my friends

I don't think i understand my own feelings. I have a close friend that is clingy. He thinks of me as his best friend and my other close friends as his friends, and everyone else as an acquaintance. I've been lonely for a long time though, but he has been getting on my nerves and an outside friend of mine mentioned that this guy could have been trying to "buy friends". I'm just going to either make myself gradually, a little more unavailable (even though it's hard to lie about such a matter or make it seem honest) or just tell him honestly that I feel like I'm married to the guy.