i think Skips' feelings on his old friends fall into three different sectors.
THE ACCEPTANCE is what he consciously thinks about it, looking back. He accepts that it was just time, that it was no one's fault, that this is just how things are. This is what he tells himself, what tells others. However.
THE RESENTMENT shines most during his confession sequence. "So that you won't leave me. Like they did. Like Benji did." โ this sentiment is clearly resenting his friends, putting the blame on them. This comes out when making new relationships. Fearful that you will eventually leave, he subconsciously compares you to his old friends, bitterly. In fear, he attempts to either push you away with his intensity โ to show that you would've left after all, and that you're just like them โ or make you show your faith by staying by him.
THE INSECURITY comes out after establishing a relationship. You're with him now, you've stuck the landing on his "big test" (not that he proctored it intentionally, it was just another manifestation of his issues he doesn't mean to do.), you're not going anywhere. Unless, of course, he makes you go somewhere. He drives you away somehow. Like how, somewhere, deep in the back of his head, he can see a world where it was his fault everyone lost interest. His fault everyone grew apart. He wasn't interesting enough, or he didn't treat things in the exact right way. It makes him scared in situations that aren't pure fluff. He doesn't want to be, no. He feels stupid for it. He knows that it was nobody's fault, he knows, he knows, he knows. But that doesn't change the primal fear that pangs him as a result of his insecurities when his partner is sad, or upset, or otherwise on edge. He pushes past the paralysis, always, he tries. He just... may come off a little strong while trying to comfort you. Asking too many questions. Thinking too many thoughts.
