I (21F) have a male friend (18M) who used to be really close to me. In October, he visited my city, and we shared things we hadn’t told anyone before. He was attentive, playful, and almost overly invested — sending 100+ messages at a time, letting me influence things like his wallpaper, joking about sex, leaning on me when we hung out, and making me feel really seen.
Afterward, we kept messaging constantly, talking about anything and everything. He seemed excited to talk to me, even joked about not forgetting each other if we got into relationships.
At the start of November, I moved back home and we started hanging out more in person, but his effort gradually decreased. He now texts maybe once a week, barely initiates plans, often invites others to hangs, and sometimes doesn’t follow through on things he asked about. He explains when he’s busy, but the energy, attention, and effort we had before is gone.
It’s confusing because I know the closeness was real, but now the friendship feels distant and inconsistent. Has anyone else had a friendship drop off like this? How do you make sense of it?