As long as you are in an exclusive relationship with him, he is calling you a friend out of habit.

He sees you as someone he trusts.

To him, a person he trusts, is a friend.

Granted, he is in an intimate relationship with you.

This means that you are more than a friend obviously.

What matters most is that he has been treating you as an exclusive girlfriend for the close to 2 years that you have been dating him.

He has introduced you to his friends and family as his exclusive girlfriend.

He has addressed you as his girlfriend to strangers that you have come across on trips or excursions.

As long as he has done this and treated you as such, you don’t have to worry that he calls you a friend from time to time.

Again, this is more to do with habit than anything else.

He called his ex-girlfriend his friend too.

Much of this having to do with the level of comfort he has developed with a person that he is in an exclusive relationship with.

If you are worried that all he sees is you as a friend and nothing beyond that, watch how he treats you when you are in the presence of his friends.

Does he treat you any differently from how he treats his friends?

Is he giving you more attention and being more affectionate towards you?

Is he paying for your meal or drinks?

Is he holding you close and making sure that no one is giving you the lustful eye?

When he is doing all of this, he clearly sees you differently from how he sees his regular friends.

When there is a clear difference in how he treats you in comparison to how he treats his friends, you know that he does see you as someone that is much more than a friend to him.

Using the word “friend” is how he demonstrates that you are someone who is in his inner circle that he trusts.

But there are levels to it.

He regards you as someone on a much higher level than his regular friends when he is clearly treating you differently, and giving you special treatment every single time you are amongst his friends.

You have been dating for almost 2 years.

That is more than enough time for him to know whether he regards you as a friend or something more.

If the last 2 years have been mediocre at best, with him being inconsistent in how much he takes you out or shows his affection, there is cause for worry.

A guy that calls you a friend when his behavior has been inconsistent over the last 2 years, isn’t taking his romantic relationship with you all that seriously.

He likes having the ability to enjoy somewhat of a romantic relationship with you, while having the freedom to still look at you as a friend.

In this circumstance, he isn’t treating you all that differently from how he treats his friends.

Every now and then, he pays for a drink or meal.

But, he leaves it to you to pay your own way when you are hanging out with him and his friends.

This is when you know that he does see you as a friend, and has spent the last 2 years using you for his benefit.