I’m ‘26M’ unsure where I stand with friend ‘26F’ that reversed advice and didn’t explain

I’m “26M” not great at reading people and I just don’t feel confident in my assessment of my relationships right now. I think it built up for a while where it felt like I was always considered a fun addition to a hangout and my friends would always consider me a funny, interesting, thoughtful, and kind person. I don’t doubt they meant it, but for some time it’s felt like I’m more of a friend of the group than anyone in particular, and they can often seem kinda uninterested in hanging out if there’s not more people coming along.

The extent of how much it bothered me only really hit me when I had a difficult time with somebody who I considered my best friend “26f” for a large part (~10 years) of my life (I’ll call her friend A). For a while I’d noticed she got less responsive texting and for a couple years (~3) whenever we had plans that weren’t as part of a larger group she would always cancel. I had mentioned it bothered me to her before and I know she had a lot going on and had a hard time meeting commitments generally, but she was still very caring and affectionate when we hung out in groups, so it sucked, but I said it was ok because I figured even if she wasn’t as reliable for this stuff, I could count on her to have my back when I really needed her.

At some point I developed a crush on somebody in the friend group (friend b 26f) and I was initially wasn’t really planning to consider pursuing anything romantic as I had my doubts it could work, but when I told friend A she encouraged me to ask her out whenever it was brought up and this gave me a boost in confidence. Eventually I told A that I did want to ask B out sometime and figured tell somebody made it harder for me to chicken out, but around a week later she texts me saying not to ask B out. It was unclear exactly why she vaguely said something about B seeming uncomfortable about going to my apt last time the group hung out even though I never invited anybody to go there so I was confused (friend b has been to my apt since without issue). I told A that what she told me freaked me out and asked to have a phone call to talk about it sometime, but A just texted me not to worry about it and just do whatever I wanted. That really made me scared I was going to wreck my relationships and I eventually decided to try to move on. If A noticed something that made her think it was a bad idea I appreciate her saying that, but I really just wanted a friend to talk to after that even if A didn’t have any answers about what happened.

I hoped I could find some time to talk with A alone to get a better idea of what happened, but I wasn’t able to make any plans where that happened until around a year later when A broke up with her gf and got more socially available. After that we started hanging out 1 on 1 again sometimes and I asked her about what happened with B and she says she doesn’t remember any of that, but didn’t mean to hurt me. I can’t imagine saying something like that to a friend casually enough that I could just forget and certainly would want to talk to them about it, but I’m also a somewhat atypical person, so maybe others find it more relatable.

Now I can’t shake the feeling that I just matter much less to my friends than I thought. I don’t want to give in to my cynical instincts of too easily assuming people don’t care, but I’ve just totally lost faith in my ability a gauge the depth of my relationships after feeling like I was so off the mark with a relationship that was really near and dear to me. I miss the relationship I used to have with A and I’m glad we’re hanging out more again, but it feels precarious and I’m not sure how much to trust our relationship or if it will revert back to being more distant if she gets a new partner. Have any of you had a relationship where you felt like they stopped considering your feelings that went back to the way it was before? Is there anything that changed in how you viewed the relationship that helped you?

Tldr: friend who I feel I’ve grown apart from a bit told me to go for it and ask another friend out reversed opinion and didn’t really explain. She forgot about the incident and now I’m not sure how to read our relationship or if I was really all that important to her.