Outgrowing friends rarely has a villain. Sometimes the inside jokes just stop landing.

The search for a reason is what makes drifting painful. People assume a friendship ending must involve a wrong, so they go looking for one and often invent it, when the honest explanation is that two people changed at different speeds in different directions. Nothing was done to you, and you did nothing.

If someone has faded, resist the urge to build a case against them or against yourself. You can be glad about the years without needing a verdict on the ending. Leave the door unlatched, because people sometimes come back round.