Meredith,

This one’s a doozy so I hope you have a large glass of wine and nowhere to be for at least a few minutes. I run a popular meme account online, and I literally never respond to follower messages. But given quarantine, I was scrolling through my inbox and one quirky message stuck out. I was wary about making the connection but humored him anyway and responded. We hit it off. After several DMs I learned that he was in Europe on business, as he travels for work seasonally, his hometown being L.A., which, conveniently, is where I’m located.

I gave him my personal Instagram info. We discovered we share the same profession, astrological compatibility, and a lot of mutual friends. In the midst of COVID, our internet relationship transpired through a series of sweet bored, 24/7-no-boundaries text messages, perfectly-timed FaceTimes, and obvious late-night horny sexting. But worst of all, we both caught feelings. We shared this beautiful bond, more intimate than I have time to write about here.

Anyway, after a month and a half of this internet relationship, he came home. We met in real life after he quarantined for two weeks. I feel like I’m self-sabotaging this new thing because it was storybook-like. And now that I see him in front of me, I don’t know how to be. But I also know he’s hung up on his ex, and I might have been just an ego boost. They have reconnected since he’s been back, and he told me he still kind of loves her, and he liked her bikini pics on Instagram, and now they follow each other again. How can he make room for a new experience if he’s still hung up?

I wholeheartedly believe in being friends with exes, but it takes a lot of time and healing. And not when you are trying to court someone else. What do I do. Forget this guy?

– Hung up