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One of my friends, let's call him Bob, has been acting very different.
He's started bsmelling like smoke, andhe's been hanging out at the smoke pit.
He says it's because he has friends who go there, but he's got me worried.
He's tried smoking before, and I think he's got addicted.
It's illegal, but nobody really thinks anything of it.
He hasn't been hanging out with me as much anymore. He's started talking about how cute one girl's butt was.
Just last year, he was following me around, because I was his best friend. It's like it never happened, andI'm not such a great friend anymore. I talked to him about it, but I started crying. So I don't think he really understood much. It just hurts.
Then he did something pretty ballsy, that he's never done before. It seems minute, but it's way unusual for him. He wiped a tear right off my face. He's seen me cry before, but he's only ever hugged me, or passed me a kleenex.
I know it's normal for guys to change, but don't you think this is a bit extreme?

My comments are just in general. People themselves are individuals and of course may differ from statistics.

Boys change at your age. Raging hormones, growth spurts and identity crises. They want sex. Badly. It's all they think about (in general). Additionally they are trying to create and perfect their image and discover who they are.

This process for girls is similar but girls handle it differently (again, this is a generality). Girls don't have the testosterone push so sex is not a huge driving issue for them like it is for teenage boys.

There is no telling what his gesture meant. He may have been remembering a time when he was close to you. But the fact that he is trying smoking and he is focusing on girls and hanging with other people means he is testing himself, creating himself and probably moving on.

As a friend, you will have to watch this process. And you may end up drifting apart. But just try to understand that this is the Age of Change and understand that it is a slow evolving process.