The bonds that are forged when distance stops being a barrier in friendships are remarkable. There is no judgment and there are no preconceived notions, just pure, blissful friendship with such ties.
Sometimes however when you meet these same friends in real life, you get quite the shock. What you would have hoped for instantly gets shattered in the face of what is. Read these 40+ stories as people share their experiences with meeting their online friends.
1. I Miss Him
Met my best friend at the time on League of Legends. After talking every day for 3 years, I ended up moving to a state much closer to him, so we decided to finally meet. We talked before about all the things we'd do together and how awesome it would be. I loved him so, so much.
He was there for me through so much and was a wonderful friend. He had a new girlfriend at the time of our meet-up and he brought her along with him. I had no problem with this because I'd love to meet the woman who makes him happy.
It was abundantly clear from the get-go that she wasn't a real big fan of me. I did my best to be kind, and still had tons of fun. I didn't hear from my friend much after that.
A mutual good friend of ours messaged me and when I asked about my best friend, they said that his girlfriend was telling people that I was basically an awful person for whatever reason.
Three years later, he is engaged to this woman and I'm happy for him, but I haven't spoken to him in those three years. I still miss him every day, and I wish I could be there for him on his wedding day.
Bubber_lubb
2. Catfish Situation
My brother met a girl in person that he had known for 4-5 years online during which time they had kind of had an online relationship.
She had brought her friend with her to meet him and while they were sitting around a table awkwardly making conversation. My brother was quite shocked at how bad she looked in person compared to how she looked online. He realized that he had absolutely no interest in her other than as friends.
Around that time, the girl sent her friend a message saying “Omg get me out of here, he’s looking at me like he wants to jump me”, but she accidentally sent it to my brother. What ensued was likely incredibly painful to be part of. My brother showed her his phone and looked at her in disgust.
divinelyshpongled
3. I Told You Though
Well, honestly he was a great and awesome guy, my instant regret came from his face when he saw me. I had been saying all the while that I was a big boy. This guy thought I was exaggerating... I wasn't, and now we were spending a whole afternoon together.
We had never tried anything like this before. He had imagined us walking around and staying on our feet the whole time with a few breaks for coffee and food, that was obviously not what happened, though I did push myself beyond my usual pace and comfort.
He no longer had the option of leaving me behind when I had my small ranting episodes. At the end of it, our friendship pretty much died. So honestly it was more about his instant regret than mine.
SoupmanBob
4. The Awkward Situation
Our paths crossed via an app that was marketed as a "meet friends" app rather than a dating one. It turns out that the app was for dating.
She did state in her bio, though, that she was married and had two children. I mentioned that I was looking for friends and that I was in a committed relationship. (I'm a guy, by the way. She wasn't, so when we planned a get-together, my girlfriend, her husband, and their two children attended. Everything was going smoothly. Several hangout sessions later, they added each other on Facebook.
It turns out that she was quite interested in the public breastfeeding movement. I mean, I get it. You succeed, girl. However, she was completely fixated on it. In four of every five pictures, she shared a photo of her breast in her child's mouth on Facebook.
When you averted your gaze in public, she became enraged. She was nursing, after all, and she wanted you to look at her. I simply moved on after reaching a point when I felt really uncomfortable about it.
PM_Me_TrashPandas
5. The Misunderstanding
When I was in high school I met a guy from a different high school in a local chat room. We hit it off and after a few days, we agreed to meet up at the store I worked at once I finished work.
Well, I guess he showed up a little early, with a friend, and came through my checkstand. I thought it was him (we'd swapped photos), but I was really shy and didn't want to be wrong. I waited for him to introduce himself, but he never did, and he and his friend paid for whatever they had and left without conversation.
I was still hopeful that wasn't the guy, so I waited up for him for an hour after my shift. Of course, he never showed, because that absolutely was the guy. He must have been disappointed when he met me in the checkout line and instead of being a decent person and saying he wasn't interested, he just ghosted me.
If I could go back in time, I definitely would have said something to him at the check stand. That's my one regret.
rainydaymonday30
6. The Decision
Met a girl I liked on WoW but she lived in another country. After a couple of vacations there it turned into a relationship. Decided to move and start a new life there with her.
After living there for 4 months I slowly realised she was crazy as hell. Huge mood swings paired with a lot of aggression. Ended up getting attacked in my own bed by her while asleep.
Needless to say; after getting out of the hospital I took the first plane back home, and she's still in a psychiatric hospital.
wibaut
7. The Funeral
I used to play Counter Strike 1.6 with one of the funniest and most lively guesses I've ever met. He was a lynchpin for half a dozen other guys in a friendship group that he welcomed me into. They lived about 200 miles south of me in the South of England.
For several years we talked and played games together. He would brighten my day. I've never loved a friend like I loved him. Before I met him I had no idea he was sick. Like... Sick. He had muscular dystrophy for which there is no cure and is a progressively debilitating disease.
His form started by paralyzing his legs, and working its way up to his arms and eventually his lungs. It wasn't until a few days before I had arranged for my first-ever trip down there that he told me about it. It didn't phase me in the slightest, it made me want to go see him even more.
I only saw him in real life twice before he died about a year later. I regret that I couldn't go to his funeral. It was too far away and I couldn't make it.
The_Jyps
8. The Encounter
I worked with this lady at the time. She was good-looking and very flirtatious. Most importantly: we both played World of Warcraft ( at its prime ). She ended up inviting me to join her server and being a then-horny 20-something; I, of course, joined up.
We played for a time and had a good PvP group going - her regulars. Of course, she was still flirty with me in the game and I was back... all in group chat. Either way, we had some great times together slaying players in PvP.
Summer comes and it’s a company BBQ, I found out she is bringing one of our PVP partners to the event. Cool! It was her husband. A cop. I’ve been virtually sexting her in the game in front of him for 3 months.
Nakoron
9. Meet-up
He wanted to be intimate while I just wanted friendship. He had photos from when he was 16 as the only photos he shared. He was 24 and looked nothing like that now. (So much that I couldn't tell how he was the same person as in the photos.)
I was barely 18, and inexperienced in the world. Money didn't impress me, but he kept trying anyway. Motorcycles terrify me, but he kept trying to up his bad boy image by telling me all about his. All in all, we were incompatible, but he kept trying. When I wouldn't bite, he decided I instantly hated him.
That was more than 15 years ago. He's still using the same photos on meet-up sites. I've called him out on it. He doesn't care. He says no one looks twice if he uses current photos. Truth is, it's his personality that is bad, not his face.
PatchworkStar
10. The Third Wheel
So I was in a discord chat with a bunch of random people. I met a guy who was only two years older than me and lived in my state. We started talking for a while and we got super close.
We both wanted to meet up, and it turned out we were both going to go to the same cosplay convention. We were excited, but then he said, "My brother is gonna come too, I told him about you and he thinks you seem cool." I was okay with it at the time.
Now, I didn't regret meeting up with my friend, we are still super close to this day, I regretted meeting his BROTHER. We both drove to the hotel and met up there. We found our room and I plugged my Nintendo Switch into the TV so we could play Mariokart, now here is where the creepiness begins.
I chose Rosalina, and his brother said, "Of course, YOU would pick the sexiest character ;)" I just kind of awkwardly chuckled and continued playing. He continued to say weird, flirty things the rest of the night.
The next day we went to the con, and I was dressed as a Mimikyu from Pokemon, my friend was Pikachu, and his brother was a Team Skull Grunt. We had a lot of fun, but the brother kept getting real close and putting his hands on my shoulders and crap like that.
Then he throws a Pokeball at me, I played along and it was pretty funny, but he says afterward, "You're my Pokemon, so you do me favors from now on." and slapped me hard on the butt. I noped out of there and tracked down my friend, who was at one of the seller's booths.
I told him everything and he just confronted his brother, who proceeded to walk around the con by himself. I still meet up with my friend, but he comes to my house so I don't have to see his brother.
Broken-Nightlight
11. The Mystery
I used to play a lot of Quake and made a few friends through it. About 15 years ago I moved to a state where one of those friends happened to live. We met up, and we got along fine, if not a bit awkward in person.
He offered that I could stay with him any time, but it was ways out of the city. We sort of lost touch, but just last year his relative contacted me out of the blue. She tells me that my friend had often spoken of me (using my old screen name) and was recently attacked by another of our old online friends whom he had invited to stay with him.
It ended up being ruled as self-defense. She just wanted to know what I knew about the killer to try to make sense of it, but I couldn't remember much other than his old screen name.
ToxicPilgrim
12. Online Dating
Guy, I met on a fan site when I was 12-13. The site ended up going down but a bunch of us stayed in touch on DeviantArt and MSN Messenger (it was the early 2000s, okay?)
Never met him in person but I would stay up all night online during the summer and chat with people on MSN. I knew some of the people from the old Neopets fan site were older teenagers and that this dude was an actual adult. Can't remember how old exactly, maybe 20-30. But he'd been pretty cool up to now in the year or two I'd known him.
Suddenly he wanted me to send him a picture of myself to know what I looked like. I wasn't cool with that so I sent him a drawing (from my DeviantArt. He said something along the lines of it wasn't good enough and he wanted to see what I looked like.
I remember expressing I wasn't comfortable with that but he kept pushing back and insisting on it. I said something like "If you were my friend you wouldn't keep asking" and he replied with something like "I knew you'd say something like that." Little RedMaiden's stranger danger sense started going off and I eventually just blocked him and lost touch completely.
TheRedMaiden
13. The Obsession
I have a weird story about a girl I met online and eventually in real life. For reference, I’m a girl too. We started talking after I commented on a forum about being a single mom. I still didn’t know the extent of my sexual preferences at the time.
We started messaging a lot. Hundreds of texts a day. This included sexting and trading nudes a lot too. But she was always obsessed with my daughter. Like almost demanding pictures of her and updates on her.
Eventually, we arranged to meet up. When we finally see each other in person she looks shocked and asks where my daughter was. Being babysat by mom so we can have a date. I could tell this threw her off a bit.
After our date, we started hooking up at my place. Even then she was still asking about her. “After this can I meet her?” “Would you let me babysit?” “Do you think she’ll start calling me mommy?” I was like chill, she's 1.5...
This combined with her being obsessed with my daughter’s stuff including stealing a pacifier, a dirty onesie, and going through the diaper pail. I decided this lady was crazy. She ended up stalking me for a while but I was moving back in with my mom anyway so I managed to escape.
[deleted]
14. The Stalker
Not me but a female friend did and regretted it. They were in a wow guild together and he seemed ok. He eventually found out where she lived and flew from Canada to Alabama then drove for nearly 2 hours to her home and got let in by her clueless uncle.
He went and sat on her bed until she came out of the bathroom. All of this was completely unplanned and unannounced. He showed up thinking he was going to sweep her off her feet and away from her boyfriend. He told her as much and she freaked out and kicked him out of her house.
The real kicker is he tried it again 7 months later. This time he had also been messaging her boyfriend and all her friends showing them fake message logs between her and him about how much they were in love and how much she hated them. Luckily the friends got wise pretty fast and started talking about it and figured it out.
After this, they booted him from the guild and he actually made a new account and got back in for a while but eventually got caught because of his typing habits and he started asking about her again. He has also tried a few times over the last 7 years to find a way to talk to her.
To this day she's still afraid of him just showing up again but luckily she doesn't live anywhere near where she did and she is more cautious with her information.
Antiable
15. Happily Ever After
My youngest child is nearly 5 now, and when he was a newborn, I got very bored while breastfeeding, so I started playing a mobile phone game. Got to know a few people, and became Facebook friends.
After a couple of years, I stopped playing the game but still chatted with the friends I’d made on it. And the first friend I’d made, a Greek guy who I’d gotten very close to, asked me for a date. By then I was living in Scotland and he was in Athens, so I thought it’d never happen and said yes.
6 months later, he flew to Scotland. We’ve been together nearly 3 years now, it’s an LDR, he’ll be moving over here soon, and I’m happier than I’ve ever been. My instant regret is that we didn’t meet up sooner when he first asked me out.
fairypants
16. Wait For Me
Met a guy online in a character roleplaying game and we got along really well. Turns out we lived in the same city. He was really cute in person. My regret is not marrying him; we dated for nearly 4 years but I had a lot of issues from growing up in an abusive household.
I'm in therapy now but it hurts to think he loved me so much and I just didn't know what to do with it and became the toxic one.
The good news is that we still talk every day and he moved away but I'm using this time to better myself and maybe ask him out in a year from now because we are still pretty madly in love with each other.
[deleted]
17. Eeww
We developed a long-distance relationship before meeting in person. We made each other laugh, I loved his voice, and we could talk for hours.
In-person, he was so awkward and self-conscious, which is not endearing. I know some people think that's cute, but I was under the impression he had a strong personality. Adding to that, his personal hygiene was terrifying.
Wash yourself and your clothes properly, brush your teeth regularly, figure out what your hair is doing, and keep your crap picked up. I don't mind a bit of mess or clutter but if you make yourself sick drinking from a gallon jug of Arizona green tea that you keep on the floor of your car for literally weeks at a time, you're disgusting and need to correct yourself.
SmutForHire
18. The Reservation
My brother met a woman online... not sure how exactly... but they'd exchanged photos and had chatted for several months before a date was planned. He went home after work, showered, dressed up, etc. He made reservations at a nice restaurant in the French Quarter.
She was over 40 minutes late as my brother stood outside the restaurant. He called her and she said one of the headlights on her car wasn't working so she was going to just go back across Lake Pontchartrain. He told her he could fix it before she left.
Then she called with an excuse about the traffic being bad. He told her to just park and he'd walk to her. No response... then she said she was too tired and aggravated so she was going home. My brother picked up some Popeye's and went home. Later that night she texted him and asked if he was the man in the blue shirt standing outside the restaurant. He said he was.
After that, there was zero communication. He was a bit hurt but I was so angry. He's a very nice-looking man. Above average. What the hell? I thought it was mean.
Namaste111
19. Playdate
A guy I had honestly been SUPER into after months of talking came into a little money and flew me out to New York to visit. He was one of those people who prided himself on being awkward but it was so much worse and more unbearable in person.
As an adult, I probably would have handled it differently but at like, maybe 19 or 20 I just had no idea what to do. He was so depressing and self-deprecating the entire night. I mean like immediately he would be like “Wow you must hate me.” He had this whole fake Woody Allen vibe.
We got back to his place and he’s like “Geez you hate me I should probably just jump off the building” and I’m like, I flew across the country to screw you, dude, what are you doing?! Eventually, it got so overwhelming I just left early. Traded in my return ticket for a ticket to go to Tennessee and spent the rest of the time I had taken off work with my dad.
mamas have
20. Desperation
The First issue was that she used a picture of herself when she was younger and thinner. She used to be around 120 pounds I believe she told me. She was easily over 300 pounds and couldn't walk for long. I didn't know how to react to a 21-year-old using a cane.
Someone who was injured? Sure. Someone who spent 90% of their time watching YouTube and reading animes. Not fine. We walked, sat, walked, sat, walked, sat, and talked for a bit. She warned me she has anger issues and might snap at me at any random time. She would constantly look at her phone and sigh loudly.
We met up basically on a date to see a movie. When watching the movie she would constantly burp and fart during every romantic scene. She would cheer herself on every time too. In the freaking theater. After the date was over. I didn't want to see her again, but apparently, I left a good impression.
She would call me, constantly every night. Usually crying about how much she hates where she lives, how much she hates why she can't leave. She wanted a relationship to rescue her from there. Life would be better if she had a boyfriend and just did her own thing.
The only jobs she had were at fast food places. Those didn't last long. Each one 2- 3 months at most. She constantly smelled like fish. She dropped out of college because in her words, "I couldn't stand the stuck-up people there. They really made it unbearable."
After a while, she stopped contacting me. I believe that she had taken the hint and backed off. In reality, she went to another guy who is basically the literal definition of 4chan's soyboy though much worse. He can barely keep down a job, he can barely maintain himself, he drinks himself silly, and she is just happy to be away from her family.
She started contacting me again begging me to save her from him and I'm like "Uh I have a girlfriend now. Bye." She left a 16-page Facebook rant.
MisterCoffeeDonut
21. The Band
This happened to me and my online friends; I've met them a bunch of times and we always have great fun. However, we were at an event either early this year or last year and another person (he was on our Discord server) invited himself to our meetup.
He was a pretty overbearing guy; he idolized everything we did online and kept following us around being invasive and prone to emotional outbursts, both good and bad. It was obvious to me that he had autism and wasn't too socially adjusted yet.
He would also ramble about his ambitions and talk to inanimate objects to bolster himself. When we tried to ask him to be more aware of others so that everyone could have fun, he didn't take it well. After he left, we found out he had invited himself along (we had no idea), that he lived a long way away from the venue, and that he was 14.
We were all in our late teens/early 20s. I was personally very concerned for his safety as well as wondering what his mum must have thought about it if I were her. I wouldn't allow my child of 14 to go see people he didn't know without going with him. Due to this and outside issues, we kicked him out of the Discord server and we now only discuss meetups between us.
[deleted]
22. The Trip
I’d been roleplaying online with this one girl who was a year or two older than me for at least somewhat over a year. We chatted a lot, surprisingly, because I’m bad at keeping up with friendships and the like.
Made plans with my mom to travel to New York (we’re from Argentina so yeah, big trip), and when I told her, we started making plans so we could meet up in DC, seeing how she lived relatively close by. It was great, even with my social anxiousness and all, but to this day I still regret that she paid for the hotel room we shared and I haven’t been able to pay her back. Currency exchanges are hard.
There were a few other online friends before her but none I’ve had the chance to meet - not that I wanted to. In a previous group that went on for longer, I was questioned by a few of the people about whether I’d ever start an online relationship with one of the girls because it turned out she had a crush on me.
gorramdoll
23. The Groupie
About 20 years ago. Had 3 gamer friends stay over for a couple of days during the summer because there was a gathering for a game I played back in the day (called Hyperiums for those who care). One of them was a girl and 2 guys.
They didn't have money for a hotel, I had a big attic so no big deal. The girl was always acting/saying like she was super hot (I’d lie if I said this wasn’t part of the reason I let them stay over despite never having seen a picture, you do stupid things when you’re young and naive). Of course, she wasn’t hot.
But worse than that, she was a female neckbeard. As in, she didn’t change her clothes the entire 3 days. Or nights. She slept in them and went everywhere. And smelled. So bad. She sweated like crazy, and never showered or got out of those clothes.
I considered de-infecting my attic after they’d left, it was a foul smell. Was amazed the other guys could handle it. The saddest part, one of the other guys was still trying to get into her pants. It was gross.
p1xeljunk1e
24. Online Liar
Made a friend on Ragnarok Online. Turned out we lived very close by. We became Myspace friends. Eventually, we graduated to talking on the phone. I met a few of his friends around town. We finally scheduled a day to meet.
His entire Myspace profile was a fake. He looked nothing like what he said and lied about a couple of things besides that. He wanted a relationship. I wasn't comfortable with the fact he lied from the get-go but I tried to remain polite.
He wouldn't leave. Eventually, I got him to leave my house and cut ties with him. If you're lying to me about a ton of things before we even meet, I don't want to spend time with you.
Edenunbound
25. Absolute Creep
A few years ago I met this guy online. He was pretty cool, hilarious as hell, and seemed like a good person to hang out with. We shared a lot of the same interests and had the same soldier's sense of humor.
After playing for a few weeks, we finally got to the "so where are you from?" conversation. In an insane turn of events, the dude lived across town from me. We start hanging out, and the dude becomes my best friend. He never showed any signs that there were things seriously wrong with him mentally.
A few months ago, he and his roommate (who had moved into town from out of state a week earlier) were watching my son over Spring break. I came home from work to find my son freaked out, almost shaking, and saying that something wasn't right with the dude.
After the dude goes home, my son tells me that he was acting "scary weird". Dude went down to the basement, came back up naked, and was just walking around the house.
When I called the roommate, he confirmed and said that the dude also pointed loaded firearms at both him and my son a few days previously. When I went downstairs, there was a baggie of mushrooms lying on the floor. Needless to say, I went ballistic.
Dude denied everything that was said and called every single one of us liars. I knew that his cousin was a street pharmacist, and called him out on it. Dude wanted to play hardball and started making threats. Calling the police did nothing, as they said that without a photo or video proof, they couldn't make a case.
Niko_Morte
26. Trauma On A Date
When I was 14, I convinced my parents to let me meet up with this 15-year-old guy I knew online and go on a date at the local amusement park.
The guy was nice at first, but he persuaded me to drive in his car to a restaurant for lunch instead of spending money on expensive park food. I, being a naive and dumb teen, willingly jumped in.
Well, he groped me the entire way there, reaching over and trying to touch me in inappropriate places and grabbing my boobs while driving. Once we were off the highway, I told him he better pull over, and he did, and I jumped out immediately.
He walked after me for a bit trying to get me back in the car and apologising, but I didn't go with the creep. I also found out he was much older while on the date so that only added to the creepiness factor.
raexenos
27. Love Story Gone Wrong
My friend fell in love with a girl in our World of Warcraft guild. He paid for her to travel from Texas to Florida to meet him. When she opened the door, he was immediately turned off by how she looked (I mean, maybe don't "fall in love" with someone you've never seen?)
He wouldn't be intimate with her so she started trying to get intimate with any of his friends, including me. She would message me begging for it like "I came down here. Is no one gonna be intimate with me?!"
It was really weird. I was a closeted gay so it was never gonna happen, but even if I was straight, it was never gonna happen.
Digmachine
28. Online Heartbroken
Met this guy when I was playing some old game that I don't remember, then he came up to me and said "Hey, wanna be friends?" Knowing that I didn't have that many friends at that time, I accepted his request and oh boy was that a mistake.
He was older than me and one day, while playing alone, he wanted to play with me, I said yes and he suddenly gave me attitude and I was confused, he said stuff like "I hate you!" and "Being friends with you was a mistake!" I was very heartbroken and confused. He was very nice to me and he just suddenly became mad at me.
He then messaged me saying that it was just his brother. I didn't believe him because he told me that he was the only child in his family. I left him and blocked him and I never talked to him again.
AlternateFantasy
29. Horror Sleepover
Minecraft best friend of three years. Finally met him in person, and he came and stayed for a whole weekend. I wound up getting pretty sick, unfortunately, like puking and migraines level sick. He just insisted that he stay and we do something anyway.
He insulted me for doing nothing but sleep while he was here. He had to sit IN MY BED, WITH ME for the WHOLE WEEKEND (a girl) and like, drape my legs over him and manhandle me the entire freaking time. He also just wouldn’t leave at the end of the night. Like, I would be ready to go to bed (obviously, being sick as a dog) and he would just keep staying.
If I got on my phone for any reason, he snatched it out of my hands. If it was still unlocked, he sent insulting messages to my real-life best friend who he was jealous of. It was the most uncomfortable experience I have ever had. I’m pretty grateful I lived with my parents at the time because if I didn’t he probably would’ve taken advantage.
realarocks
30. Presumptive Much?
I met this guy from an online forum for my university at a local coffee shop. It was a little awkward, and I immediately regretted meeting him on one.
A couple of hours later, I'm back at my dorm and there's an email waiting for me. In it, the guy had listed a ton of demands: he needed to know if I'd been intimate because he didn't hang around girls with daddy issues or trauma, and if we were going to go any further, I needed to be on birth control and he needed to see them.
There were others, but those are the two big ones I remember. I was like, I'm not interested in dating you and one coffee does not entitle you to send me emails like that. I emailed him back saying so, figuring he needed to learn how to treat other people. Strangely enough, I ended up dating his brother for a while, who was much more mature.
Ohsnowy
31. Goliath Meets David
A friend of 6 years flew over to Australia to hang with me for a month, little did I know he was a bit taller than me. I was 5' 10". He was... well... 6' 7"
I never knew he was this tall, he never talked about it, and when I was at the Brisbane airport waiting for him, I texted him stating 'I don't know where you are', to which he replied 'Look up'.
Towering over everyone is this blonde guy who has the arm span of the airport lobby. I cried and we laughed. I regret bringing him over because my ceiling almost hit his head.
N-Word-Pass-Verified
32. Scared
I had an online friend from Germany. He was an older guy in his 40s. We had been talking for a year and he was never creepy or disrespectful. One day, he sent me a satellite image of my house. That scared the crap out of me and I complained to him and he said that this behavior wasn’t considered weird in Germany, so I let it slide.
Weeks later, he says that he has to travel to America for his job and he says he’s coming to California. I was a bit freaked out that he sent me a pic of my house weeks prior so I didn’t ask about meeting up. Fast forward to a month or so later, I get a text from him and it’s a picture of the mall near my house.
He wanted to meet me there. I was only 18 at the time and I was afraid that he was going to come to my house if I didn’t. So I met him there. Luckily, it’s a public place and he didn’t do anything weird when I met him. Afterward, I went home and didn’t speak to him again. I blocked him on all my social media accounts.
That could’ve gone way worse, but he never did anything bad to me or hurt me otherwise. But he was completely out of line with the stalking.
[deleted]
33. Rough Times
Met a guy through a bunch of mutual friends on Twitter. He had come down to visit me and we only kinda hit it off. He was really into me so I decided to give it another chance and we met up again. This time, it went well and he eventually moved in with me during my time at university.
After he got comfortable, he stopped paying me for rent, couldn’t keep a job because he didn’t wake up to his alarm, and the red flags started. I let it go though because I really liked him and he moved so far for me. We moved into another apartment together - he started being emotionally draining for me, controlling what I wore and who I hung out with. When I tried to leave the house, he would overpower me, grab me, and hold me down.
I was broke because he only gave me about a sixth of what was owed for rent each month and I was trapped in a lease with him. I looked forward to work and school because those were times I could get away from him.
Finally, the end of the lease came about and I got an internship back in my hometown which saved my butt and I told him we needed to take a break. He moved back home, but not without leaving me with a $500 power bill!
After our relationship ended, I found out from other friends and his family that he is an extremely pathological liar and lied about so many aspects of his life to me while in our relationship. After I started my internship, I blocked his number and social media accounts and wanted to turn over a new leaf.
He then sent me countless emails and the only thing I said was telling him to leave me alone and that he was extremely abusive. On top of that, he tried to reach out to me by telling our mutuals to let me know he wanted to talk to me.
namisdorsalfin
34. Bored
When I was single I met this guy online. We talked every day for hours. He was funny, sweet, smart. We had great conversations.
We decided to meet and go play board games with some of his friends. I said I would drive because I was nervous about letting him drive me and potentially being stuck somewhere. I spent forever getting ready and went to pick him up.
I honestly cannot say what the problem was but the very second he got in my car I wanted away from him. I felt like I was literally crawling in my skin to not be near him anymore. He was still clever and polite but there was just something. I played for a little while and it was ok then I made up an excuse and offered to drive him home.
He decided to stay so I went home. I felt ashamed because I didn't know how to explain that I just did not want to speak to him or see him again. So I blocked him and ghosted him.
A few months ago I checked my requests in Messenger and he had made 5 different new pages and spent months messaging me increasingly angry messages before he gave up.
used_to_be_relevant
35. I Loved Him
I met an online boyfriend IRL. I paid $400 for a plane ticket to see him. For 2 months, I didn't spend a single cent of any of my paychecks to make sure I had enough money for a good time on the trip.
When I got there, he spent all the time looking at his phone. Never wanted to go anywhere or sightsee. He never opened up to me. I would ask what he was thinking, and I got a shrug, just "Nothing". We had a party at his parents' house for Christmas, and his mother had to remind him before the party to introduce me to people, and even prompt him to do so. Also, my introduction was "This is Ukul3l3".
He also didn't once pay for anything of mine. I'm not saying that, as my date, he was required to, but I did already spend 400 dollars, plus other fees, just to go see him. He never offered, and whenever I asked "Do you wanna pay together?" His answer was always "No, I can pay for myself". For the entire TWO WEEKS, I was with him, I paid for all of my food and gifts.
He also refused to try new foods or experiences. We went to a popular tourist spot with lots of international food. He refused to try any of it. A lot of times, I ended up eating myself while he sat and watched me eat and played on his phone.
This especially hurt when I went to a restaurant I was very excited about, and he ordered nothing but a drink that I ended up paying for. Overall, he left me feeling ignored and unwelcome. He didn't seem to care about me. He played on his phone, refused to try new things, and generally just didn't seem to care.
It hurt the entire time I was there. I cried a lot on that trip. I broke up with him there, and my parents flew me home early because I would cry every time I called and told them how miserable I was.
Luckily, I could tell the trip was going south, so I made sure to take most pictures without him, so I have pictures from the trip that I still like, without seeing him there to remind me of all the crap I went through while there.
Ukul3l3villain
36. She Used Me
It wasn’t instant, more of a slow build-up. I met a girl on a dating site and we became best friends. We were texting for about 3 years before I moved to the same state as her. We became roommates and it was alright for the first couple of months but I slowly started to realize she didn’t care about me (or seemingly anyone) and just liked having someone to talk to whenever she wanted.
There were times I would try to talk to her and she would straight up just ignore me, in person, to my face. It was honestly just weird and after a while of her disappearing without saying a word (which sucked cuz we were sharing a car), I realized we weren’t the friends I thought we were. So I started saving up and buying the things I needed to get my place.
Once I was in a position to move out and told her that’s what I wanted to do, she completely lost it. She told me she wouldn’t leave, but then decided she would move out the next day, tried to cancel my electricity, took the microwave without warning, and pretty much made me quit my job by threatening me (we worked at the same place, but NEVER at the same time). Oh, and she refused to give the apartment key back.
I knew she had some social issues and stuff which is honestly why we related initially, but the difference is I actually try to work on my problems and she just feeds into them and insists she can never change. I was the only person she talked to or hung out with when we lived together and it didn’t take me long to figure out why.
Wieners69696969
37. Change Of Plans
I met this guy on WoW about ten years back. He was smart, funny, and a good friend. We hung out all of the time online. I was a druid healer and he was a druid tank, so we did lots of dungeons and raids.
One day, he tells me he has cancer. I'm as supportive as I can be, but inside, I'm crushed. I don't see him online for about a week, and when I finally do, he tells me that it's bad and asks me to come visit. I'm in Nevada and he's in Boston, so I booked a flight for the next day.
The day comes, and I'm excited. I don't know what to expect. I'll finally be meeting him, but the circumstances suck. I don't know what I'm going to do and I don't know what I'm going to say. I know for sure that I love him and I want to hold him and stroke his hair.
When the plane lands, I get a text message from his cousin. My friend died while I was on the plane. So I didn't meet him, but I wanted to.
reptilhart
38. Trust
I made a lot of friends on an online forum for a game. Then some of us were invited by the company to a meetup of sorts for dedicated fans (flights paid and everything). They were cool. But then the fire nation attacked. I made a wrong call to trust one of them with money.
A game I was super excited about was coming out and the (extremely pricey) collectors edition wasn't going to be released in my country. We were talking about this and how sad I was, and one girl from the US (well, girl/lady, she was below 30 at the time I think and I was 17) said she was in a similar position, cause she couldn't afford to pre-order and it was a limited edition, and by the time she could, the copies would be all snatched up.
I was working part-time so I had saved up some money for this, so I made a deal with her. I ordered two copies for her address, and she would then post one copy to me and reimburse me for the difference between the postage and the price of the extra game for her.
Mind you these were people I talked to almost daily online, met in person, and had a great deal of investment in our relationship, so I thought I could trust them. She gave me excuses for a few weeks about how she was gonna mail it any day now, then she ghosted me and I never saw the game.
[deleted]
39. The Bet
I met a random guy and chatted with him for about six months, then found out we were in the same city. Considering I'm not good at making friends and pretty self-conscious I figured this might be a cool way to make a friend, and suggested we meet up.
First off, he was just... awkward and kinda unsettling. He was the kinda guy who always had a multitool and flashlight in a thing on his belt, even though he didn't work on anything that needed that. And he was strange in conversation- but I figured it was just that I don't socialize a lot, though, and insisted on powering through it.
Well, he decided to try to be intimate with me on the third time we met, admitted to another mutual friend (after I got rid of him) that he'd never been interested in being my friend and found me repulsive but simply wanted to get me to be intimate with so he could "collect my v-card" because he and these guys he hung out with had a contest about that.
Captain_Shrug
40. The Blackmail
I met him in an online game, and we instantly connected over books and shared views. We started liking each other but I still wanted to stay friends until we could meet in real life to see how different it would be, but he threatened that if I don't 'become his' that means I'm faking and I am a liar. I caved because of my fear of losing people.
He told me he was overweight, which I didn't care about at all. I told him as long as he's not endangering his life and he's happy, I don't care. He said he was on keto and he wanted to lose a couple of pounds.
When we finally showed up, he forgot to mention that he was 900 pounds, couldn't fit into my car, broke my bathtub, couldn't sleep on a bed, had maggots in his cars, and smelled like the worst smell I've ever smelled that it attracted attention everywhere we've gone. He lied about being on keto and left garbage on the floor because he couldn't bend or get up once he sat down.
He forced me into his car then got the car stranded in the middle of the street because he forgot to put gas in it and made me walk to go get gas for his car on the 'first date'. This is nothing compared to the forced intimate favours and mental mind games I went through. I stayed because I didn't think I deserved better, I left when I realized that I did not deserve that.
paranoid bug
41. The Mixup
Not me, but a roommate in college. This was waaaaaaaaaaaay back in the early days of the internet, back when it was mostly text-based sites. There was a chat room that all of our friends used to chat on.
He met this girl on it with whom he had an INSTANT rapport, but all through college either she had a boyfriend when he was single or he had a girlfriend when she was single. Until our senior year. Now keep in mind, there was no way to send photos over the web back then. So neither of them could know what each other looked like.
But she agreed to go drive a few hours and come spend the weekend. We made plans for her to stay in my fiancee's apartment so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable staying with 2 strange men. So the day came for her to arrive, and we heard a knock on the door.
He skipped over to the door excitedly and opened it..... Only to see a girl who literally could have been his twin sister. I mean, if they'd been blonde they'd have been SHOE-ins to play Jaime and Cersei Lannister. She ended up staying for a few hours and left as soon as she could without seeming completely rude.
[deleted]
42. Social Media Dating
I met this girl on the web and we became best friends- we FaceTimed every night etc. After about 6 months of this, she decided she would fly to England to meet me and I was super excited!
She gets here and it is all fine- we bought each other gifts so we opened them. All is good for a few days until she starts getting catty. We took her out for a meal on New Year's and paid for it, but she didn’t eat it and barely spoke to my parents (didn’t say thank you or offer any money, etc). I found later that she was completely talking down about me and my family to her other friend.
She would spend no time with me, hog my room, and just be rude. She made us drive 2 hours extra to another airport because it was more convenient for her- shoved past a woman with a stroller in the subway when we were holding the door open. Refused to eat the food unless we went where she wanted. She was just very overall rude.
Apple-flame
43. Flight Risk
He seemingly was unable to schedule anything without me committing to something, first, and we've since broken our friendship as of a few years ago. We occasionally exchange words on Twitter, but he's as full of himself as I am at times.
He's a rich kid who doesn't understand the emphasis on working a good job, has no motivation to leave Maine, and acts like you're the problem when he can be the source of it half the time.
When he was legitimately nice or caring, he was a good person. But more often than that, the kindness had a motive and if he got called out on that... that's where the real douchebag came out.
You could say some of it was my fault when I canceled plans, when I felt it got too shady, or too uncertain. But, at the same time would you risk travel and money for someone who's known to cancel and not show up for different things if he "doesn't like them"?
ElvenAmerican
44. First Impression
My friend and I met a guy who lived on the opposite side of the country. We used to play a lot of Rainbow Six Vegas with him. Guy just graduated from high school and my friend invited him to come hang out with us for a week.
A guy comes off wearing ACU and pretends that he is in the army. No name tape on, no patches. I called him out on it and he said he just wears it because it's comfortable and said he would change. The guy wore the uniform all week and was a jerk to everyone. Was so happy when he left and I removed him and blocked him online.
Riverman1084
45. Instant Friend
Met this cover singer and became friends on YouTube (Weird Place to meet, I know) after I promoted her cover song which gained 2k views.
We exchanged our Instagram usernames and that's where we started chatting. We had a lot of similarities including music taste, way of talking, and even had similar personalities. We talked for 8 months despite the huge 9.5-hour difference between the time zones.
And one day, she suddenly stopped replying to my messages. I asked her what was wrong 3-4 times but no reply. She was always active though as she posted stuff. A month later, she blocked me. She was the only female friend I had.
TheApolloZ