First off this is very long, so if you don’t like long threads, here’s your chance to leave. There are no cliff notes. I know I will probably get flamed for posting this on an internet forum, but I need objective advice from people who are not so close to this situation. I would appreciate serious replies.

Back story:
John has known Pete and Roger for about 4 years. They have all been close friends for about that same period of time. However, recently (within about the past year) Pete and Roger have grown apart, to the point where they haven’t talked to each other much for the past couple months. Meanwhile, John has stayed friends with both Pete and Roger during this whole time. Recently, it has been getting more difficult for John to remain close friends with both people. There are multiple factors as to why Pete and Roger have grown apart, but one of the main reasons has to do with a girl named Cindy. Pete and Cindy had been going out seriously for about 4 months. Their relationship started about 8 months ago. Before then, they had hooked up a couple of times, but nothing serious.

Roger had always had a thing for Cindy, and she a thing for him, but Roger had a girlfriend at the time, so it never escalated to anything. Long story short, Roger ends up staying with his girlfriend, and Pete hooks up with Cindy. Now, I think it should be noted here that Pete is a very aggressive, type A personality. I guess some would consider him a slight bit crazy as well. Cindy is not to be left out. She has some serious issues that John later learns about from both her and Pete separately, and she can definitely be qualified at least as somewhat crazy. Anyway, Pete and Cindy end up in the relationship (as previously noted) and for awhile things are ok. Then **** starts getting crazy. Long story short, there are reports of abuse on both sides, both verbal, and to a lesser extent some physical.

Pete doesn’t want to break up with Cindy (claims he really loves her, thought she was the one, etc) and she keeps breaking it off/coming back. This is driving Pete nuts. John recommends just breaking it off completely, as he sees this as a never ending cycle that is making Pete crazy. Pete finally breaks it off in late December. Needless to say, there are anger/hurt feelings from both Pete and Cindy.

Fast track to about 3 weeks ago. Roger has broken up with his girlfriend, and has been single for about the past 2-3 months. Pete and Roger had already not been talking to each other for awhile. Granted, Pete had been a fairly angry/somewhat violent individual from around late November to about February/March. He had unintentionally pushed away a couple friends in the process. It is also important to note that Pete and Roger live in the same house. Pete is still not over Cindy, and Cindy occasionally comes over the house to see Roger and sometimes two other acquaintances named Billy and Grant (who don’t live in the house, but come over for parties sometimes). Pete gets angry when she comes over and has told her on more than one occasion to get the **** out of “his” house.

Anyway, Pete comes to find out that Roger and Cindy have started to date each other. He is furious.
The Situation:
There is a party one night, very recently. Everything seems to be going well. At around 3:00 AM the party is over. Pete is very drunk. When Pete is very drunk (and/or in use of another substance), he can sometimes get into an angry state if there is something bothering him. He goes to Roger’s room to confront him, with the probable intention of fighting him. According to Pete, what Roger has done is inexcusable (being with Cindy after knowing what he had gone through with her). He goes to Roger’s room, but the door is locked. He bangs on the door and threatens Roger. Allegedly, Roger doesn’t budge. He keeps yelling, cursing, and banging, but to no avail. At around 3:45, cops show up. By this time, Pete is back in his room. Cops question him when he is outside, but he has his hands in his pockets. Cops ask him to remove hands from his pockets. He doesn’t do so immediately. Cops drop him and arrest him. They find a knife in his pocket. Allegedly, it is a blunt knife, which he never took out, and never intended to use. He also claims that he did not realize that he was in possession of the knife at the time.

Pete is in a holding cell for about 6 or 7 hours. Charged with obstruction of justice and some other minor charge. Pete is angry that Roger (allegedly) called the cops on him. He tells the cops that Roger uses drugs (which is true, but somewhat hypocritical). He basically tells the cops that if charges are lowered/dropped he can help the cops nail Roger. Roger sometimes uses drugs with Billy and Grant in his room. Billy already has a pending felony charge. The consequences could be quite severe for Billy if he is caught at the time the cops would come in. There is also a chance that Grant would be charged with something. John tries to convince Pete that nothing good can come of this. Pete is very angry, however, and cannot believe that Roger would call the cops on him. He argues that it is the principle of the matter. Eye for an eye, is his argument.

John has always been loyal to his friends. He keeps their secrets as his own. He never reveals information or secrets about one friend to another. He is loyal to a fault. In fact, it has become a burden to keep all these secrets from all his friends. There are times when it is difficult to tell a friend that you can’t tell them about another friend, but they are rest assured when you explain to them that just like you don’t tell other people of their secrets, so you cannot tell them other people’s secrets.

Furthermore, both Pete and Roger have been there for John when he himself had gone through some tough times.

John doesn’t know what to do. He feels guilty about telling Roger because that would be breaking Pete’s confidence. He feels guilty about not telling Roger, and seeing him possibly/probably get arrested. There is also that possibility that Billy and Grant would be around during the time this went down. He has never broken the confidence of any of his friends, but this is arguably an exceptional situation.

What would you do if you were in John’s place? How would you handle this situation?

Wat...
The answer is A punch Pete in the face for being a douche, but more importantly B no ****ing cop cares if some smalltimers are snorting some coke in a back room.

sell the screenplay?

Roger = Dick. Punch him in the face.

Pete is a scumbag.

I would not be friends with Pete anymore.

Guy sounds like a major d**k. Maybe its I'm missing the history, maybe its how you told the story, but the guy has major anger issues, beat his girlfriend, threatened his roomates with violence, ratted friends out to the cops, etc., and really sounds like someone someone I wouldn't want to be around. Ever.

TBH I'd tell Roger what Pete is up to and tell him he can crash on my couch until he finds another place.

OP,

I think you should wait a few months or at least until Pete is behind bars before dating Cindy. He sounds like an unstable fellow.

Pete is an arse. Why are you guys letting Roger off? He kept inviting over a girl his roommate and friend broke up with and was having issues with..and then starts dating her?

Get rid of them both and bang cindy.

Roger may be a dick for banging the chick4, but Pete is setting up an undercover sting to send Roger to jail. Thats like the most scumbag thing possible.

Its not like Roger stole the girl from Pete.

This Cindy sounds pretty hot.

Roger broke man law #1 by bringing his friend/roomie's ex over for some hanky-panky.

Pete broke man laws 2-99.

The thing I can't get over is the cops. Interpersonal relationships get complicated. Sh*t happens. But anyone who rats me or one of my friends out to the police for a victimless crime (ratting out Pete for beating his girlfriend would be different - someone is getting hurt) I will never speak to again, end of story. Not complicated imo.

Serious answer:

Get both of them together and announce that you will no longer
keep any secrets between them. So. Do you boys want to man
up and tell the other what's up or will I? Understand, if I have to
do it, I'll do it in my own sweet time when circumstances dictate
that it would be to my advantage to do so. Meanwhile, you two
******s can bury the hatchet and learn some civility or keep 911
on speed-dial for the certain eventuality that you boys will be in
a knife fight.

Both of these characters are total nitwits.

a.) You don't date an ex of your roommate. ( hello?! ) Or if you do, you
don't FLAUNT it.

b.) You don't bang on the door of your roommate at 4:00am looking for a fight.
Anyone who does that DESERVES to have the cops called on him. Too frickin' bad.

And finally, for OP, I would drift away from both of them. I think a few games
of basketball at the local gym would suffice for meeting a better class of
acquaintances. Avoid drama queens. Especially when it starts spilling over into
~your~ life.

haha losers.

Um...get out of there before Pete kills everyone.

Oh and if John doesn't tell Roger, and lets Pete do this to him, than John is also a scumbag.

All of this is correct. Like cops are going to set up some elaborate sting for this, WTF?

Of course the dating your roommate's ex thing is pretty whack, at least move out before you start doing that.

It is a dilly of a pickle, John. This thread is yet more proof that life would be simpler if we were gay.

plant coke on both of them, call the cops and start bangin cindy.

LOL. Just tell Roger that Pete's gonna try to get him arrested. It seems like Roger can handle it without flipping out. Slowly distance yourself from Pete.

mmmm college.

the cops take it to a completely unnecessary level. I tell Roger and then stop associating with Pete, who sounds like a huge douche. Roger sounds like a stoner and a mild douche.

Sounds about right. If Roger is your friend, then I don't understand what the moral dilemma is about silently letting him get ****ed over by the cops, i.e. it shouldn't be that hard a decision to say hey "Pete told the cops you do drugs, might want to do them somewhere else for a while".

Also, re-evaluate your friends. Pete sounds like a douche, and the type of person that is only your friend because he once was. He's changed for the worse, and you just need to realize this before he gets pissed at you and trys to **** you over too.

Be careful about any new friends you meet. They might be narcos going deep undercover for the elusive kingpin Roger and his cartel of 2 other druggies. I would even think twice about drinking booze. You never know if the FBI is taking pictures of your alcohol habits.

Thank you OOT. I was already slightly leaning in one direction, but with your insight I see that one way is indeed better than the other. Also, I have to say I was somewhat surprised with how precise a couple posters were with their analysis.

Nos1Nos2?

Ray

Yeah seriously man, I mean we're talking about some late night personal use type **** in some dude's bedroom after parties? Are you ****ing kidding me? Unless Roger is moving major product through that house the cops aren't gonna storm the place looking for a bag of something because some douche they locked up the night before is talking ****.

LOL at this Pete fool for trying to get out of some petty ass charges by ratting out a friend too. This guy's been watching too much Law and Order and got himself confused with a guy facing major time who knows something the cops give a **** about. What a tool.