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" If you&amp;#039;ve been tracking the mascara-stained tears on The Hills lately, you&amp;#039;ve probably heard about the latest friendship implosion. Audrina Partridge reportedly moved out of the house she shared with longtime friends Lauren Conrad and Lo Bosworth after clashes between Lo and Audrina caused unbearable tension. The drama is a relatable one, since so often three is crowd when it comes to chick cliques. Friendship coach and sociologist Jan Yager, PhD, author of When Friendship Hurts explains why: &amp;quot;Two of the people in a close group inevitably closer \u2014 usually it&amp;#039;s those who have known each other longest.&amp;quot; And that leaves one person feeling ostracized \u2014 and threatened.  If you&amp;#039;re the one, like Lauren Conrad, who&amp;#039;s stuck in the middle, heed this advice: &amp;quot;For your own emotional health, you have to realize that it&amp;#039;s okay for friends not to like each other and it doesn&amp;#039;t reflect poorly on you,&amp;quot; says Cheryl Dellasega, PhD, of Mean Girls Grown Up and a professor at the Penn State College of Medicine.  Your best course of action is to try to build in one-on-one time for both girls in your schedule. Be honest about the fact that you&amp;#039;re staying friends with both of them, and be mindful not to talk about one when you&amp;#039;re in the other&amp;#039;s company. While you&amp;#039;re at it, set a zero-tolerance policy for listening to trash-talking.  Whatever you do, don&amp;#039;t let one chick force you to choose between her and her nemesis. &amp;quot;Say, &amp;#039;You don&amp;#039;t have to like this person or see her, but making me choose between you just disrespects the friendship we&amp;#039;ve built,&amp;#039;&amp;quot; says Yager. If she presses the issue, consider taking a break from the friendship for a few weeks. Once she realizes that a smaller part of you is better than nothing at all, she&amp;#039;ll likely come around. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/advice/a2701/The-Toxic-Friendship-Triangle/?click=rel>