You have to look a little further down the road. Where will you be when you are 25? Do you have a job? Does your boyfriend? Has he mentioned he loves you and done anything to show love and care for you? What do you want besides this friend or this man? You have to live your own life, it is not a choice between this man and your friend, it's what you are going to be doing by yourself in the future. You have to know and get along with yourself first before you can judge between men and friends. At 17 I wouldn't wander off toward a man yet to the exclusion of a friend because friends tend to stick around whereas people we think we love may or may not.