What do you do when you're not friends with your friends anymore?

One day, I met this guy named Sean. He was a really cool guy to chat with, a little scatterbrained at times, but hey, aren't we all about certain things? Well, our friendship was swiftly developed--we had so much in common at the time. We were both single, fed up with the whole dating scene to the point where we wanted friendships--something that does NOT come easily in the world of the homosexual. To every gay man I make friends with, I make 50 straight friends. That's just the way of things. Needless to say, I don't have many gay friends. Never have. Almost all of my friends are straight women, with a handful of their husbands and boyfriends thrown in for good measure.

Sean was different.

We just...CLICKED. We did tons of stuff together, I hung out at his house and he cooked dinner, then we'd watch movies and sit up laughing and talking for half the night. I met his parents and his aunt and his HOT closeted cousin, LOL. I really felt that special bond of a lasting friendship with this guy. It took several months for all of this to happen, mind you, it was NOT an overnight thing.

Then, one day, toward the end of last summer, Sean met somebody. A guy. A gay guy. Suddenly--he was spending all of his time with him, and they were dating and having sex. The friendship we had spent all summer building? Forgotten about. I was instantly demoted to a random phone call once or twice a week, and then once in a while, they would invite me to do something with the two of them out of pity. I had, once again, become the third wheel. I hate being the third wheel.

So, time passes by, Sean's birthday comes, and I go out of my way to make his day a special one. I buy him a couple of nice albeit small gifts, and I go to his house at night, tie balloons to his door, and leave a card for him that tells him my feelings on the relationship we had developed, and how much I cared for him and appreciated the friendship.

Christmas then came, and I was invited over.

For a pity meal.

I went.

It was not pleasant, but I fake my emotions well. I've had years if not DECADES of practice.

My birthday came at the beginning of February. I guess I should mention that in this time, I had once visited Sean and for SOME reason, he asked me not tell his boyfriend that I had visited that night. Now, I WORK with his boyfriend. We speak to each other almost every day. He KNOWS Sean and I were very good friends.

I made an offhand comment about the last time I'd seen Sean. This apparently instigated a fight between the two of them. Sean called me in a huff, demanding to know why I'd told his boyfriend ON PURPOSE that we'd hung out for a few hours one night, then he hung up on me.

A month went by with no phone call.

He missed my birthday.

I finally decided enough had been enough, so I called him.

He now pretends as though nothing has happened, or changed.

I am not sure what to do, because I have never been able to maintain a friendship with any gay man over they years. I had hoped, though, that Sean was someone special, and that petty things like that could be overlooked.

Maybe I was wrong.

Sean and his boyfriend went on vacation last week. I bumped into Sean right before they left to get on an airplane. He looked at me, touched my arm and I think he wanted me to hug him. All I could mutter to him was, "have a nice trip", and I walked away.

That brings us to...now.

Was I wrong to not really acknowledge his attempt at looking for friendship? He really kinda hurt my feelings by not even calling me on my birthday because he was upset over a stupid little thing that I apologized for weeks beforehand.

I don't know what to do. I never do in situations like these, which is one of the primary reasons I am still alone.

What do you think?

SG