Breakups

You know how you can foresee that a situation is going to turn bad at some point, but you don't know how or when or how to prevent it from happening?

Andy and I have had a falling out with a couple who used to be two of our best friends. The friendship had been suffering for 2.5 or 3 years because of a variety of issues that I won't bore you with, but a conversation last evening probably ended it.

We've tried to fix things but it just isn't working anymore. Everybody talks about how much romantic breakups suck, but friendship breakups hurt, too. We still care about them and really miss what we used to have, but the friendship has been more stressful than fun for a really long time now. We're just plain tired of it. Plus, they're still utterly clueless about what led us to this point, despite several conversations where we've laid it all out there.

The "breakup" is just the tip of the iceberg, I fear. They're part of our group of college friends, and we've continued inviting them to parties and gatherings even while things have been weird. In the past year, they've declined about half the invitations and have started distancing themselves from the rest of us. Should we take that as a sign to stop extending the olive branch altogether? Continue inviting them, just to avoid awkwardness with the rest of the group? The last thing I want to do is screw up the group dynamics, but you know how these things can go.

Blarg. I hate this. It's a long time coming but I'm still really sad about how this has turned out.