Hoboy....Been there and done that.

Sometimes people just see a thing the way they see it, and the hell with facts and reality. The hell with their own guilt, they're too busy concentrating on yours to be troubled to look at their own failings.

Friend X may be completely blind to his/her own crimes in that same area. Many times, the thing with which we take the greatest issue is the thing of which we are ourselves most guilty.

Talking might make a diff, if for no other reason than to get a better grasp on "why" friend X has done what he/she has done. Sometimes the answer is, however, not what we may want to hear.

In any case, anyone who is willing to slander you behind your back to a mutual friend (or a total stranger, or common enemy for that matter) instead of coming and talking to you *as* a friend, is (in my opinion) *not* your friend.

Just a thought...