My friend keeps using me as her alibi for dates, and her boyfriend thanked me for being so supportive

Three weeks ago, my friend texted me, ‘If Daniel asks, we got drinks after work.’

I knew she was not asking me to confirm an innocent happy hour. She had recently reconnected with someone she dated before Daniel. I replied that I did not want to be involved. She sent a thumbs-up.

The following morning, Daniel messaged me to say he was glad she had me to talk to because she had seemed stressed. I stared at the message and did not answer for an hour. Eventually I wrote, ‘Always here for her,’ which was technically true and morally useless.

Since then, my name has appeared in two more stories I did not agree to. She told him she was helping me shop for an interview outfit. She said she stayed late at my apartment after I had a bad day. I learned about both when Daniel mentioned them casually.

I confronted her. She said she is not having an affair. She is trying to decide whether to leave the relationship and needs private time to think without Daniel questioning every absence. The former person is ‘just someone who understands the history.’

I said if she needs privacy, she should create it without borrowing my life. She said refusing to cover for her is one thing; exposing her by correcting Daniel would be another.

That distinction has trapped me.

I do not want to become the friend who reports her movements to her boyfriend. I also do not want every ordinary interaction with him to require maintaining a lie. He invited me to his birthday next weekend. If I go, I will sit across from someone who thinks I helped his girlfriend through evenings she spent elsewhere.

My friend says she will tell him everything once she decides what she wants. I asked when that would be. She said she does not know and accused me of making her crisis about my discomfort.

Maybe I am. Her relationship is the one changing. But my credibility has become equipment she uses to manage it. If Daniel eventually learns the truth, my name will not look incidental.

I told her she has twenty-four hours to stop using me and correct the recent stories herself. She said a deadline is basically a threat to confess on her behalf. I said I was setting a boundary, not promising what I would tell him.

The truth is that I do not yet know what I will say if he asks directly. Silence feels loyal to her and dishonest to him. Telling him feels honest and also like taking control of a breakup that is not mine.

What does a friend owe when someone uses them as an alibi without consent? Is refusing future lies enough, or does repairing my own part require correcting the ones already told?