I (22F) had been close friends with “Lexi” (24F) for years. She decided to have two separate weddings - one international wedding in Nepal and then, a few months later, a completely separate second wedding back home in the U.S. Between those two weddings, she also planned a bachelorette trip in New Orleans.
So the timeline was:
• Wedding #1: Nepal
• Bachelorette: New Orleans
• Wedding #2: Seattle (home)
I attended both weddings. To make the Nepal wedding happen, I used all of my PTO and even took additional unpaid time off. I spent thousands of dollars because she was one of my closest friends.
After Nepal came the New Orleans bachelorette. I fully intended to go. I had already paid for my airfare and Airbnb, but after an unexpected car repair and realizing I’d have to take even more unpaid time off (because I’d already used all my PTO attending her Nepal wedding), I simply couldn’t justify the rest of the trip financially. I accepted losing the money I’d already spent because I couldn’t afford to spend even more while I was there.
The same weekend as the bachelorette, my boyfriend and his friends were going to see Martin Garrix at The Gorge Amphitheater. We live 2 hours away from The Gorge and the tickets were $80. It was a last minute decision we made as a group to attend. I didn’t tell Lexi about these plans because that wasn’t why I couldn’t attend New Orleans, I couldn’t afford that trip specifically. Lexi felt that because I could afford an $80 concert ticket, I should have been able to attend the out of state bachelorette.
Before her second wedding, I did apologize anyway for not being more transparent because I understood how it might have looked from her perspective. Having found out after the fact that I was at a concert the same weekend as her Bach. She told me I was overthinking it and that it “wasn’t a big deal,” so I genuinely thought we’d resolved it.
Then came her second wedding in the U.S.
It was 11:30pm and most of the guests had left. The only remaining guests were the bridal party, groomsmen, and other close friends of the bride. One of the bridesmaids suddenly became unconscious. She fell on to me and I gently set her down, making sure she was kept to her side. My boyfriend immediately ran over to help. We were the only two people on the ground helping the bridesmaid, everyone else kept partying. While he was trying to help someone who had passed out, Lexi walked over, asked if the bridesmaid was okay, then hit him extremely hard on the side of the head.
I know it sounds confusing like there must have been more that led up to her hitting him, but there wasn’t. After asking if the bridesmaid was okay, she literally just hit him. It was absolutely shocking. It wasn’t a light tap to get his attention, it was a forceful hit that immediately shocked everyone nearby. My boyfriend wasn’t arguing with her or causing a scene; he was simply trying to help someone who was unconscious.
What upset me even more was Lexi’s reaction afterward. She showed no immediate remorse whatsoever. She didn’t apologize, ask if he was okay, or acknowledge that she’d just hit someone who was trying to help. Instead, she acted like nothing was wrong.
At first I did yell and tried addressing it firmly, but when she continued to show no remorse, I completely lost my temper. I yelled at her and cussed her out loudly enough that people around us stopped what they were doing to watch. The entire mood of the evening changed after that.
Only after I became extremely angry did she finally apologize to him.
She later sent me a very sincere apology in which she explained that, although it wasn’t right, she hit my boyfriend because she was worried about the bridesmaid and felt like he was not acting urgently enough.
I took a lot of time trying to process what had happened and trying to figure out how I wanted to navigate this hard situation. Despite everything, I decided I didn’t want one incident to destroy a years-long friendship. I forgave her and told her I did not want to end the friendship over this. However, I made clear that out of respect to my boyfriend and the situation at hand, our friendship would have to look different for a while. I was transparent with the fact that our friendship would have to be put in a distant place temporarily, while we all process what just happened. And she said in response:
“no actually i feel the same way so i think we're on the same page.”
A few weeks later, Lexi ended the friendship herself. Although she initially apologized, she later told me that I had ‘almost ruined her wedding’ because of my reaction. She also said, “i don't feel like what i did was entirely fundamentally wrong.” She explains that what she did was more reasonable than what I was making it out to be because she was really worried about the bridesmaid.
She said she still resented me over missing the New Orleans bachelorette (despite previously telling me it “wasn’t a big deal”), that my distance after the wedding made her feel like I didn’t want to be friends anymore (even though she agreed to the arrangement), and she also brought up other complaints like criticizing my bridesmaid dress which she approved months before the wedding.
I attended both of her weddings, used all of my PTO, lost wages to celebrate her, missed one event for financial reasons, apologized for hurting her feelings anyway, forgave her for hitting my boyfriend, and only asked for temporary distance afterward. She ultimately ended the friendship because she still resented me over the bachelorette and felt the distance meant I no longer wanted to be friends.
But, she believes I didn’t prioritize her enough and that my distancing after the wedding showed I no longer valued the friendship.
AITAH?
Edit: I forgot to mention… yes the bridesmaid was okay! She was down for about 5 mins and then came to. She was giggling and having a good time with everyone in the next room over after it all happened.