Brace yourselves - this is a long one.
A few years ago, I was getting over having my heart abruptly broken by my first girlfriend. In the massive amounts of spare time that followed the break up, I decided to start playing Guild Wars 2 again as all of my good friends were currently playing it together. They had made friends with an online bunch, and I was promptly introduced to them when I started playing as well.
There was a girl in that group that I hit it off with particularly well, and we became fast friends. In a months time, we were having our own private conversations that would span the entire day, every day. We lived in different states, neither of us considered ourselves open to long-distance/internet relationships at all, and I didn't really feel emotionally available yet. In spite of all that, we kept constant contact through various chat mediums; steam, skype and eventually texts. We never missed a day.
A few more months go by, and we realized that whether we liked it or not, we had become an item. I remember how easily she could put a smile on my face, and in case I ever forgot, there were people left and right pointing it out to me. Eventually I suggested that we plan a visit - I could buy a plane ticket for one of us and we could spend a weekend together. If we liked it, we could continue to do it every couple of months. I had already played around with the idea of moving before I met her, and she happened to live in a city I had considered in my top five choices.
She declined, however. She was apprehensive of who I might be and what might lie down the road for us. I let a little time go by and asked again, and again she said no. Privately I decided that I would give it until about a year from the time we met to either get a yes, or sever things as they were and move on. I'm a patient guy, and I felt like I had found a soul mate, but I also have a genuine need to express my affections physically.
So the year mark hits, and I give my ultimatum. She says she's still not ready, so I calmly tell her my reasons and end things. It didn't take long for that no to turn into a yes.
I was struggling financially then and had just landed a second job, so I told her I would have funds for a plane ticket in about a months time, and that we could plan our trip then. We had started to bicker and fight with each other a lot, and I had very high hopes that finally getting to see each other would smooth things out with us again.
A month goes by and I had managed $500 off to the side for the trip, so I approach her about dates to take time off. She backs out of the whole thing again, so I (slightly less calmly) end things again.
The ensuing argument was rough. I felt like all that time and effort and hope and emotion was slowly becoming for naught. I felt I was going to have to walk away from someone who had become one of my best friends, because it was what was best for me. I decided before giving up to fight for a yes, and so I challenged her. She kept coming back at me with new reasons for why she "couldn't" until her reasons became desperate, and finally all she could say was "it just wouldn't work." And then the truth came out.
She was a guy.
We've all heard about it before; guys pretending to be girls on the internet. He's gay and had been pretending to be a girl online before we ever met (my friends had thought he was a girl as well, as they introduced her to me as a "she.") He'd been using a voice changer on skype, and used pictures of his female roommate, which he had plenty of.
He expected me to be furious. And you know what? All I could do was laugh. Laugh at how ridiculous this had become, and laugh because of how relieved I felt. The fighting was over. Getting through each day, feeling like that person that completes you was just out of reach, was over. I was free. I sure as hell wasn't mad.
If he had put on this little charade just for me? Yeah I would've been mad. But he hadn't. And was he wrong for continuing to deceive me? He sure as hell was. But I could empathize with him. I asked him why he didn't tell me the truth, and he said he was genuinely afraid he'd lose me. I believe him. This was someone whom, for over a year of my life and from miles away, I'd made laugh and cry and feel like they belonged to. And this was someone who'd made me laugh and cry and feel like I belonged with. The premise was an utter lie - but I had loved the person behind it, and they'd loved me. He'd been fooling my friends long before he ever met me, and neither of us had ever wanted to meet someone online. It happened organically, and I believed him.
That was definitely the end of that, however. I've just never found men attractive. I wish I did, and for a brief while I considered trying it anyway. I know myself pretty well, and after giving it some very long serious thought, the answer I came back with was a very final "no."
We're still very good friends to this day. We catch up a few times a month, and talk about funny things and life problems and new people that we're seeing.
Thus, my second girlfriend turned out to be my first boyfriend.