If you’re only invited when they need a plus-one, you’re an accessory, not a friend.

Being useful and being wanted can feel similar from the inside. If invitations only arrive when there is a gap to fill, you are being scheduled rather than sought, and the warmth in those moments is real but conditional. It is worth knowing which one you are in. Not to become bitter about it, only to spend your hope accurately.

Watch who asks for you when they need nothing at all. Try declining the next fill-in invitation and see whether anything follows. Give your best time to the people who would pick you first.