It's hard to stay. Long distance is very difficult in any case, and it's hard to make the commitment to someone in long distance. Harder still if you don't know when the time to be close to one another will come. He may be second guessing his take on the relationship and may be avoiding talking to you because he doesn't know what to say. Or otherwise, when you said you needed time, he decided to give you your space. Is it possible that he's waiting for you to contact him, because you requested some time to think about it?
This could also be another possibilty to consider.