It's hard to explain this to an outsider, but I will do my best.
I will first explain the group dynamics. The friend group is split into two groups: those who were from the original group chat in 2015 and those who weren’t. The ones from the original group chat are me, Jake, and Landon. The others are Evan, Max, and Wolf.
Just in case anyone would be interested in knowing... I'm an INTJ, Jake is INFP, Landon is ESTP, Evan is ESTJ, Max is ENTP, and Wolf is INFJ.
Landon and I started dating in 2017. We visited each other many times. He lives 10 hours away from me in a different state. The best way to explain our relationship is that we are like a pair of bonded cats. I have really bad mental health issues, but he is the only person with whom I am always okay. I trust him with my entire heart and soul.
Landon, Jake, and I are the closest group of friends out of the bunch. There’s a TikTok that says, 'When something weird happens, so you gotta tell that 3-person GC with that weird name with immediate effect,' which basically sums us up. Jake and I are both introverts, so we don’t really talk to each other one-on-one. We usually talk to each other through the group chat and play together if Landon gets on. In 2022 (?), we all moved into an apartment together. Yes, the plans made it out of the group chat.
Landon is childhood best friends with Evan. Max is as well, but I think it was just for a bit before Landon moved away. My point is that they have known each other for a long time in real life.
Wolf joined the overall friend group late through Evan. They became friends on VRChat, and she was super shy and only knew Evan, so she would be very quiet and only talk to him. She would basically follow him around and not join if he wasn’t there. That makes it sound like I dislike her, but I promise I like her a lot. She was pretty much the only girl friend I had. (Foreshadowing)
Max is an interesting case. He and I would almost always end up arguing. I’m unsure how I feel about him. I guess we would fight in the way that siblings do. I don’t hate him, but I don’t particularly like him. I wouldn’t exactly go out of my way to talk to him or spend time with him one-on-one. Max would usually instigate and then try playing therapist when I started showing any reaction. He kind of reminds me of Cole Sprouse back when he did that whole 'Tumblr experiment' thing. He and I would get along instantly, but he has anger issues and I am very defensive, so it would always very, very quickly blow up. In the more recent years, Wolf would also talk to Max since they have similar interests. It would always frustrate me whenever Max and I would have a fight and everyone else wouldn’t say anything, yet would play both sides in private. I would crash out pretty badly because of that. I’d want to burn all bridges and run away, but I had nowhere to escape to. I had no other friends besides them. I’d embarrassingly get lonely after a few months and come back. It felt like a humiliation ritual. Sorry for getting a bit distracted. Max and Evan were good friends… I think, at least. Evan would play both sides when Max and I would fight, and Max didn’t like that either. In public, he wouldn’t say anything, he would just laugh, and then in private, he’d say, 'You’re in the right, it’s the other one that’s wrong.' Max and I talked about how we didn’t actually hate each other or anything and that it was just frustration spiraling from wanting Evan to pick a side and just stick with it instead of messing with us.
Evan and I were great friends. Isn’t that just the thing you wanted to hear after reading about Max? So, when I lived with Landon and Jake, I would be bored out of my mind as they left for work. They worked the same shift at the same job, from 6 PM to 6 AM. Evan and I weren't that close yet, and I wouldn’t talk to Max either, so that left me with Evan. I’m sure you’ve picked up by now that Evan was the group leader. I wasn’t anywhere close to being a group leader since Jake and I would just follow around Landon, but I was very, very, very passionate and outspoken. It felt like I shined as bright as the sun. But the larger my flame, the faster I’d burn out and disappear for months at a time. I’d spend most of my time playing with Evan. We would match each other's energy and have lots of fun together. Each day felt like a new adventure where we would come across new characters. We would usually take edibles right as we got on. During the times I’d leave for months at a time, it was usually Evan who would ask me to come back.