I’m 29 M, and I’ve been tight with my best friend, Jake, since high school. We’ve been through everything together—breakups, career shifts, and all those personal crises that mess with your head.
Last week, I invited him for a guys’ weekend getaway—and he was all in. But yesterday, he bailed without telling me why.
Naturally, I figured he was stressed or burned out, so I texted, “Everything okay, man?” That’s when he dropped a bomb: his girlfriend of almost a year has been feeling insecure about how much he still hangs out with me. Not in an obsessive way—just… jealous. Instead of telling me, he snapped back at me for “not making time lately,” and canceled.
The real trigger, though, was my joke in the group chat: “Jake’s too busy falling in love to hang with his best bro anymore.” I meant it as harmless banter, but it evidently stung.
Now, he says I downplayed their relationship and implied he’s choosing me over her. He hasn’t responded in more than 12 hours. I feel like I crossed a line that I might not be able to fix.
How do I apologize without pushing him further away?