If a friend keeps asking you to bend your own rules, the friendship is costing more than it’s paying.

A friendship that keeps requiring exceptions is quietly charging you. Each individual request looks small, one late night, one cover story, one bit of money you did not have, and the pattern is what tells you the real price. Rules you set for yourself are usually there for a reason you worked out when you were calm. Somebody who needs them suspended regularly is treating your judgement as an obstacle.

Add up the last three months rather than judging the next request on its own. Then hold one rule you have been bending and see what happens. A friend who is fine with the no is the kind worth keeping.