Dear Dr. Gay-Nerd,

I’m a big Xbox Live player (I live in a small town, and there aren’t many local gamers to hang out with), and I’ve made some really close friends playing online.  One in particular stands out from the rest.  We’ll get into a party chat with each other even if we’re not playing a game.  He’s a great guy and never seemed to bat an eye when I told him I was gay.   We’ve really connected over the past year or so. The problem is I think I’m falling for him.  Now, he says he’s straight, but he never talks about a girlfriend (or even says he’s looking for one).  I try not to ask about it, because I don’t want to make things awkward between us, but sometimes I do wonder.  I’m kind of going crazy here, but I don’t want to scare him off because he IS my best friend at this point.  Should I tell him or “stay in the closet” (as it were)?

–GamerNOscore