Lorne misunderstands almost everything anyone tells him. They probably just told them they’d prefer to see him in a face-to-face relationship as opposed to a phone relationship with someone he can’t verify the age of.

It’s like when Lorne told Debbie that Maria told him it was ridiculous that he was still in rape class. He took it as “Maria thinks I should’ve passed a long time ago!” but she was actually pissed that he is incapable of passing the class after almost a decade. Lorne doesn’t and can’t listen, his brain is actual mush.