Dear J,
You might not believe this, because I don’t think I ever told you, but there was a time when I kind of avoided hanging out with you alone. It wasn’t that you weren’t a great friend (you were one of my best and I was very sad when you moved away). It wasn’t that I didn’t like hanging out with you at all. I did. It was just usually better if there were others around.
The reason why this was might seem stupid, so here goes. You always invited yourself over, which was annoying. We always had to play with the dollhouse, which felt silly. We were in middle school. I got tired of playing dollhouse pretty quickly, but you didn’t. You always insisted. I don’t know why, but you were very demanding about it. Sometimes it seemed like your way or the highway.
But you were a great friend overall, don’t get me wrong. I loved having you as a friend. You watched out for me and kept a couple girls in our year from harrassing me. You made me laugh. I loved hanging out with you most of the time. We kept in touch for a while after you moved away. We got back in touch recently and I’m glad for that. I just wish those stupid feelings regarding the dollhouse and the you-inviting-yourself-over didn’t always taint the fonder memories of the other times so much.