Thanks for the response, Perna. I just feel so badly for my boyfriend and the feelings are manifesting themselves as anxiety. Even though he's not a tool, the fact that they are resorting to name calling when my boyfriend has been decent to them is hurtful. Maybe I'm taking this worse than him. :/

He values his friendships very highly, and they were the only close ones in the area.

turquoisesea, thank you for the personal account. I appreciate you understanding and validating my feelings concerning not wanting to be around the ex.