Post
I live in Marrakech. I (31F) met a guy (32M) in Valencia, Spain about 10 days ago through Tinder. We had been texting quite a lot before meeting, and our first date ended up lasting around 12 hours.
It was honestly one of those dates where you completely lose track of time. We walked around the city, talked for hours about everything from family and relationships to marriage, work, money, etc., laughed a lot, kissed, and just had a really strong connection. The date lasted 12 hours.
I was originally supposed to fly home two days later, but I realized I had a couple of extra days available. He was actually the one encouraging me to stay longer and helped me look at accommodation options and paid for the hotel.
So I stayed.
We then spent basically another 3 days together, not just dates, but long stretches of normal life. He worked sometimes while I was around, we ate together, slept together, talked endlessly, had little disagreements, talked through them, etc.
By the time I left, we'd spent roughly four very intense days together.
He was very affectionate. He repeatedly told me he was going to miss me, said he'd never experienced this particular kind of connection/depth before, took lots of pictures/videos of us, told his sister about me, wanted me to briefly say hello to his mom/friends when they called, and talked about coming to visit me in Marrakech once his residency situation in Spain was sorted.
Important context: we are NOT exclusive and have not defined this as a relationship. We literally met 10 days ago. I'm very aware of that.
After I returned home, we continued communicating every day. Lots of voice notes/texts, usually several exchanges throughout the day. He'd tell me he missed me, ask questions about my life, send me things from his day, etc.
Recently, however, the communication has become noticeably less consistent.
There have been a few long gaps between replies. Some had completely reasonable explanations his phone screen actually stopped working and he eventually bought an adapter/mouse so he could operate it, and another time he was unexpectedly dealing with checking out of his accommodation and finding somewhere else to stay. He just moved to Valencia a month ago and is still figuring out where to stay as his one month lease was over.
He's also currently working a lot and trying to find permanent housing in a city he only recently moved to, so I know his life is genuinely chaotic right now.
But I'm still noticing the change.
We recently started video calling. A couple of nights ago, he initiated a call and we spoke for around 30 minutes. He asked if we could talk again the following evening.
I told him I prefer having an actual time rather than vague "maybe later" plans, so we agreed on a time.
The next evening, he missed the call and didn't notify me beforehand.
Later that night, he came back on his own and said something like, "Are you awake? We were going to have a call š„²." He explained that an important client/work had taken over, apologized before I even confronted him about it, and asked if I was available to talk.
We had a video call.
During it I was pretty vulnerable with him. I explained that because we're long-distance and everything is so new, uncertainty sometimes makes me anxious, and that if we agree on a call and something comes up, I don't expect him to drop everything, I would just really appreciate a quick message saying he can't make it.
He seemed very receptive. He apologized again, said he understood how his behavior could make me feel like I wasn't being prioritized, and even suggested he'd set an alarm next time.
Then our call dropped because of his phone/connection battery.
Later he texted saying it was just his phone and said, "Perhaps beep me when it's ok to talk."
So this morning around 10am, I did exactly that.
I said good morning and asked:
"Are you free around 6-7pm?"
It has now been over 7 hours and he hasn't responded.
What is bothering me even more is that I saw that he had been on WhatsApp several hours after I sent the message.
And now I'm confused.
On one hand, I keep thinking: we met TEN DAYS AGO. He's working, moving, dealing with housing, and we haven't even established a relationship. Maybe the insane amount of communication immediately after spending four days together was never going to be sustainable, and I'm interpreting a normal settling-down period as rejection.
Also, when we actually interact, he still seems engaged. He asks about my life, initiates calls sometimes, and literally last night came looking for me after missing our call and then invited me to contact him again.
On the other hand, I can't shake the feeling that someone who is really excited about me wouldn't take 7+ hours to answer such a simple message, especially when HE was the one who asked me to contact him to talk.
I'm also worried because the communication seems less intense than immediately after I left Valencia. He used to say "I miss you" more often, responses were faster, etc.
I'm trying very hard not to turn response times into a measurement of someone's feelings, but because this is long-distance, communication is basically all we have when we're apart.
I really like him. Probably more than I expected to after knowing someone for such a short time. And I think that's partly why this is affecting me so much.
I'm planning to give him some space and not double-text or chase him. I'm also not planning to bring up the Marrakech visit again, he was the one who proposed visiting, so I figure if he genuinely wants to do it, he'll eventually turn that into actual plans.
I guess my questions are:
Does this sound like someone slowly losing interest/slow-ghosting, or could this genuinely just be two people coming down from an unusually intense first few days and trying to find a normal communication rhythm?
And especially for people who started long-distance: did you have periods like this at the very beginning where communication was inconsistent and you thought the other person was losing interest, but things eventually stabilized?
I'm not looking for reassurance that he's definitely into me. If this sounds bad, tell me. I'm genuinely trying to figure out what is reasonable to expect from someone I met only 10 days ago versus what I shouldn't rationalize away.