Should I End Things With My Boy Best Friend?
So I'm a 17-year-old girl, and my boy best friend just turned 21 in October. I turn 18 in May. I know the age gap is quite big, but I'll make it clear that he has never asked me for anything inappropriate or ever made me do anything bad because he asked. I met him online. I've also known him for nearly two years, which will be two years in April. He's gotten me out of so many dark places and was my rock for so long; he's helped me so much in my life, and I'm so grateful. But I feel like our friendship is coming to an end. I've never felt so mentally tired in my life. He makes me cry more than anyone in my life right now. The problem I have with him is that I think he is a manipulator. He constantly tries to make me jealous, and when I do get jealous, he calls me dramatic. We argue nearly every day, and he apologizes the next day, and the cycle repeats. It's draining, and I'm considering calling it quits. Anytime I say that maybe this friendship has run its course, he reels me back in with promises of being better, that things won't be like this forever. But we haven't gone a week without arguing in a year. If things were going to get better, then that would have happened by now, right? I'll tell you about my most recent argument as an example of how most of them play out. He asked me to play a game with him around 5:30 pm my time. For context, we always set a time for each other at 6:30 my time. Because of the time difference, we found that this time works best for both of us, though I often cancel things to make it free for him. I also hate the game he asked me to play. I don't find it fun, and I mostly sit there watching him and his friends talk the whole time without even playing. I have severe social anxiety, so talking in large groups makes me overstimulated, and I shut down. He knows this more than anyone, and his group is up to 15 people at once. Very triggering for me. So I sucked it up and played with him for over an hour. Then, around 7:00 pm my time, I said bye to everyone and left, and I texted him separately saying I was bored and to let me know when he was done. He doesn't respond for 10 mins, and when he does, he says to join back. I explain why I don't want to, and he doesn't respond for another 10 mins. I end up waiting 30 mins for him to get off the game, and he's finally ready to talk. It's 7:30 pm, and we're an hour past our time to talk. And I asked him straight up if he thought it was rude that he made me wait while he played with his other friends. To sum it up, we argued, and his stance was that I chose to leave, and he was enjoying playing, so he stayed. And if i wanted to talk to him I couldve talked to him on the game. My stance was that he didn't prioritize me, even though I prioritized him by playing when I didn't want to. I felt that his not responding for long stretches was rude, and that him knowing I was waiting and still choosing to stay was inconsiderate. I gave him an example of what I would do with my friends, and he said yes, he would be annoyed, but the situation was different because I chose to leave, and it's my fault if I was bored. He told me not to play the game with him anymore because he doesn't care, and he doesn't want to try to include me in those conversations. I said okay, and we ended our convo on a bad note. During the whole argument, he called me dramatic and said I make everything bigger than it needs to be. He also said the situation was not about prioritizing one over the other, but I said it was. I don't know what I should do. We keep getting into arguments, and he never takes accountability for his actions. He never says sorry until wayyyyy later, and I feel like he only does because I don't talk to him. Whenever I mention wanting space, he says I'm running from my problems, I'm a coward, and I can never deal with anything in a mature way. Anytime we argue, he says I'm dramatic, I'm draining, I overreact, and I'm so immature. But when I try to be mature and clear during arguments, he's like, "This vibe doesn't suit you, stop trying to be mature because we both know you're not, it's so funny watching you try and stay calm." He also asks me to communicate, and when I do, he's like "So dramatic, I don't even know why this bothers you." I'm really trying my hardest. I know I overthink, so I try not to, but having a mentality like "It is what it is," but even then, he says, "If you care, then care, don't act like it doesn't bother you." I feel like I can never win with him, and I feel manipulated. He gaslights me when we fight, and guilt-trips me into saying sorry, then when I do, he says "nah, I don't want that, it's worthless".
I've also mentioned taking a break, like afew months to work on myself. He always fights me on this, saying im stupid, dumb, impulsive, and i make bad decisions. He said without him Id never get better, and if anything I'd get worse. He says i always make him out to be the bad guy and that im always having problems with him. For context, most of my problems with him is how he talks to me, when he jokes when im trying to be serious, and when he gaslights, blackmails, and guilt trips me into promising him things Im not ready to promise. I know the promises aren't bad but I dont appreciate eing manipulated.
Do you have any advice for me? Also, sorry for yapping, I didn't think this would be so long. Thank you for reading, it means a lot.
Posted Feb 23, 2026, 6:05 AM UTC