Meeting up with old friend tomorrow

I'm seeing an old friend tomorrow and am just unsure what to make of the mess that's going on (or it feels like that anyhow)

He and I have been friends for a long time (20 years). BUT. Last year there was a string of tense interactions that really stressed the relationship

It's a longer story but like 1.5 yrs ago I heard less from him for a while (we usually saw each other every week but he didn't reply much or instigate contact). I took it personally and for 2 months didn't respond much/just went absent more since I was frustrated. Really regret acting that way and feel it wasn't fair to him.

However, 2 months later I got out of my funk and contacted him again. It felt nice but from the offset I felt things were just different? Whenever we would talk about meeting up he'd really just go awol or not follow up. Like, somehow it felt the 2 months I was absent A LOT happened and I was just learning this more and more (he also got a gf who was sort of moving in).

We have a mutual group of friends (he was always closer with them than me). In this time I also learned there was drama going on between my good friend and someone else in our group. When we'd meet up the group would start talking about this person when he wasn't there and kind of gossiping like and it felt really bad cuz I knew him personally too. More I was just kind of really surprised about what had been going on, appearantly my friend and this guy had been having a row for 6 months but kept it under wraps?  It really caught me off guard and made me uneasy, moreso because other people in the group who weren't part of the conflict also seemed to be taking sides against this guy.

This all happened while me and my good friend were also on vague terms. I'd app him and he'd seem enthusiastic but he also wouldn't follow up or drop contact completely when we were making plans  (it got to be really frustrating).

At a certain point it had been like 6 months and it still kept happening. I'd written it off prior also because I felt guilty about my own behavior but I just wasn't sure anymore if we were on good terms anymore or the cause of him being awol. I could handle seeing him less (he had a new gf which was for the 1st time in like 10 years so I can imagine that being a part of his life) but seeing all the drama that had been going on I just had no idea if him dropping contact often (but not always) was the result of him being genuinely angry with me still about being out of touch those few months like 6 months earlier.

I tried to talk to him, asked if he was available to call so I could just ask whether something serious was going on. We arranged a time but when it came to it he just dropped contact again and went awol completely. He called me like 8 hours later but by then I was already so over it and unsure what was going on I felt too distrustful to pick up. I was also just very frustrated and that last event where he cut contact again just frustrated me enough I was really just done at that moment.

A few day later I told him via app I needed time for myself. I also left the group chat of the friend circle, told them the same that no one had done much wrong, just that I needed time. It was tough and didn't feel great but I just had completely lost faith at that point. One person asked me if something was going on but, given all the drama and backtalking, I just didn't feel comfortable talking openly anymore. Again I hated cutting contact like that but the group vibe just felt so off for a while it didn't feel like a good setting anymore for sharing

This all has been like 6 months ago. Since then, the good friend had apped me a few time asking how I was etc. I told him I needed time and didn't hear much from him till yesterday. He informed me he still had some of my stuff and mentioned to bring it over (I still had some of his stuff too). I agreed and said he could come by tomorrow to drop it off.

Right now I feel like I'm just really secondguessing my position in all of this. I feel terrible about the way things ended, and kind of would like to try and reestablish contact. On the other hand I'm just not sure if I trust him. I really wish I'd have the chance to ask him if there was something going on or if he was still angry 6 months ago when I asked to call. But I'm also just very unsure if the group of friends also just turned to gossiping again since I don't want to put myself in the position of trying to reestablish contact when there's still that type of drama going on.

I'm sorry if this is a ramble, I'm just really unsure what to do. He was such a good friend but everything I saw going on the last months I was in contact made me really skittish. The drama going on between him and the other guy in the group just felt plain bad to be a part of (I never bad mouthed anyone of course since I had no qualms with this other guy, but still was there when they would talk about him and it just felt very awkward). I'm just not sure of much, particularly because it was so difficult to level with him back then.

I'm not sure but would love to hear if someone else had been in a situation like this. I'd not want to lose him but am unsure about his disposition? And even if we could hang out, or he told me nothing was going on (would I believe him?l could I trust the group of friends again? I'm in a place of doubt and just am unsure how to reconcile this with myself and my course of action is as of yet unclear (which I think is part of my larger arc, I'm indecisive as of late, probably in part due to being more isolated).