[Gallagher]

This sounds like a... complicated situation, but not uncommon... It's hard to figure out where to start, but...

(A) is not a bad person for that. No one is ever bad simply for wanting things, even if they tend to be manipulative to get them. Because there's more to these situations than just the surface.

What is it that makes (A) need all of this attention? Is it just how they are, how they've always been, or is there some bigger issue there, left untouched and grown to manifest into this behavior? Are they aware of how they can be, or do they brush it off with excuses?

Maybe most importantly, if they are aware of it, are they bothered by it? Is it something they try to change, but can't? Or do they feel like they'll never be able to change it?

...

For several months, not too long ago, I was being emotionally abused by one of my friends. I loved her dearly, and probably always will. She would guilt me into doing what she wanted, when she wanted, just how she wanted it. If I wasn't good enough, or wasn't fast enough, or wasn't enthusiastic enough, we would end up fighting. Fighting, of course, meaning she would get angry at me, I would be left not knowing what to do or say, and my silence (or poor wording) would keep her in a downward spiral that never ended anywhere nicely.

She never meant for any of that to happen. She knew exactly how bad of a friend she could be, and hated herself for it, but never could change it. The situation between us was... complicated. In the end, it just did not work. She was left more depressed than ever, and I've... well, I'm not the same person as I used to be.

I always believed there was hope for her to improve. And she was getting better. I'm sad to say that I wasn't strong enough to carry on with her. Even with how much I've been hurt, I wish that I could have been, because even people who seem impossible to be friends with deserve a chance to better themselves.

If (B) feels like they can handle the struggle, that it's worth it to be with and help the one they love, and if there is no physical abuse and the mental strain isn't causing permanent damage, no one has any right to insist that they break up. No one.