Summer_Twilight wrote:
I have been feeling better since the 4th of July and though I didn't confront him, I said I am happy for but miss him because he's not only seeing someone but also because he lives a long distance away. I also explained I circle of friends had seemed to keep disappearing since 2014. He didn't say much in the text but said that he had to go because he was meeting his girlfriend for a date the night before the 4th. I had not heard anything since.
I decided that to give him some room at the moment because his girlfriend is obviously his world and if anything, the ball is in his court. He knows how to reach me and I will leave it at that.
There are differences between the ways males and females tend to approach friendships, which may be at play here. Males tend to prefer to socialize with friends of the same sex in groups. Females tend to prefer to socialize with friends of the same sex one on one. Females often "attach" to a particular friend and engage in what I would call "friend guarding". When I had first started at university, there were very few females in my program. There were a small handful, most of whom had known each other for a few years. This one girl always had girl at her side who rarely spoke, and seemed to resent any attempt by other girls to socialize with her friend.
Though your friend is of the opposite sex, perhaps you are socializing with him in this particular female manner, and this is foreign to him, because males typically do not attach to their friends in this manner. Additionally, when males develop romantic relationships, these relationships typically take precedent over their friendships.
05 Jul 2017, 2:02 pm
