Friends or more?

[discombobulated]

Come June, I am going to visit a friend I haven't seen in 3 years. We have been great friends for a long time. Before that we dated for a while in high school. He moved to the west coast, I'm on the east coast.
My issue is this:
We talk on the phone atleast 3-5 times a week. I love him like family. But, lately he's been dropping comments to me that make me think he is thinking of me as more than a friend. Things along the lines of, ' awww, you miss your Mikey, that's ok baby, we'll see each other soon' and 'My mom says you're in love with me'.
Am I reading too much into this? Granted we tell each other that we love the other, but what kind of relationship can we have 2000 miles away from the other? As well as the whole 'if we do date then what will become of our friendship'?
I know it's best to be friends before lovers, but our friendship has endured one break-up, how far should I push this? Is the risk of losing a friendship worth the possible benefits of dating? I'm discombobulated!

[Wayne Liew]

If you have dated him for a while, then it will not be hard to move the friendship back into love another time if he is really looking at the relationship as a friendship.

I would say that haven't seen each other for three years make things like this easy to happen because the intimate feeling can be easily robbed as time goes by. Maintain the friendship now. It is hard to express your feelings now but you will need to go through this as misunderstanding and vague messages are very likely to happen if such communications is not done face to face.

[Mish]

Am I reading too much into this? Granted we tell each other that we love the other, but what kind of relationship can we have 2000 miles away from the other?

Most likely an non-existant kind. I don't recommend getting into a long distance relationship of this nature. I think it's very posible that the increased level of intimacy you are experiencing is somehow related with your trip in June. Perhaps this is the build up to when you get there. Once you leave, it will probably be an entirely different story. The good news is that this is entirely within your area of control. You can keep the friendship and not cross that line if you choose to. Though granted, it may be a very difficult choice to make.

[IndiReloaded]

LDRs never work out unless one of you has clear plans to move & be together. Too much communication happens non-verbally. Relationships require physical closeness to flourish.

[Gigabitch]

Yup. What they said. However, if there's a chance of either one of you relocating, that changes things.

Aside from the "let's not jeopardize the friendship" concern, what would you think about giving old Mikey a shot?

[discombobulated]

That's the thing. There IS a chance of that happening. He HATES the west caost. Tells me all the time he's coming back to the east coast. Now he's thinkng about coming back with me in June! This is fine with me, but why then? Maybe then we will know where we are headed romantically. I would consider giving Mikey another shot we've always been close. Probably closer than we should have been with our individual relationships with other people. The love is there, but is love really enough?

[Gigabitch]

No, I don't think it is. You need chemistry too. If you're not hot for him, you're wasting your time.

Give it a shot and see what happens.

[discombobulated]

The thing is we DO have chemistry! A lot of it. Always have. I love Mike but 'in love' is a big emotion. I know you can't help who you fall in love with but like I said In love is big...almost too big for me right now. Hmmmm...how does the 'friends with benefits' thing usually work out...not very well I would suppose. I hate complicated!

[Gigabitch]

No, don't do that. It ends in tears most of the time.