don't ignore your best friend

one thing that always annoys me so much is when a character has a best friend - or at least, the book says they have a best friend, but they spend most of the book ignoring their best friend. take I'm a Gay Wizard by V.S. Santoni, which i'm not enjoying as much as i'd hoped, and one of the reasons for it is this phenomenon (is it a trope?). what is the point of having a goth trans girl best friend if you're going to pretend she's not your best friend?

come on, i want my literary escapism, i want to vicariously enjoy the experience of having a real best friend in meatspace! i can get the isolation and loneliness experience in real life any time, i don't need to read a book for that.