it was such a perfect night. We have only been together for 2 weeks but i can tell we’re going to be together for awhile, if we could survive 5 years of a crazy roller coaster friendship, we can sure be together. We have seen each other at our very worst and at our best and i love him like crazy and he’s the only boy i have dated who truly gives me butterflies in my tummy when he kisses me. He’s my best friend, boyfriend and other half. He always teases me about me being a cougar (I’m 18 and he just turned 17) but i love it. Niko, if you see this, i love you!

Niko and Val <3

September 23rd 2012 :)