We met at 12 years old.. 12 years later I

I had a hard time believing in love. I guess, I felt like I had a hard time with everything. When I was 12 years old, I had a crush on a boy, but he never knew. Little did I know, he liked me too. Over six years later, he and I were set up at a concert by mutual friends who had no idea we already knew each other. That summer, we spent it together and it was the most fun I've ever had with someone. The end of summer came, and I had to go back to school to West Virginia while he had to go back to school to Charlotte. The last thing he said to me was, "This isn't goodbye, it's a see you later." After that, I didn't see him again for 3 years. Crazy how timing is, right? In those three years, I've tried to move on, but he always crossed my mind. Out of the blue one day, he messaged me and after that our story continued. I didn't think I could feel a love as the one I felt for him. I began to believe in more of everything. Myself, himself, faith, love, and life. But I let life get the best of me... A few months ago, timing was testing us again. There are these friends that came into his life and that was the first red flag I've ever thrown up at him about someone. He immediately got defensive. After that, we started questioning our goals in life and what we wanted. What I ended up wanting was a life with him and he ended up having no idea what he was wanting. We had to step away to hopefully figure things out, but to this day I have not seen any hope.