oh, friends can use you. when youâre sitting drunk in someone elseâs apartment with three people youâre not really comfortable with and a party full of strangers, you think about him, and how he used to be your friend, and how the two of you used to plan a future, not an end. you two were going to explore the world or be each otherâs roommates or put on a two-person play.Â
what do you say about that, about why youâre upset. âoh itâs just a guyâ. but not a guy like that. it was just a friend that you used to share secrets with who left once he got his dreams, his house, his girlfriend. youâre not jealous, youâre happy for him - but you wish heâd write you, now and then.
once in middle school you had a best friend, and she was gone by the end of high school. like, still there, still someone you saw in the hallways, but not someone you felt close to. which was fine, you told yourself, people grow apart, they live their lives and expand like suns. it just feels like everyone is trying to grow apart from you, to reach until they escape your orbit.
you canât say âmy friends use me when theyâre sad and then leave when they find happyâ because what, are you going to be mad about someone else finally getting out? you canât say âiâm lonelyâ when youâre just incapable of letting more than two people close to you. you canât complain âthey left meâ because they didnât leave you, did they. theyâre just. not your friend anymore. and it happens. itâs not like you were in a relationship.
but stuff happens and you think - he would love this. or you go through your pictures and heâs there and you think - thatâs the end of that. or a song comes on and it was your song - and you know, in your heart, if you played it for him, he wouldnât even remember the tune of it. but what are you going to say? are you going to imply friends need to stay with you? that your life is sad because youâre easy to leave? that youâre hurting because of something so small as âmy best friend moved onâ?
youâre really good at giving. so people come to you, and you give them advice, and you give them time, and once in a while, when youâre feeling silly, you try to give them a spot in your heart. Â
and you always wind up back here. back where you are.
















