Hi 2cents, I am speculating here, but if you are having an online relationship with someone of the opposite gender ‘because’ you don’t see that person, eventually you will; or try to. If you like each other, can you label your interaction as dating (since you said you are available)? Otherwise, you may be getting into something down the road which will be less than an ideal relationship.
A great Rosh Yehshiva of a high school once gave the following moshal, although not in these exact words:
“If we go ahead and do what we want, if it is not the Torah way (and I am not saying this is not the Torah way), then we go ahead doing something we like and it seems sweet; but it will eventually become like thorns to us. If we want to do something, and hold back because it is not the Torah way, what seems like thorns to us at first, because we are holding back what we want to do, will end up yielding something sweet in the long run.”