OH DEAR! Internet?Distance?Love?

[Anna B L]

Okay so I have a friend, who I met online 5 or 6 years ago. I'm 17 right now. He's 19. Anyways, I've never met him in person, and recently I've realized that my feelings for him were a quite a bit deeper than I realized before. I really like this guy.
But I dont know what to do. I told a Another friend of mine, (who also talks to him as of three years ago when I introduced them) and she told him that "he should date me" but she was sorta joking around to see how i would react.
He said that he would if he didnt live so far away. (I live in Maine, he lives in Cali.)and then we talked for 4 hours about how we wished we could.
So now I'm caught between a rock and a hard place.
Sometimes we (he and I) joke around about visiting eachother, but its always a casual, and playful, but now everytime we talk about it I wish he really would visit me. or that i could visit him. I really wish I could. And I wished it before i found out he felt hte same way. Now what do i do? its making me crazy.
Another thing.....

He wont date online. He tried that once and the girl broke his heart. It was a few years ago. He was really upset about it for months.

He has a job, but i cant find one, and even if i did I'd have to wait until later to go meet him anywhere ebcause my parents wouldnt go for it, so i'd have to wait until i'm 18. Or he'd have to pay to get all the way here. But if he could get *here* i could get him a place to stay for free for a while, and food to eat.

If I were to meet him it would probably be at a mall or something where thers lots of people, and a friend there also.

Someone (cant remember who now) said i should stop talking ot him for a while, but he's also one of my best friedns. I've known him longer than all but one of my friends, and I couldnt just stop talking to him.
oh! and I've talked to him on the phone a few times, but because of hte distance its easier for both of us just to talk online.
Would it be wierd if I asked him to visit me? Like i said we talk about it but only joking, but would it be weird to ask for real?