When it comes to killing off a friendship that is past its expiry date, it can sometimes be easier to let yourself drift apart rather than address the issue and deal with confrontation. Nikki*, 24, met Poppy* last October when she moved to Paris to study for a year and found herself in a situation where she was quite vulnerable in a new city and lacking good friends. "We met in a club and I was so grateful to have found a fun friend, I perhaps overlooked the warning signs," says Nikki. Feeling sorry for Poppy, who had been robbed, Nikki took her on a night out and paid for everything – but that set the precedent for a very uneven friendship in which Poppy took advantage of Nikki's generosity. "She would come to my house, borrow all my clothes, drink all my alcohol and eat all my expensive food and show no gratitude. I would always end up paying for her to get into clubs, paying for our taxi home, and she would always stay at mine as she lived far out of the city centre." Things came to a head one day when Nikki couldn't find the bag she had bought for a holiday. It turned out that a few days before, Nikki had left Poppy sleeping at her house and she had helped herself to the brand new bag (complete with tags) as well as her trainers without bothering to ask. Nikki has now left Paris and, while technically still friends with Poppy, she now sees her for what she really is – a party friend who cannot fully be trusted. She admits that she chose to let things go unchallenged for the sake of an easy life, rather than deal with the stress of confrontation, explaining: "As I knew I was leaving Paris there was a kind of natural time limit on our friendship so it was easier to leave things amicable rather than have a huge bust-up before I left."