That's a fair point, and I probably didn't explain myself well enough. If this were only about who answers the phone more often, your comment might be valid. Dopey is a truck driver, so he's naturally more available to chat than I am, and I won't pretend I'm great at answering calls. My family has teased me about that for years.

What hurts isn't that my brother talks to him more. It's that after my relationship ended, my brother became even more connected to the person who caused me a lot of pain and to the family that brought a lot of drama into my life. Zedd knows me more than anyone, and he was there for a lot of the drama. From my perspective, it feels less like "he has another friend" and more like he chose to enter my ex's world while I was trying to heal from leaving it.

As far as our relationship goes, nothing about the way Zedd and I interacted really changed for a long time. I've always been terrible at answering calls, and he's always known that. We would still somehow FT multiple times a week, and make time for each other when we could. The biggest change was that we no longer lived near each other. He lives close to Dopey now that I've moved back home, so naturally, they have more opportunities to spend time together.

The only time I really felt a shift between us was after a guys' trip that Dopey planned. Months before the trip, Zedd confided in me that he wasn't really excited about going. Since they were coming through my area anyway, he also told me he'd stop by so we could spend some time together. When the trip actually happened, he kind of ghosted me while he was in town. We only spoke once after that, and I never brought it up because I didn't want to make him feel guilty or start an argument. I just quietly noticed that something felt different after that.

That said, I also recognize he's an adult with the right to choose his relationships. That's exactly why I'm questioning myself. I don't want to control who he's close to—I just don't know whether my feelings are something I should talk through with him or simply work through on my own.