Boy drama. please help?

so i had a boyfriend about a year ago and we broke up after 4 months because he thought "i liked his friend". i really didn't at the time and i think he just used that as an excuse to break up. (he told some people that but denied it to me.) me and him are still good friends, it wasn't a bad break up. but now i like that friend of his. i know he likes me but i'm afraid to go for it because of what people will say about me. after me and my ex broke up a lot of people were mean because they thought i liked his friend. will people think its true that i like him and judge me for it? and also those two guys are still really good friends but i know my ex boyfriend wouldn't be mad.