#17 makes me want to scream, “Wait! What?!”

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"She assumed it was over in a very mature kind of way. Little did she know, he was doing more than just lying to her parents about still being with her. It turned out that while she was away, he used the fake relationship with her to still keep coming to the family's house...because he was sleeping with her younger sister. He even bought her a trace phone so they could speak privately without the family knowing. They even slept together. When it all came out, he went to Las Vegas. The younger sister, in her teenage angst, got on a bus and followed him to try to get him back. Our friend group hopped in a car and brought the sister back. The parents pressed charges, but being in the early 2000s and our ex-friend having a subpar military background, he was able to charm his way out of any legal ramifications. After that, we refused to see him. He was completely cut off from the group. Last we all heard, he was still playing the same games with women, even married ones. None of us knows what he's up to now. We don’t have time for that kind of drama anymore."

"During the Christmas break, we planned a double date to celebrate Elle's birthday. As I was texting Elle to sort out some details, she lightly tried to uninvite my husband. I thought it was just some playful banter, so I joked back. But then she got serious and said that she only wanted her 'Core 3' at her birthday — meaning me, her, and her husband. Ummm, okay, first time I was being made aware I was part of a nonconsensual Core 3. Girl, what?!

So, I told her if she has a problem with my husband, she should talk to him. My husband had no idea what it could have been about, so we chalked it up to a possible misunderstanding. She never reached out to him, so my husband reached out to her for my sanity's sake. This was when we learned that my husband had apparently deeply offended Elle’s husband, Chris, by saying he didn’t like Andre 3000's improvisational jazz flute album. Supposedly, it's Chris's favourite album, so he was hurt when my husband said it wasn't his favourite. Then Chris got involved, said it wasn’t only about the album, it was about my husband being rude to Elle because he didn’t buy Elle a Christmas gift. Our spouses had never given each other individual gifts for the holidays before. But that holiday, Elle got my husband a case of Coors, and since he was surprised, he didn't have anything on hand to reciprocate.

Elle and Chris then LAID INTO my husband, calling him every name in the book, sending insane paragraphs about what an asshole he is — all because of the Andre 3000 flute album and because Elle bought hubby a case of Coors.

After letting the dust settle over the holidays, I reached out. I basically said, 'Let’s just chalk all this up to holiday stress and a bad day.' My husband had already apologized, too. My last text to her said, 'We’re all happy to just move past this and forgive and forget.' Elle and Chris never replied, and ghosted me after that. It’s been years since they left me on read.

I will never truly understand what happened there, and it still makes me sad, but if that’s the way Elle and Chris approach friendships and conflict…I’ll pass on the Core 3."

"Only to find out that the REAL reason she was leaving him was that she was having ANOTHER affair — this time with a much older, and very married man. To top it all off, she was pregnant with the married man’s baby! I continued to support her even though the married man was really bad news. He was a prescription drug addict and even lost his license to practice medicine because of it. We went out to dinner with them one time, and he was so high he couldn’t stay awake through dinner!! After that, she left the married man and said she would do better for her children. NOPE. She then got pregnant with ANOTHER child by the married drug addict. After that, I couldn’t be her friend anymore. She was sucking my soul dry. The married man ended up dying, and she is now back with her original affair partner. I feel so bad for her kids, and my husband's best friend, who had to endure all of this."

"For 10 years, I kept hearing about her married boyfriend planning on leaving his wife for her. Spoiler alert: 16 years later, she is still the side piece, and he is still married. I did nothing that could have ruined her life. If my moving to support my mother ruined her life, then I did not need or want her friendship. I blocked her phone number and on social media; when she could not reach me, she asked my mother to have me call. But I'm done."

"When her dad died, I was by her side from the moment it happened to the funeral and beyond. I dropped everything to hold her hand and offer sympathy. She did not go through it alone. When my dad died, I did not even get a sympathy phone call from her after I left a voicemail. It 'slipped' her mind. When my mother died, I was going through a temporary separation from my husband. I needed my best friend to be by my side more than ever. I offered to pay for round-trip plane tickets for her, child care for her kids, house rental, rental car, everything. And even though she wasn't working and I would've paid for everything, she said she couldn't come.

After a few other things, I decided I needed some space. Then one day, I got an angry voicemail from her, saying that her mother had passed away, and how dare I not be there for her. She then asked me for money. After her last request for funds, I blocked her from my cell phone.

Months later, she called our landline and talked to my husband. On the phone, she told him how angry she was that I wasn’t there for her. He just laid into her, told her how wrong she was, and then hung up. 

It is very hard to let go of someone who was like a sister to you, and now is a stranger who doesn't even desire to know or understand you at all."

"I packed her son’s room up. It was disgustingly filthy with garbage mixed in with everything. A pack rat situation. She had a camera in her apartment and flipped out when she saw all the garbage bags lined up for a dump pickup. So she calls to ask why I was throwing out all her son's most treasured items. I chalked it up to stress and let the outburst go. But then she started calling our mutual friends to tell them how I had mistreated her and was stealing from her in the packing process. That was it. I gave the key to the neighbour and told her I couldn't do it anymore.  Even then, I was ready to drop it, because I knew how stressed she was. But then she started calling and messaging nonstop, telling me everything I did wrong during the packing process. I ended up having to block her. I never saw this side of her in the 2 years we were friends. So sad how it all went down."

"The following Monday, I got stuck in horrible traffic going to work. There had been a fatality accident on the highway with no alternate route for me to take. I barely had the ability to call my boss and let her know I was running late because the lane merging was getting too wild. When I arrived at the office, I had a page of texts accusing me of ignoring her because I was being petty about 'Friday' (my birthday). Silent treatment has never been my MO, but it is hers. It never occurred to her that I might just have something happening for two hours that left me unable to read or answer texts. I took a breath and sent my final message to her, explaining that I just couldn't do this anymore. I think about her a lot; our friendship spanned so many major events of my life, it's hard not to see where the gap is, but I would never be friends with her again. It's a combination of me being too quick to give and her being too quick to take."

"One day, we were going to the same concert with a group of friends, so we agreed to carpool. She texted me asking if we could leave for the concert an hour later than planned. I didn't want to miss any of the concert, so. I said that we already agreed on the plan, and I want to stick to it. She went OFF on me, calling me names and accusing me of some wild things. I told her that I wasn't interested in going to the concert anymore and asked her to refund my ticket. She didn't. I spent two years of my life being dragged down by her. We haven't spoken since." 

Note: Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.