I’m lucky to live in London in a good location to an event for my hobby. I have made many friends and acquaintances due to my hobby and I see them every few months at events. It’s also very social so lots of pub and meal trips after the event so we chat a lot.
I made a good friend Bob who lived far away and would often stay at mine for the weekend during an event. One night in the pub we were planning the next event and my friend was going to stay again. Another acquaintance, Mike, who was nearby joined in and asked (very nicely) if I had any room at mine to stay as well because he was very short on cash and would likely need to miss the next event due to hotel expenses. I didn’t know him that well but said it was ok but i only had a sofa to sleep on as Bob was in the bed. He was so appreciative and said he didn’t mind the sofa at all. All great. We agreed both of them would arrive at mine Friday night. Event Saturday. Sleep at mine Saturday. Event Sunday. Bob would be driving home Sunday night. Mike would stay until Monday morning. All sorted. Perfect.
Friday arrived and I’d given Mike my address and directions. I would meet him at the tube station. He text to say he was stop away. Was waiting at the station and he didn’t appear. Rang and text him, no reply. 20 mins later he texts to say he got off at the wrong stop but would be there soon. He arrived another 20 mins later. Bit weird but ok.
Got to mine, had pizza and a chat, went to bed. All up at 6am for event. Event went well. When it was time to go home Mike said he was going to stay a bit longer. I said no problem, but Bob and I wanted to be asleep by midnight as it was another 6am start. And I didn’t have a spare key to give him and I wasn’t leaving one hidden outside. He said absolutely fine he would only be an hour or so behind us.
At home it got to 11.30pm and I text Mike to a ask if he was on the way back. The message didn’t deliver. I rang and left a voicemail reminding him that we needed to go to sleep soon. At 12.30am we just went to sleep. I was so worried he’d either be stuck outside or would be banging on the door (flats so other people might get woken!) at stupid o clock!
In the morning there was still nothing from him. Bob and I went to the event and on the way Mike text full of apologies that he fell asleep in a friends hotel room and his battery had died. I was a bit irritated but thought well these things can happen and he likely met a lady. Anyway he said don’t worry I won’t be going to the pub tonight so I’ll be coming straight back. He said he’d be at mine by 7pm latest. I was finished at the event by lunch time so said I’d head home and see Bob off and see him later. All good.
Would you fucking believe it 7pm came and went. Text Mike at 8pm, phone off. I never heard from him again that night. But yet again I was awake until 11pm waiting to see if he’d turn up! And i was so tired. I text him in the morning asking what he wanted me to do with his bag of stuff. Just clothes and basic toiletries (he ended up wearing the same clothes for the entire weekend as he left his spare ones at my house!). He never replied. He’s fine. I saw photos on Facebook of him in the pub. I messaged him saying I would bring the bag to the next event. Then blocked him on everything.
Since then he’s backed out of most social events. I saw him once to give his bag back and he just said thanks and walked off. I’ve heard from other friends that he told them his phone died again and he ended up going to the pub so couldn’t let me know and he feels really bad. But I just don’t care quite honestly. We have at least 30+ mutual friends on Facebook. He could easily have asked someone to message me via Facebook if needed if the phone battery story was true. AIBU to just not bother talking to him anymore and keeping him blocked?
I do find it so weird that someone who seemed so normal for a couple of years just went so bloody weird over the space of one weekend. And now it seems like he’s just disappeared. He still does the hobby and goes to events, but just doesn’t come out with any of our group anymore. At first people were saying they’d heard rumours we had an argument! But once I told them what happened they believed me at least. So very very odd.