Why shouldn't we be with the one we really love?

I have never been one to understand matters of the heart. i'm terrible at reading people and because I am so upfront and frank, I cannot understand why others are not. I thought that I had found someone who loves me, who gets me, who wants to be with me. Yet I feel her pulling away again. i can't understand why it is always 2 steps forward and three back. it's as if everytime she is vulnerable or opens up to me, she clams up twice as much. every time i feel like we're finally going to be together she distances herself. i can wait, i really can, but i dont see why we should. when u find someone you connect with on such a deep level, why would you not want to be with them? why is it 'we should just kiss and get it over with' one day and 'you gotta get over me' the next? it just doesn't make sense. i know she wants to protect me from herself, because she has a history of walking away, i know she thinks we want different things, i know she thinks our age difference is too big. i know i think about her all the time, that she makes me happy, that i miss her when i dont see her everyday... my friends are probably right, she probably is playing with me...messing with my mind. i don't know who to open up to anymore. i feel alone.