Reddit Stories - Close male COMPANION of a decade began BEHAVING oddly and DELIVERING peculiar remarks

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #relationships #friendship #behavior #communication #confusionSummary: A close male companion of a decade has started behaving oddly and delivering peculiar remarks, causing confusion and concern. The situation prompts questions about the nature of the relationship and the reasons behind the sudden change in behavior.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, relationships, friendship, behavior, communication, confusion, male, companion, decade, odd, peculiar, remarks, concern, change, questions, natureBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Close male companion of a decade began behaving oddly and delivering peculiar remarks about my error following my engagement, prompting me to address his conduct, and found out something that changed everything. I, 28F, have been best friends with Eric, 28M, for 10 years. To give some context, Eric and I have been through a lot together, from college stress to job hunting, and he's like family to me. All of that changed after I got engaged to my fiancé Adam, 30M, a few months ago. Ever since I announced my engagement, Eric has been acting off.

When I first told Eric that Adam proposed, his reaction was, strange. He paused for a long moment, then muttered a flat oh, ah, congrats. Not the enthusiastic response I expected from my best friend. I figured he was just surprised or having a bad day. But then other things started happening. He's been a bit distant, like he skipped a couple of our usual hangouts and left early from group events. And the comments began. At first, it was subtle. He would make little snide remarks about Adam or marriage in general, usually disguised as jokes. For example, when I mentioned some wedding planning stress, Eric smirked and basically told me to enjoy my freedom while it lasts. I brushed it off as cynical humor about marriage.

But he kept at it. He even joked, at least I hope it was a joke, that marriage ruins friendships when I asked if he was coming to our engagement celebration. It felt weird because he's never been negative like this before. The last day was the breaking point. I was telling Eric about an apartment Adam and I are looking to rent after the wedding. Out of nowhere, Eric said I'm abandoning him for another guy. Those were basically his words, maybe not verbatim, but pretty close. He sounded half joking but also half serious, and it caught me completely off guard. I remember kind of laughing and saying, you know I'm not abandoning anyone, but he just shrugged and went quiet with this resentful look. I'm honestly at a loss here. Eric has always been

supportive of me in the past. He was there for me when I went through a nasty breakup years ago, my ex cheated, and Eric practically dragged me through the heartbreak and back. He's met my past boyfriends and never had any real issues with them, or at least he never expressed any. This time it's different. Adam and Eric were friendly before, we all hung out many times and I never saw any problems. Now, Eric constantly finds ways to put down my fiancé or make marriage sound like a death sentence. It's getting to the point where I'm starting to think he's jealous. Either he's afraid of losing our friendship, or I don't know. Maybe he has some other issue with Adam or with the idea of marriage itself that he's not telling me. For context, Eric is single and hasn't

had a serious relationship in a few years, so I wonder if that's feeding into it a bit. I tried asking Eric directly if something was wrong, but he played dumb. He just said, Nothing's wrong, I'm just being honest. Honest about what? That my marriage will fail? It was a frustrating, and I ended up dropping it before I got truly angry. I hate to think it, but could my best friend actually be jealous that I'm getting married? I've never seen him act like this and it's honestly hurtful. If he has a real concern, I wish he'd just say it outright instead of these passive-aggressive jabs. At this point I'm debating whether I should sit him down for a serious talk, or just give him some space to cool off. I really value our friendship and it sucks seeing him like this.

Any advice on how to handle a best friend who seems weirdly against your engagement? I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around someone I used to trust completely. I want to fix this if I can, but I'm not even sure what I'm dealing with here. Right now, jealousy is my best guess, but I don't want to throw out an accusation without proof. I just needed to vent and maybe get some perspective, because this is baffling and pretty painful to deal with. Update 1. I took some of the advice I got.

and tried to include Eric in the wedding more, hoping it would reassure him. Adam, my fiancé, was completely on board with having Eric be part of the wedding party. So about two weeks after my original post, I asked to Eric if he would be one of Adam's groomsman. I genuinely thought this was a kind gesture, like an olive branch, to show that he's important to both of us. It backfired spectacularly. Instead of being happy or even politely declining, Eric got upset. He said, not an exact quote but close, that he couldn't support my decision to get married right now.

I just stared at him, not believing what I was hearing from my best friend. I pressed him on what he meant, and he basically went off on a rant listing all the reasons he thinks I'm making a mistake by getting married. Some highlights of what he brought up, in front of me and another friend who was there, that I'm too young to settle down, were both 28, not exactly impulsive teen brides here, so that one made me roll my eyes. That Adam is all wrong for me, though when I asked for specifics, he just mumbled something vague about us not being a good match. That I'm throwing my life away by marrying now, because apparently marriage will trap me in a boring, miserable domestic life.

He also hinted that I don't know what I'm doing and might regret it, without giving any real reasons beyond his personal opinion that no one our age should be getting married. He delivered all of this like he was doing me some kind of favor by telling it like it is. I remember feeling my face getting hot. I tried to stay calm and told Eric I appreciated his concern, that was a lie, honestly, but that I completely disagreed with him. I said something like, I get that you're worried about me, but I've thought this through and I really wish you could just be happy for me. That only seemed to make him dig in more.

He responded that he just can't stand by and watch me, quote, ruin my life. It was such a dramatic and hurtful thing to hear. At that point I snapped and told him he was way out of line. I said I was devastated that he couldn't support me and that if he truly cared about our friendship, he'd respect my choices even if he disagreed. We ended up shouting at each other and then essentially storming off in opposite directions before it got even uglier. I went home and cried in frustration afterward.

I'm not someone who cries easily, but this felt so damn personal. My best friend of a decade basically said my relationship is doomed and refused to be at my wedding. It hurt like hell. Adam was really supportive when I told him what happened. He was furious on my behalf but said he'd follow my lead on whether Eric should even be invited to the wedding anymore. At that moment, I honestly didn't know what to do. It's confusing and sad. On one hand, I missed the friend I thought I had, the guy who'd always have my back. On the other hand, I'm looking at this new side of him and thinking I don't even know this person. The way he talked about my fiancée and my future.

It was beyond disrespectful. I haven't officially cut him off or anything, but I also haven't reached out since that blow-up. To be honest, I kind of expected him to apologize afterward, or at least send a text wanting to talk things through. But so far, nothing. It's been a couple days of radio silence. Meanwhile, I did get a message from the other friend who witnessed our fight,

basically asking what the hell was that about? I had no good answer for them. I'm still processing it myself. Right now I'm just trying to focus on wedding planning and not dwell too much on this drama. It sucks, but I have a lot on my plate with the wedding only a few months away, and I want to be happy about it. If Eric doesn't come around soon,

I might have to face the reality that our friendship could be over. I really hope it doesn't come to that, but I also can't have someone in my life who actively tries to undermine my relationship. I'm still hoping all this comes from some twisted place of care or concern, in his mind, rather than pure bitterness. But I just don't know. I guess time will tell. I'll update again if there's any major development. Update 2. Things did not calm down.

In fact, they got so much worse. It's been a week or so since my last update. Over the weekend, Adam showed me some text messages that nearly made my head explode. Eric has been texting my fiancé behind my back, trying to convince him to call off the wedding. Apparently right after that blow up, the groomsman asked disaster, Eric decided to go behind my back and reach out to Adam. He already had Adam's number from before, they'd occasionally texted about surprises for me, group hangouts, etc. So he used that. And he sent my fiancé a series of messages basically spewing lies about me.

I've seen the screenshots with my own eyes, and I still can't believe it. I've told my fiancé things like, my name, admitted to me she's not really ready to settle down yet. She's having doubts. Complete and utter lie. I have never said anything like that to Eric or anyone. She still isn't over her ex, you know. This one really pissed me off. The ex he's referring to as someone I dated ages ago, college, who cheated on me. I have zero feelings for that guy, and Eric damn well knows it. He was there comforting me through that breakup, so using it now is beyond messed up. I'm telling you this as her best friend. I don't think she actually wants to get married right now. She just doesn't want to hurt your feelings. The audacity of him

to claim to speak for me. I can't even. He basically tried to paint a picture that I'm secretly unsure about marrying Adam, that I'm only doing it because I'm afraid to be alone or to disappoint people, and that I supposedly confided all these doubts to Eric. It's absolutely bonkers and fabricated. Thankfully, Adam didn't fall for any of it. I had already told him about Eric acting weird, especially after the groomsman incident, so Adam was on high alert that my friend might pull something. Instead of even engaging with those lies, Adam showed me the messages immediately.

For the record, I am 100% sure I want to marry Adam. No doubts whatsoever on my end, I was furious and mortified at the same time. Even though I knew Adam wouldn't believe it, it's such a violation to have someone I considered my brother tried to sabotage my relationship like this. After I took some deep breaths, Adam and I discussed what to do. He asked me if I wanted him to respond or if we should both confront Eric together. Ultimately, I decided I would handle it myself one on. We agreed Adam would stay out of it for now, aside from possibly blocking Eric's number after

this. I needed to talk to Eric face to face. Honestly, I am worried about my friend's mental state, because this behavior is off the rails. It's like he's not the person I knew. I haven't confronted him yet as of writing this update. I plan to, in person, very soon, likely tomorrow when I know he's free from work. I want to hear whatever pathetic excuse or twisted logic he has for this. But one thing is certain, this crosses a line that I'm not sure our friendship can ever come back from. Even if he thought I was making a mistake, trying to actively break up my engagement by lying to my fiancé is next-level betrayal. Right now, I actually feel oddly calm, probably the calm before the storm. I'm going to give him one chance to explain himself,

if there even is any sane explanation. Depending on how that goes, I'm prepared for this to be the end of our friendship. Ten years or not, I can't have this toxicity around me, especially not with my wedding so close. I'll update again after I talk to him. I honestly have no idea how it will play out. Wish me luck. Update 3. I met up with Eric, and it went even worse than I expected.

I honestly thought I was prepared for anything, but I guess I wasn't prepared for that. I texted him and said we needed to talk. He agreed to meet at his apartment. I figured that was better than doing it in public, since I had a feeling this might get loud, and I didn't want a screaming match somewhere. I went over there yesterday evening. The moment I walked in, I could feel the tension. There was not even a hello.

We sat down in his living room, and I got straight to the point. I told him I knew about the messages he sent to Adam. I expected him to maybe deny it or try to spin it as concern for me. But nope, Eric immediately said something like, yeah, I talked to him. Someone had to tell him the truth since you won't. That blew any calm I had left right out the window. I shouted, not proud of it, but I was livid, and told him those were lies, not truth. I demanded to know how he could possibly think it's okay to interfere in my life like that,

to go behind my back and just make up stories. I was so angry. And then, he snapped. Eric completely lost his temper and started yelling over me. He said I was being blind and stupid for rushing into a marriage with the wrong guy. He was red in the face, ranting about how I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I shouted back, what is your problem? Why are you doing this? And that's when it all came out. Eric yelled, because I'm in love with you, okay? He basically blurted out that he's been in love with me for years. I think I just stood there in absolute shock for a moment.

He kept going, he said he couldn't stand watching me marry someone else. He said he always thought that eventually we'd end up together, but I was supposed to be with him, not Adam. I distinctly remember him saying, it's always been you and me. It's supposed to be us together. I honestly had no idea he felt this way. He didn't stop there. He went on to say he thought if he could just sabotage my relationship, I'd wake up and realize I was meant to be with him. That made me outright furious. This isn't some rom-com movie, this is my real life he's been messing with.

At some point he actually accused me of leading him on, saying that me being so close to him for years gave him hope for something more. For the record, I never did or said anything to suggest I saw him as more than a friend. Ever, he was crying and shouting at the same time, a complete emotional breakdown. It was a lot to take in. I finally got a word in and told him, as clearly as I could, that I do not feel the same way and I never have. I told him I loved him as a friend, but he had completely destroyed that friendship with what he'd been doing. I also remember saying something like, if you ever actually cared about me, you wouldn't be trying to wreck my life. He didn't have a good answer to that, he just kept saying he couldn't help how he feels and

that he'd been hoping for so long that we'd be together. It was just, sad and infuriating all at once. I left his apartment while he was still mid-breakdown. I couldn't listen to it anymore, I was in tears by then too, out of sheer frustration and heartbreak, platonically. Ten years of friendship had just gone up in flames in the span of an hour. As I walked out, I told him I needed space and that he should not contact me. He didn't follow me or try to stop me, he just kind of sank to the floor, crying. I felt like I was going to throw up on the drive home, the adrenaline, the shock, the sadness, everything hit me at once.

It's the next day now. I haven't heard from him, and I hope it stays that way for a while. I told Adam everything. He was, of course, not surprised about the love confession. He admitted that he had wondered if Eric had feelings for me, especially given how bizarrely he'd been acting. Adam says he picked up on some vibes in the past, but I always defended Eric as just a friend.

I guess I was the clueless idiot one here. I always thought he was just being an overprotective brother type. I never once thought he actually wanted to be with me. So yeah, I was oblivious, but he also never, ever communicated his feelings until they morphed into this mess. As of now, I've effectively cut contact with Eric. I haven't blocked him on everything yet, but I made it crystal clear I don't want to hear from him. He seems to be respecting that at least for the moment. My wedding is a few months away. I'm going to focus on that and try not to let this drama consume me. It's been hard, not going to lie.

I hope that his confession and our confrontation would be the end of this whole ordeal. Maybe now that everything was in the open, he'd back off and leave me alone. Update 4. Final Update. I really wish I didn't have one more crazy update, but here we are. I'm typing this with my wedding literally a week away, and my nerves are shot. We had my bridal shower yesterday. It was supposed to be a fun, stress-free afternoon with my girlfriends and female relatives. And it was, until Eric showed up uninvited and turned it into a night.

I still have no clue how he even found out where or when the bridal shower was. It was at a private event space my sister booked, and it was meant to be just women, bridesmaids, female family members, etc. We did have security at the entrance, standard for the venue, since it was in a busy downtown area and they checked names off a guest list. Somehow, Eric got past them. Maybe he tailed behind a group of my friends as they entered, or lied that he was a vendor, I honestly don't know. All I know is that in the middle of my maid of honor's speech, I heard a familiar voice call out my name.

I looked up, and there was Eric standing in the doorway of the hall. I felt like I just froze in pure shock. I remember blurting out, you should not be here, as soon as I regained my voice. The whole room was confused, most of them know Eric as my longtime friend, so a few people actually smiled at first, thinking maybe he, was pulling some kind of funny surprise. But I knew this was bad news. Things went from zero to 100 real fast. Eric grabbed the microphone from my sister's hand. He then started shouting in front of everyone. It was a blur, but he was saying things along the lines of,

This wedding is a mistake. You all need to know she's making a huge mistake. It was like an insane, misplaced wedding objection, except at my bridal shower in front of my mom, grandma, and all my friends. He kept yelling that I shouldn't be marrying Adam, that I was settling and about to be unhappy for the rest of my life. He literally said, she doesn't love him. She's not supposed to be with him. To a room full of my closest people. I think I screamed at him to get out, but it was hard to hear anything over the chaos. Immediately, a bunch of people stood up and started shouting at him. My bridesmaids and even some of my older relatives ran, toward Eric to stop him. My mom looked ready to wring his neck. It was chaos. Fortunately,

the venue security, and my two bridesmaids who happened to be former college athletes, reacted quickly once they processed what was happening. They grabbed him and literally dragged him away from the mic. He struggled for a moment, still shouting nonsense like you're ruining everything. And you know I'm right. As they hauled him out. I assumed they threw him out after that, because he didn't come back. The whole thing probably lasted only a couple of minutes, but it felt like an eternity while it was happening. Once he was gone, I was just, speechless. I was on the verge of angry tears as it went down. Everyone was either shocked or furious on my behalf, or both. We took a break so I could collect myself. I stepped outside

with a couple of friends and just started sobbing once I felt safe enough to let it out. They hugged me and helped calm me down. After about ten minutes, I managed to pull myself together. I really didn't want him to ruin this event more than he already had. We went back in and, with some effort, managed to salvage the rest of the shower. It definitely wasn't the carefree party I envisioned. Everyone was a bit on edge, but my amazing friends did their best to lighten the atmosphere. They cracked jokes like, well, at least your bridal shower wasn't.

boring. And one of my bridesmaids even said, we'll laugh about this at girls' night in a few years, promise. I appreciated that so much. It helped me shift from mortification to kind of laughing at the absurdity of it all. By the end, we were okay, we opened gifts, had cake, I insisted on no more speeches, and tried to make the best of it. We got through it, but yeah, it turned out to be a bridal shower none of us will ever forget, for all the wrong reasons. As soon as I got home, the reality of it hit me again and I had another good cry, this time in Adam's arms. I think I just needed to release all that stress.

I told Adam everything that happened, and he was absolutely livid. For a moment, I think he even considered driving over to confront Eric right then and there. I begged him not to waste his energy or risk getting in trouble, Eric simply isn't worth it. I need to let it go and leave any further handling of Eric to security, or the police, if necessary. Adam focused on comforting me instead, which was exactly what I needed. I've been trying so hard to keep it together through all of this, but that bridal shower stunt was the last straw.

Ten years of friendship, and it culminates in him publicly humiliating me at my own celebration. Unbelievable. Needless to say, I am taking no chances now. My wedding is next week and I'm not about to let anything, or anyone, ruin it. I've alerted the wedding venue and given them Eric's name and photo, instructing that he is absolutely not allowed in. We've hired an extra security guard specifically to keep an eye out for him, just in case he shows up and tries to repeat his little performance during the ceremony. It's insane that we even have to worry about this, but here we are. I also went ahead and blocked

him on everything, phone, email, social media, you name it. I should have done that sooner, I know. honestly, after the confrontation I stupidly hoped he would just slink away and let it be. But actually, that was naive of me. He's out of chances. For those wondering, we did consider involving the police after this incident. Technically, he trespassed and caused a disturbance. My mother is especially adamant that we should get a restraining order or something. In the end, I decided to hold off on that, unless he tries anything else. The venue security had him pinned pretty hard, I suspect that scared him at least a bit. If he has any sense left, he'll stay away now.

But if he does show up or harass us again, we won't hesitate to get law enforcement involved. As for the fallout, well, Eric pretty much set fire to every bridge he had. All of our mutual friends now know what's been going on. It's hard to keep something like the bridal shower incident under wraps. A few have reached out to me, expressing their shock and saying they're firmly on my side. Apparently, some of them confronted Eric via text after hearing about the shower stunt, and his only response was something incoherent about fighting for love and how they'll understand one day.

Needless to say, he's not doing himself any favors. Last I heard, he's been removed from a couple of group chats and many of our friends are just done with him. I didn't ask anyone to cut him off, but I can't imagine him coming back from this socially. He really showed a sight of himself that no one had seen before, and people are pretty horrified. On my end, I'm trying to push through and focus on the good. Adam has been my rock through all of this. He's angry, of course, but more than anything, he just wants me to be okay. We are so ready to get married and just start our life together, far away from this drama.

The wedding will be full of people who love and support us, and one former friend's absence, or attempted interference. isn't going to cast a shadow on that. Now it's all about moving forward. My wedding is next week and I intend to enjoy every second of it without any more interruptions. I am done with this BS. Time to move on and be happy.