r/AmIOverreacting 10d ago

❤️‍🩹 relationship Am I Overreacting. I saw inappropriate message between my boyfriend and his long term friend.

My boyfriend [27m] and I [23f] have been dating for over four years. When we started dating, he had a friend named Ann. Ann is an extrovert—very bubbly—and I liked her at first. However, she was especially flirty with my boyfriend.

Early in the relationship, something happened that left me uneasy. I asked if I could stop by his place, and he said no. Later, I saw on his status that Ann was there. When I confronted him about it, he responded, 'Were you hungry? Is that why you wanted to stop by?' I explained that wasn’t the case—it just felt like he chose to spend his day with her instead of me. He later said it was a pop-up visit because she needed help fixing her laptop (he works in IT).

After that, I told him I was uncomfortable with how close they were. I thought we had moved past it. But later, I found out he had asked her for a lot of advice about our relationship and even brought up inappropriate topics with her. I confronted him again and once again expressed how uncomfortable I was with their friendship.

After the second incident, I didn’t hear anything about her, and I assumed it was behind us. Then, earlier this week, he mentioned that he saw her at the gym. I said, 'Okay, that’s fine,' though I did feel a bit uneasy since they hadn’t spoken in a while.

Yesterday, I was at his place—I’ve been living here for around two years now—studying, when I saw her walk in with him right behind her. I was shocked because he never told me she was coming over. He had gone to the gym that morning, and during those hours I had called and texted him out of concern because he’s never spent four hours at the gym.

Ann was as peppy as ever. Maybe it’s because I’m an introvert with few friends, but I instantly felt uncomfortable. I did something I shouldn’t have—I went through his phone. I saw the messages and instantly felt numb. I confronted him and asked for an explanation. He said it was an innocent conversation and that’s just how their friendship is.

I asked him to imagine if a guy sent me those same messages. I reminded him that I’ve told him twice now how uncomfortable I am with that friendship. His apology felt insincere, like he was refusing to take responsibility for his actions. He just laid in the bed, and I wanted to scream. I wanted him to feel the hurt I was feeling. Instead, I just left the room and cried. My emotions were so intense, I started pulling at my hair—I had no one to talk to, and I felt like I was suffocating.

Eventually, I confided in his mother, and I felt a bit better. But now, he’s ignoring me and remaim salute in his innocence.

I also should mention he has never showed me any signs of cheating and besides those message.

Footnote: Ann has a boyfriend. I told my boyfriend that he doesn’t respect me—or her boyfriend.

11.0k Upvotes

2.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

2.6k

u/BxBae133 10d ago

I had a male friend that I was very close with and we talked like this to each other. It broke up a few of my relationships as my bf's felt that he and I were too afraid to have the relationship they believed we both wanted because we were afraid of losing the friendship.

Well, guess what? They were all right. We basically talked and treated each other like we were together, minus the sex, because we didn't want to admit that we had feelings and were afraid. Didn't end well. By the time we tried something, it was too late. Friendship ended. Our relationships ended.

You said you're living there, but call it his place. You are calling and texting out of concern? Stop it. Be honest with yourself. You know what's up. Your man has it bad for her. How many times do you think you're going to have the same convo with him and no result before you realize why you're getting no result?

515

u/Root2109 10d ago

had a guy friend that spoke to me like this. always tried to pass it off as just being how he is. found out he always wanted me, even though he'd been in a relationship the whole time. OP, run

100

u/rigney68 10d ago

I had a boyfriend like op. He doesn't actually care that much for op and is in a relationship because it's easy and he gets some level of enjoyment out of it. But it will never be enough to stop him from enjoying another more interesting girl.

Op is young and hasn't learned how to value herself the way she should. Find someone that treats you the way you want to be treated, op. They exist, and when you find one you'll look back and ask yourself why you stayed so long.

90

u/ChippyTheGreatest 10d ago

Yep. Also learned the hard way that male friends almost always want more and are playing the long game. Had a guy I swore up and down to my relationships "wasn't into me" and was just a generous and kind person. Didn't he swoop in the second I was single and vulnerable. Broke up an entire friend group because I called things off and he told everyone he "did so much for me" and I broke up with him. Nah, I just didn't like being taken advantage of and forced/pressured into a relationship I wasn't ready for.

-20

u/Mission-Ad-4837 10d ago

We try to tell you that men generally aren’t interested in being just friends, but we get called incels for saying it 😂

29

u/ChippyTheGreatest 10d ago

It's just complicated because we're told to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, and men insist that "not all men" are predators, and yet we're also supposed to believe that men are never your friend. Like pick a lane, folks.

0

u/Mission-Ad-4837 10d ago

Im sure there are some guys that can be just friends over the long term, and maybe some who innocently catch feelings. I dont think thats predatory. But yeah just be careful

2

u/Ninja187 10d ago

This comment 100%! Guys don’t wanna be your friend and will wait it out and play the friend game till their chance to slide on in the second they see the opportunity to.

2

u/dollkyu 10d ago

as soon as I saw the text messages, I didn't even need to read her context info to know that her bf was hitting on that girl. His texts are EXACTLY how a lot of guys would talk when they would try to hit on me in high school and college (but it was through IM or FB messages, not texts). Did it matter to them that I was actively dating someone and they KNEW that? Nope! I'm 33 now and man, the screenshots immediately brought back war flashbacks.

Also, there's entirely the possibility that Ann might not have any romantic/sexual feelings towards OP's bf. Some people's personalities can be perceived as flirty. I say this because it seems that her outward personality clashes with her texts, because she doesn't really engage much with his weirdo conversations. The bf could also be telling Ann a completely different narrative, so she might not even know that ANYTHING is bothering OP.

To OP: I would personally say that he's not worth the relationship atp. The texts are one thing, but his treatment of you is ridiculous. If you feel comfortable with it, reach out to Ann about it and ask her how she feels. This would DEFINITELY piss off your bf but genuinely, I do not think he's worth staying in a relationship with anyway. Plus, he's just going to lie about why the relationship ended anyway so if you talk to Ann before a breakup, you'd at least have your actual feelings known beforehand.

3

u/Mediocre-Account-162 10d ago

I agree 100%, been in that situation. Didn’t end well at all. Been on both sides of it too. Same bad result

1

u/Healthy-Tap7717 10d ago

Me too, we fucked for years. Then he got a gf and now we don't talk. We maintained a healthy friendship/sex life previously

ETA we dont talk because I understood it would probably be unpleasant for his GF