AITAH for casually talking to my best friend’s ex?

I (20F) have been friends with the same two girls since elementary school, we’ll call them Martini and Cranberry. We all grew up together, but I had to move about an hour away for university. They went to school too, but after 2 years, they both ended up moving back to our hometown and they live about 2 mins away from each other. Every summer I come home to our town, but I like about 15 mins away from them. Last summer, we had a bit of a falling out. They consistently hung out together, which I didn’t mind. I wasn’t jealous or anything, I just wanted an invite every once in a while. We had a shared group calendar together, so they knew when I was off work, but they never invited me. I did put in effort, even inviting them to the city one time to go out and sleepover at my house, which we did do. I would also text the group chat every so often to check in on them, but I felt I wasn’t getting much in return. I told them how I felt a couple times, but nothing changed

One day, I was so fed up with them that I left our group chat. The following day, when they noticed I was gone, they both texted me individually to ask what was up. I explained to them what I had already explained before, and they both seemed pretty aggressive at first. Eventually, Cranberry apologized and said we could both put in more effort to see each other, and I agreed. On the other hand, Martini got very defensive, twisted it to play victim herself, and eventually said “i’m sorry you feel that way”. I respectfully told her I hoped for a better response, and she essentially said “if you feel that we, we just won’t be friends”. So for the next couple months, Martini and I didn’t talk and we weren’t friends at all. It was getting awkward for Cranberry, playing the middle man and all, so one night, when we were all at the same party together, I approached Martini hoping to apologize and make up. She told me she was drunk and having fun, and didn’t wanna talk, but that she’d call me the next day. We didn’t end up calling, but we did text, and she said she is willing to be at peace with me, but not as close as we were. I decided to agree and take what I can get with her.

A few months went by, and I was back at school. Cranberry had just got out of an almost 2 year relationship, so I invited her to the city to go clubbing with my bf and I. As the date approached, Cranberry asked me if Martini could stay at my house for an hour or two with us while we get ready because Martini was going to meet some guy downtown later. I hesitantly agreed. I wanted to slowly rebuild the friendship and this was the only opportunity I had so far. Both of them came over and all was well, it was like we never had a falling out. Cranberry, my bf, and I go to the club, we have fun, Cranberry meets a guy, and a couple weeks later they’re dating.

A couple weeks later, I invite Cranberry to come clubbing again for Halloween. She says yes, and that she’s going to bring her bf too. Closer to the date, I ask her if Martini has any plans and if she wants to come along too. She says yes, and I offer to let her sleepover at my house for 2 nights because she has nowhere else to stay, especially because Cranberry is going to stay with her bf who also lives in the city. The plans work out, we have fun at the club. Cranberry and her bf leave the club early, so just me, my bf, and Martini are left. I’m happy to be rebuilding my friendship with her. At the club, I go on snapchat and notice some of my coworkers are literally right across the street. I text them and ask them to come over to say hi and catch up (I only work during the summertime, so I don’t see them often). After I ask them who’s all with them, I realize Cranberry’s ex is there too (he is also a coworker of mine). I text him and tell him to come say hi outside because we were just about ready to go anyways. He shows up with a few of my coworkers and we all talk for a bit. Eventually, my other coworkers leave and it’s just Cranberry’s ex and me, my bf, and Martini. He tells us he’s taking the subway home too and we realize we’re going in the same direction, so we all walk there together. Martini, who was sitting further down the sidewalk than the rest of is (she doesn’t know my coworkers) was giving me the side eye the whole time we spoke. She trailed behind as we walked to the subway station. I figured she was just upset because she wanted to Uber and not take transit.

On the train, Cranberry’s ex, my bf, and I talked about the breakup between them and how she was doing now. He told us he already knew about her new bf and everything. I remember specifically telling him that I understood his side of the story, but that ofc I had to side with Cranberry because she’s my best friend. I even gave him crap when he said he had wanted to dump her for months before it actually happened. Nothing bad was said about Cranberry, especially not from me. Martini heard all of our convo, but never joined in. When we eventually got back to my house, we ordered dons and went to bed. Keep in mind, Martini had no money, so my bf paid for the Uber we took to get to the club, 2 drinks for her, and dons for all of us. We didn’t expect her to pay as back because it was a friendly gesture at the time. I was nice to Martini despite our recent history. I gave her a place to stay, bought things for her, let her use my stuff. That night, I texted Cranberry saying that we saw her ex, and she didn’t answer because she was asleep, so I went to bed.

The next morning, Martini had left and I saw that her and Cranberry were on the way back to our hometown. I didn’t think much of it and I texted Martini saying “I hope you had fun :)”. She didn’t reply. I then noticed that Cranberry had blocked me on snap. I figured there was some kind of miscommunication and that Martini had said something about our interaction with her ex. I quickly texted Cranberry a long paragraph letting her know that things can get misconstrued while drinking and that I wanted the opportunity to share my side. She never responded. She later blocked me on Instagram and TikTok. I haven’t heard from either of them since.

Keep in mind, Cranberry never told me I could not remain friends with her ex. In fact, it would’ve been pretty hard to do so because her ex and I were still coworkers, and we had been friends before they even started dating. Also, if her and her bf had ended things badly, I would’ve understood, but he wasn’t a cheater, he wasn’t toxic. It was more or less a mutual breakup where they just grew apart.

Maybe I missed some kind of girl code here, but I’m mainly upset that I never even got the chance to speak. She never allowed me to share what actually happened. I’ll never know what Martini told her, and I’ll never have my best friends again. AITAH?