Novice here - Advice requires (warning - quite a long read)

Hi folks. This is a first for me so bear with me.

I've recently started seeing a girl who I actually met on Match. The first time that we met went good as did the other times after that, plenty of kissing, holding hands, etc.

It wasn't until I came across a weblink on her facebook profile that I found that she kept an online blog about herself. I gave into temptation and was a little nosey (assuming that's what it was on her profile for) It turns out that she'd been through a few things emotionally, unsure about her future, the usual stuff.

One occasion when we went walking, we had a pretty indepth talk about past relationships. I ended up telling a bit of a white lie by telling her I'd been out briefly with 2 girls from uni (when they were actually online as well) and apart from the odd fling, I'd never had a girlfriend before. As it turned out, even though she's a few years older than me, it was kinda the same for her. I didn't think anything of it at all.

The day after she came round to mine and we watched a film, ate. etc. The day after when texting, in hindsight, I think I may have sounded a little smothering with what I was asking; where she was, what she was up to for the rest of the day. I was merely just curious as to what she was doing that day. We chatted briefly on the phone again and it was mainly due to a text I got from her saying something along the lines of "I thought you liked me for me, now i'm thinking it's cos there's bee no one else". I told her on the phone that that wasn't true and that i really do like her.

She texted later on saying that it sounded in the text that I was being smotherly and that she was thinking into it too much and getting worked up. I told her I'm not that kind of person and I left it at that.

I waited for her to text me the day after and sure enough she did and everything seemed A ok. The night after we went out and she ended up telling me about a chat that she'd had with her friends about me and her friends told her to calm down and basically that i'd done nowt wrong, She'd also mentioned that day she'd had an argument with someone but didn't go any further into it. Again, i thought nothing of it and we went out, food drink and then got back to mine for a film. Later we were having a bit of a kiss and cuddle and then out of the blue, she started crying. I was able to bring her round and make her feel better. It turns out that this argument was on facebook with someone she knew who had called her a few things and something like "you're going to be alone all your life". She ended up asking me what if the guy was right. I just said not to bother taking notice of what he said ( I added a few coarse words in there as well, which I'd rather not put on here, lol )

Anyhow, she stopped over (2nd time) and everything seemed ok. Since then however she's been quite distant with me. I got really short replies to texts on Sat and Sun. Monday I didn't text her, hoping she'd text me but nothing. Tuesday I texted her asking how work was, etc. I didn't get a reply until about 11 at night asking me to explain the ending to Inception. As well as this (and it could well be an over analysis of things), but she's hardly ever ending the texts with kisses (xx) anymore. I texted her back asking what part she got confused with and then she rang me and we had a little chat then. Personally I didn't used to like chatting on the phone, but it's growing on me now, plus it beats the hell out of texting and emailing. I was asking what shifts she was on this week and she said she had quite a busy week.

Today I texted her again in the afternoon and not until about 9 tonight I got a reply. I texted her asking if she was working Sunday and if she fancied doing something, but no reply.

I'm sorry but WTF is going on?? It still is early days, and I don't think boyfriend and girlfriend are the right terms for us just yet, but I would kinda like to know if it would happen. Whilst I was trying to comfort her on Friday from crying, she told me that she wasn't used to people liking and fancying her and I said something trying to cheer her up like "Well I do, so get used to it".

From what I have seen, she reminds me a lot of how I used to be until I went to university. She's a little low on self confidence and she doesn't realise how sweet, gorgeous and funny she is. I've been told that there's a few online people who've got a lot of emmotional baggage, but from what I've seen, no more than other women I've met and still know. We've had some great times together so far and I'd like to keep seeing her. I haven't let this get in the way of my life, mainly because a girl has been distant before in the past.

Now I'm mixed up between a few things - Is she really someone who just needs someone to take care of her, is it a mind game?, or is it a method for gradually putting me down? I was tempted to text her tonight asking if everything was ok between us, but I'm pretty sure I would have still got no reply. If I get to see her again, I will ask her face to face.

Personally (and she's the same), neither of us like the idea of internet dating, but we both said that we hardly go clubbing now and it's just hard to meet people when out because there's nowhere at all quiet enough to have a chat. etc. So it's kinda been a case of "if you can't beat em..." We've been out about 7 times over three weeks so far by the way.

What do people think? Sorry it dragged on so long! I sincerely appreciate those of you who was able to read it all.