My bad, misunderstood the issue at hand. I think part of my problem is that I analyze relationships and interactions too logically... like your signature says, "people, not logic puzzles". I would just say that if you do have a group of friends who like you and respect you (or at least you feel like 2/3 of the "group" feels that way) then don't let it slip away because of social paranoia. At a certain point people feel like you're blowing THEM off even if you felt like they were blowing YOU off, haha.

But then again it's a horrifyingly fine line between being over-sensitive to rejection and trying too hard to hang around people who actually don't want you around (or at least don't really care if you are there or not)... I stay on the cautious side of that line where I just don't have friends any more, but it's not so fun on that side in my experience.