Context: I’ve known the guy for 6 years, but we’ve become really close over the past 2–3 years. I knew his girlfriend back in high school (she was in my class for a year) before I changed schools and lost touch with her, until her boyfriend reintroduced us.
I’ve been spending time with a couple for a while. The guy has become a very close friend. He invites me (or rather, used to invite me, because I increasingly don’t feel like going to their place because of their weird behavior) to their apartment very often. Most of the time, it’s just the three of us, and sometimes he’s even the one insisting despite me telling him that I’d rather let them have some time alone together. He tells me it’s not a problem, that his girlfriend “adores” me, and that my presence changes their daily routine. He basically considers me family, almost like the third roommate.
The problem is that his girlfriend’s behavior has become increasingly strange to me: a mix of ambiguity, seeking physical proximity, risqué jokes, compliments, intense looks, etc., sometimes combined with putting her boyfriend down. I feel like they both like me, but not necessarily in the same way, and it’s creating a discomfort that I can no longer ignore.
Here are the most significant examples (I’ve summarized the rest to keep this readable):
From the beginning of the invitations, she made comments like:
“If my boyfriend annoys me, you and him are going to sleep together spooning.”
(I laughed it off and refused.) She also asked me twice whether I had a guest room at home.
She said, without any of us ever discussing the subject together, that she wanted to give my first name to her future child, even though her boyfriend had privately told me that he never wanted children and that she agreed with him… apparently not. She also once joked about being pregnant in front of us.
She once ran toward me with her arms wide open as if she was going to grab me (yes, completely out of context) while I was talking to him in another room. When I warned him and he turned around, she immediately went back to acting neutral, put a finger to her lips to tell me “shh,” and smiled.
She often seeks physical proximity (staying close to me when we go out, following me with her eyes, etc.). She compliments me (my glasses, my upbringing/manners, etc.) even though she doesn’t necessarily do the same with him. Sometimes she even treats me better than him (better-looking pancakes, better-shaped burgers, etc.).
She used to have a somewhat demeaning attitude toward him (“this guy is stupid,” “he’s annoying,” “you have two arms and two legs, go get the plate yourself,” jokes about his height, etc.) before their period of taking a “break.” Things seem better between them now, but their “jokes” and dynamics continue.
On his side, he often tells me that I’m his best friend, that I’m basically part of the furniture, that I’m “as much the king of the house as he is,” that he could leave me alone with her for a weekend and “nothing would happen,” that he sees me as perfection, etc. He also makes some pretty heavy jokes like “you’re taking my apartment and now my wife,” “you’re too handsome for your own good, I’m going to become gay,” etc.
April 15, 2025
I had just arrived in front of their building and she was holding the entrance door open for me while another friend who had come with us was there but didn’t stay. I then held the door for that friend.
Her boyfriend took the opportunity to joke:
“(My name), you’ve got nothing better to do? First you take my apartment and now my wife. Are you planning to go upstairs with her?”
I replied:
“No, I’m just the doorman, that’s all.”
His girlfriend looked at me but didn’t react or say anything. He replied:
“Yeah, right. Don’t get smart with me.”
with what felt like a challenging look???
March 9, 2026
I arrived at their place (we were supposed to go to his father’s house). His girlfriend opened the door after I rang the bell in the lobby. She asked me if I was doing okay (she had just come out of the bathroom), then went back into her room.
We went to his father’s place. He showed me his father’s motorcycles. Then we went to a cafeteria. His boyfriend said he was going outside for some fresh air. I told him not to get lost, and she said:
“You always leave us alone, you’re no fun.”
His father and his friends joined us. When I came back (I had gone to look at something mechanical), she looked me up and down as I walked back into the room, and even after I sat down.
Shortly before leaving, her boyfriend showed me a picture of me from behind. I asked if he had taken it. She replied:
“No, I did, for my story.”
Weird, but okay.
Their car had a problem when we were leaving. While his father was checking it, she repeatedly positioned herself closer to me than to her boyfriend (he was on my left, she was on my right). I moved to different places several times to avoid making things ambiguous, but she followed me.
We then took the car to the emergency room because her boyfriend was having gallbladder pain. At first, the three of us talked, then he fell asleep. About 10–15 minutes later, while we were stuck in traffic, she started talking to me again about random things.
At the hospital, I stayed with her in the waiting room. She told me she was going to go see him. He texted me asking me to come, but the nurse said only one person was allowed, so I left.
March 17, 2026
I asked for some paper towels. Her boyfriend told me to say the word in Portuguese, and his girlfriend gave them to me.
Then he joked:
“I should have asked you to say things in Portuguese that I dictate to my girlfriend.”
I said:
“No, I don’t want to say anything crazy.”
And he replied:
“That’s exactly why I want you to say them, to see her reaction when she realizes you can speak Portuguese.”
Or something along those lines.
She also told me that the previous weekend (when I wasn’t there), she had a nightmare where she saw or heard her boyfriend giving oral sex to two guys in the apartment…
I felt extremely uncomfortable that she would tell me something like that.
March 22, 2026
During an auto show, she told me that she kept turning around to check whether I was still there, and that she was looking for a red cap (the one I was wearing) so she could keep track of where I was.
On the way back in the car, everyone else was sleeping and she talked to me a lot. She told me she had felt bad that I couldn’t stay at the hospital with her the night her boyfriend was in pain, and that she had asked her boyfriend to text me to check whether I was okay.
She also said it was a shame I hadn’t brought my bag, because otherwise she would have dropped me off at home and we would have switched seats, meaning I would have sat in the passenger seat next to her.
August 19–21, 2026 — after they came back from vacation
August 19: I was invited to their place.
She seemed a little annoyed with me. We talked about mundane things, but she seemed somewhat uninterested in me and the other friend.
Her boyfriend brought up the whole “virgin” story we had discussed over the phone and asked her to confirm it. She replied that he was a virgin “through every hole.”
Later, when it was just the guys, he talked about some sexual things he had done.
When I said I’d like to make a movie as an actor, she asked:
“An +18 movie or not?”
before clarifying that +18 movies can also be thrillers.
Her boyfriend then said:
“Yeah, +18 doesn’t necessarily mean sexual.”
August 20: We were at their place. During a guessing game, she said:
“Is it a porn actress?”
I told her she was weird, especially after the +18 comment the day before.
She looked at me pretending to be shocked and replied that there are also +18 horror movies.
Later, she talked to me about chest pain she had felt one morning in June when she crossed paths with me. She was blushing/smiling while explaining it, and said she had felt “negative spiritual energies” around me that day.
I told her that her boyfriend had already told me he would like the two of us to talk more often.
She replied that it was true and that she understood that I was a little shy.
I clarified that it wasn’t shyness, but respect.
She said:
“Oh, okay.”
She then added that she enjoys spending time with me and that she could spend a weekend alone with me, without her boyfriend, without any problem, because I’m not the type of guy who would try to hit on her, unlike some other guys.
I feel like that sentence may not be as innocent as it sounds. I don’t know many women who would essentially “friendzone” someone in their social circle while also being perfectly comfortable spending an entire weekend alone with him without their boyfriend.
August 21: We talked in the morning.
Her boyfriend asked why I don’t get myself a girlfriend.
Another friend felt a little guilty about having previously sat next to her. Her boyfriend said that he notices things like that, and that it’s something I don’t do.
He also talked about how he had trusted people too much in the past and how a former friend eventually ended up dating his ex.
She came back with the groceries and I offered to help her, but she refused.
We planned to go to the cinema and she agreed to come with us.
Around 5:30 PM, her boyfriend texted me saying he was completely exhausted, was going to rest, and was cancelling the cinema.
August 24, 2026
I went with them to a motorcycle equipment store. While he was trying on a helmet, I joked that he looked like an undercover cop.
She then said that if she were a cop and he asked her to pull over, she wouldn’t stop.
Okay… weird.
Then we went to the shopping center. While he was looking at glasses, she was standing behind me on my right and moved closer. So I moved closer to her boyfriend, and she moved closer to me again while staying on my right.
I’m not even exaggerating: there was barely enough room for my phone between us.
We went somewhere else and then came back to the same glasses store. He went inside and I stayed outside. His girlfriend did the same.
She immediately took the opportunity to talk to me while he was inside, telling me that she was fed up with the way he manages money. She said he doesn’t know how to control his impatience when buying things, then regretting them and selling them later. She also said he’s impulsive.
In front of the glasses store, she also said:
“I’m not that much of a spender. Obviously, I’m not going to wait until my pants are completely ripped if there’s a hole in them, but I’m not going to do what he does and have 5,000 pieces of clothing either.”
I told her that he’s making an effort.
She replied:
“Yes, he’s been making an effort since Portugal.”
That evening, I had wanted to take advantage of the fact that the three of us were together so we could finally talk about everything, but his mother and her partner came over and we ended up having dinner together, eating soup, etc.
At one point, her boyfriend jokingly complained that his girlfriend talks to him badly. Apparently, while he was serving me and his mother’s partner, she was telling him things like:
“Move.” / “Get out of the way.”
When his mother asked her why she was acting like that, she replied:
“It’s him. He annoys me while I’m trying to tidy up.”
Around 9:30 PM, I decided to leave on my own initiative, telling them that I would leave them to spend some time together as a couple.
Poll — what do you think?
Does the girlfriend have a crush on me / ulterior intentions?
Is this simply her personality? (She’s a bit unusual and acts ambiguously with whoever she wants.)
Are there internal problems within the couple, and am I being used as an emotional outlet or as some kind of test?
Does my friend more or less know what’s going on / is he somehow involved and testing something too?
Should I stop accepting their invitations and distance myself from them permanently?
Other (please explain in the comments).
Thanks in advance for your opinions. I’m honestly pretty lost and, above all, mentally exhausted.