What would happen to them if there were no Ben?

Joe's mother was dead because of that baseball. And if there's someone who must say that Miss Wenteworth was killed by Simon, no one can regard his opinion as a wrong one.
Even though, Joe and Simon were friends for the last 12 years, and they knew each other as much as they knew about themselves, would they go on their friendship after this huge loss?
I can't help thinking if Simon was too sorry to go to the funeral, and was too sorry to say even a word to Joe, what would happen to them? And I also think about if Ben didn't sugguest Joe to give Simon something that he also wanted to get back from Simon, would they still be friends until Simon's death?
I was very sure that there was a power to bring people, who were destined to be friends, together with or without the efforts of someone else. I usually believed that without my initiativity or efforts, friends can still be friends sooner or later. Because of this movie, I think there may be another way to consider about these kind of things.
I can't help thinking that, if there's no Ben in their world who talked to Joe when Miss Wenteworth died, the two boys would never be friends again. Or maybe Joe would accept the fact that it's just an accident which made him lose his mother, not his only and precious friend Simon. But it must be a long time for him to realize that, and pick up the friendship again, which would hurt.
Sometimes, there should be someone who can advise me to protect a relationship, and maybe I can usually be the one who facilitate a relationship with some efforts.   舉報