I met a guy about a month ago at a friend's house. We live about 4 hours apart, but we talk through IM pretty often. It's always friendly chit chat, though. We're both nerds, so it tends to be about video games, movies, music, books, comics, etc. The other day we talked about how we have similar situations romantically right now (He wants his ex back, but she's made it obvious that isn't going to happen.) That's the most personal thing we've talked about so far, and when he got offline (4 hours later) he thanked me for talking to him about things as he doesn't normally get to vent about that kind of thing with his friends. I'm starting to really like the guy, but I don't know how to show him I'm interested when we rarely see each other. I'm not very good with flirting and making my intentions known without being blunt, and it's even harder through text. Should I even try? I mean, he nor I are over our previous relationships (but I'm more than happy to move on, myself). Neither of us have the money to go visit one another very often at all. He just graduated with his master's in mechanical engineering but can't find a job, and I'm a broke college student. He's the first person since my last relationship (that lasted 4 years, and I'm only 22) that I could see myself wanting to be with. So I guess my questions are as follows:
1) Is it worth the effort?
2) Am I already too far into the friend zone?
3) If no and yes, respectfully, to the last questions should I just carry on as friends or give up on it entirely?