🧁 Forward Without Him 🎬 Binge Watch Full Movie No Cut | Dailymotion #ReelShort─影片 Dailymotion

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😊Click to download the app to watch all episodes for free: https://reelslink.com/marketing/MH6sGl 🌎For FULL HD Episodes on ReelShort site:🔗 https://www.reelshort.com/movie/forward-without-him-6ab3cc6bccf5221f6c029385  🍁Notice: ReelShort Uncut is an officially authorized publisher of ReelShort content.  POV: You bring cupcakes to celebrate with your favorite people... But you hear them talking behind a closed door. 🚪  He says he'll pretend to love you until fall. She laughs about ruining your Columbia application.  This is the heartbreaking reality for Taylor in "Forward Without Him". Some secrets change your life forever. Time to walk away and build a new one. 🏙️  🎬 GENRE: Caught Cheating, Campus

Transcript

00:00:07The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:00:11Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan and my best friend Lexi.

00:00:15Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves to keep dating behind my back.

00:00:18They'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

00:00:22Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:00:25I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:00:28Don't say that.

00:00:30Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:00:33we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:00:39Made her miss the deadline.

00:00:40She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:00:42We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:00:44That's already bad enough.

00:00:45When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:00:49Obviously.

00:00:51So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:00:53In secret?

00:00:54As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:00:55Right then, I was standing there, a complete joke.

00:00:57Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:01:00I promised you a full year as your guy, not one day less.

00:01:03Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:01:05It runs through May 1st this year.

00:01:07I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:01:09I'm yours, until the fall semester starts.

00:01:11I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer,

00:01:13to do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi, not going home.

00:01:17We'll stay in the city together.

00:01:18Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:01:28I thought back to last May 1st.

00:01:30That was Lexi's birthday.

00:01:31It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:01:34I'd stared at my student portal showing, offer declined, and couldn't believe it.

00:01:37My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

00:01:40Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:01:42Only me, somehow, impossibly, had lost my spot.

00:01:45My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:01:47That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline

00:01:50and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

00:01:53How is that even possible?

00:01:54The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:01:56Your record is outstanding.

00:01:58If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:02:01But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:02:04There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:02:06Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:02:08I was devastated.

00:02:10I couldn't accept it.

00:02:11And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:02:13Taylor, my birthday party's starting.

00:02:14Get over here.

00:02:15Ethan's already here.

00:02:16We're just waiting on you.

00:02:17I told them what happened.

00:02:18Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:02:20Oh my god.

00:02:21How does that even happen?

00:02:23These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:02:25So what are you going to do now?

00:02:26If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:02:29I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:02:31I thought about four years of work.

00:02:33No.

00:02:34I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:02:36There was a beat of silence on the call.

00:02:37Then Ethan's voice.

00:02:38With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

00:02:41Focus on reapplying.

00:02:43Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:02:45Ethan's right.

00:02:46Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:02:50No problem.

00:02:50Back then, I was so touched I almost couldn't speak.

00:02:54Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

00:02:56All of it just to hide what they were doing.

00:02:58To make her real birthday wish come true.

00:03:00Dating my boyfriend.

00:03:03I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:03:05That part didn't surprise me.

00:03:07What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:03:11She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:03:15I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:03:17Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages for her.

00:03:20My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:03:27The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

00:03:31I'm dead.

00:03:32He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so, drumroll, I bought it for him.

00:03:37We got a hotel room last night.

00:03:39He's so hot.

00:03:42Hey Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:03:45No.

00:03:47Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:03:50After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:03:53There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else, and then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

00:03:57And that killed whatever mood was left.

00:03:59When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way, she sent back a voice note that was practically

00:04:03a performance.

00:04:04No?

00:04:04No way!

00:04:11Taylor, don't you know?

00:04:12If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

00:04:15Oops, did I say something wrong?

00:04:17I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:04:20Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:04:24I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

00:04:27I just changed the subject.

00:04:28Anyway, you move fast.

00:04:30You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:04:33What does he look like?

00:04:34Send a pic.

00:04:34Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:04:36One word.

00:04:37Hot.

00:04:38How hot?

00:04:39Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

00:04:42But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

00:04:44And now, standing outside the apartment, watching the two of them together, I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:04:50What are you up to?

00:04:56At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

00:04:59I held down the nausea and replied.

00:05:01Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:05:04Again?

00:05:05Why does she keep bothering you?

00:05:07She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:05:09She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

00:05:10Like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:05:13Good thing I'm careful.

00:05:14I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:05:17Covers it.

00:05:17Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:05:18She pushed a little further.

00:05:19You're that scared of her finding out?

00:05:21You could just tell her about us?

00:05:24If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even be mad?

00:05:28Don't.

00:05:29Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

00:05:31Ever.

00:05:31Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:05:34Okay, okay, forget it.

00:05:35Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:05:38Let's do something fun.

00:05:41That desperate?

00:05:45I'll take care of it tonight.

00:05:47ER is slammed.

00:05:49Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:05:50Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:05:52Don't worry.

00:05:53Love you.

00:05:53I read every word.

00:05:54Then I texted my parents.

00:05:56Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:05:58I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:06:03They called immediately.

00:06:05Sweetie, what happened?

00:06:06What changed?

00:06:07You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:06:08Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:06:10Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:06:11My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:06:14What?

00:06:14But at prom last year, Ethan was...

00:06:16She stopped herself.

00:06:17Like she just figured something out.

00:06:19Didn't finish the sentence.

00:06:20I was the one reassuring them.

00:06:21My application this year was stronger.

00:06:23I got into MIT.

00:06:24Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

00:06:27I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

00:06:30Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

00:06:33I'll talk later.

00:06:34I need to book a flight home.

00:06:36Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:06:37My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

00:06:39We were all fooled.

00:06:41Lexi's private high school tuition.

00:06:42Her college tuition right now.

00:06:44Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:06:46If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:06:50Done.

00:06:51Okay.

00:06:51Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:06:53She came from a broken home.

00:06:54Ninth grade.

00:06:55Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:06:57Left her behind.

00:06:58No plan for her education.

00:06:59Nothing.

00:07:00I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:07:02Mom, dad, can we please help her?

00:07:04She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:07:06Just think of it as charity.

00:07:07When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:07:09My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:07:11They said yes.

00:07:12Paid her private high school tuition.

00:07:13Let her move into the guest room.

00:07:15Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:07:18Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:07:21When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:07:24Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:07:28I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:07:40Boyfriend booked the room.

00:07:42Two thousand dollars a night.

00:07:43He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:07:44What do you think I should do for him?

00:07:46I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:07:48I was barely holding it together.

00:07:50I called Ethan.

00:07:52Taylor?

00:07:53Can you come home this weekend?

00:07:54Just once?

00:07:55I really need you.

00:07:56He said no without missing a beat.

00:07:57Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:08:00You haven't been here yet.

00:08:00You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:08:02There's always something to spend money on.

00:08:04My coursework is brutal.

00:08:06I can't carve out the time.

00:08:07Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:08:11Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:08:13But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:08:15No problem.

00:08:15Brutal coursework.

00:08:17Sure.

00:08:17Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:08:21BFF jealous?

00:08:22I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:08:24When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:08:27Just you, all to yourself.

00:08:32Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

00:08:35I didn't reply.

00:08:40Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:08:43She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:08:48Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life, using Taylor's parents' card,

00:08:53going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:08:55And Taylor?

00:08:56Still home, hunched over essays.

00:08:59Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:09:02She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:09:05But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:09:07For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:09:11He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:09:13But Lexi could tell.

00:09:15In the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:09:19The one you actually end up with.

00:09:21If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now,

00:09:23there was a real chance Ethan would panic and drop her to try to fix things.

00:09:27That was not the ending she was going for.

00:09:29Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step,

00:09:32until Ethan was the one who called it.

00:09:34That moment hadn't come yet.

00:09:35And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:09:39She could not blow this up too early.

00:09:41Although Ethan's family had money.

00:09:42Real money.

00:09:43Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:09:46She was still running through the fantasy.

00:09:49Who are you texting?

00:09:51Nobody.

00:09:52Ethan.

00:09:53For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:09:56I want you completely to myself.

00:09:58That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

00:10:00He didn't mind giving her that.

00:10:01It was a small ask.

00:10:03She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

00:10:05After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

00:10:07The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:10:09There are strict rules around phone use.

00:10:10I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

00:10:13Don't worry.

00:10:14I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:10:18You're the best.

00:10:19I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

00:10:23This little...

00:10:24He's still lying to you?

00:10:25Right now?

00:10:26Block him.

00:10:27Block both of them.

00:10:28So disgusting.

00:10:29Done.

00:10:30All blocked.

00:10:31Those two are never touching my life again.

00:10:34Time moved fast.

00:10:36Before long, it was move-in day.

00:10:40The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:10:43Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:10:46Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:10:48He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:10:50But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:10:55Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:10:58He let it go and started typing.

00:11:01Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:11:03I'll come get you.

00:11:07He'd been blocked.

00:11:08He figured he'd misread it.

00:11:11What was going on?

00:11:17He called her straight to voicemail.

00:11:21The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:11:26That line, too.

00:11:27Blocked.

00:11:47The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:11:51Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan and my best friend Lexi.

00:11:55Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves.

00:11:57To keep dating behind my back.

00:11:58They'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

00:12:02Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:12:05I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:12:08Don't say that.

00:12:09Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:12:13we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:12:19Made her miss the deadline.

00:12:20She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:12:22We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:12:24That's already bad enough.

00:12:25When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:12:29Obviously.

00:12:31So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:12:33In secret?

00:12:34As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:12:35Right then, I was standing there.

00:12:37A complete joke.

00:12:38Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:12:39I promised you a full year as your guy.

00:12:42Not one day less.

00:12:43Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:12:45It runs through May 1st this year.

00:12:47I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:12:49I'm yours.

00:12:50Until the fall semester starts.

00:12:51I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer.

00:12:53To do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi.

00:12:55Not going home.

00:12:57We'll stay in the city together.

00:12:58Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:13:08I thought back to last May 1st.

00:13:10That was Lexi's birthday.

00:13:11It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:13:14I'd stared at my student portal showing offer declined and couldn't believe it.

00:13:17My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

00:13:20Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:13:22Only me, somehow, impossibly, had lost my spot.

00:13:25My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:13:27That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline and cancel the

00:13:31deposit before the deadline.

00:13:33How is that even possible?

00:13:34The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:13:36Your record is outstanding.

00:13:38If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:13:41But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:13:44There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:13:46Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:13:48I was devastated.

00:13:50I couldn't accept it.

00:13:51And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:13:53Taylor, my birthday party's starting.

00:13:54Get over here.

00:13:55Ethan's already here.

00:13:56We're just waiting on you.

00:13:57I told them what happened.

00:13:58Lexi went into overdrive, trying to make me feel better.

00:14:00Oh my god.

00:14:01How does that even happen?

00:14:03These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:14:05So what are you going to do now?

00:14:06If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:14:09I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:14:11I thought about four years of work.

00:14:13No.

00:14:14I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:14:16There was a beat of silence on the call.

00:14:17Then Ethan's voice.

00:14:18With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

00:14:21Focus on reapplying.

00:14:23Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:14:25Ethan's right.

00:14:26Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:14:30No problem.

00:14:30Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

00:14:34Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

00:14:36All of it just to hide what they were doing.

00:14:38To make her real birthday wish come true.

00:14:40Dating my boyfriend.

00:14:43I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:14:45That part didn't surprise me.

00:14:47What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:14:51She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:14:55I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:14:57Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages from her.

00:15:00My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:15:07The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

00:15:11I'm dead.

00:15:12He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so, drumroll, I bought it for him.

00:15:17We got a hotel room last night.

00:15:19He's so hot.

00:15:22Hey, Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:15:25No.

00:15:27Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:15:30After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:15:33There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else, and then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

00:15:37And that killed whatever mood was left.

00:15:39When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way, she sent back a voice note that was practically

00:15:42a performance.

00:15:44No?

00:15:44No way!

00:15:51Taylor, don't you know, if a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

00:15:55Oops, did I say something wrong?

00:15:57I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:16:00Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:16:04I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

00:16:07I just changed the subject.

00:16:08Anyway, you move fast.

00:16:10You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:16:12What does he look like?

00:16:14Send a pic.

00:16:14Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:16:16One word.

00:16:17Hot.

00:16:18How hot?

00:16:19Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

00:16:22But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

00:16:25And now, standing outside the apartment, watching the two of them together, I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:16:30What are you up to?

00:16:36At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

00:16:39I held down the nausea and replied,

00:16:41Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:16:44Again?

00:16:45Why does she keep bothering you?

00:16:46She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:16:49She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

00:16:50Like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:16:53Good thing I'm careful.

00:16:54I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:16:57Covers it.

00:16:57Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:16:58She pushed a little further.

00:16:59You're that scared of her finding out?

00:17:01You could just tell her about us?

00:17:04If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend,

00:17:07how could she even be mad?

00:17:08Don't.

00:17:09Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

00:17:11Ever.

00:17:11Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:17:14Okay, okay, forget it.

00:17:15Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:17:18Let's do something fun.

00:17:21That desperate?

00:17:25I'll take care of it tonight.

00:17:27ER is slammed.

00:17:29Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:17:30Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:17:32Don't worry.

00:17:33Love you.

00:17:33I read every word.

00:17:34Then I texted my parents.

00:17:36Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:17:38I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:17:43They called immediately.

00:17:45Sweetie, what happened?

00:17:46What changed?

00:17:47You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:17:48Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:17:50Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:17:51My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:17:53What?

00:17:54But at prom last year, Ethan was...

00:17:56She stopped herself.

00:17:57Like she just figured something out.

00:17:59Didn't finish the sentence.

00:18:00I was the one reassuring them.

00:18:01My application this year was stronger.

00:18:03I got into MIT.

00:18:04Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

00:18:07I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

00:18:10Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

00:18:13I'll talk later.

00:18:14I need to book a flight home.

00:18:16Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:18:17My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

00:18:19We were all fooled.

00:18:20Lexi's private high school tuition.

00:18:22Her college tuition right now.

00:18:24Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:18:26If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:18:30Done.

00:18:31Okay.

00:18:31Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:18:33She came from a broken home.

00:18:34Ninth grade.

00:18:35Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:18:37Left her behind.

00:18:38No plan for her education.

00:18:39Nothing.

00:18:40I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:18:42Mom, dad, can we please help her?

00:18:44She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:18:46Just think of it as charity.

00:18:47When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:18:49My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:18:51They said yes.

00:18:52Paid her private high school tuition.

00:18:53Let her move into the guest room.

00:18:55Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:18:58Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:19:00When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:19:04Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:19:08I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:19:20Boyfriend booked the room.

00:19:22$2,000 a night.

00:19:23He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:19:24What do you think I should do for him?

00:19:25I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:19:28I was barely holding it together.

00:19:30I called Ethan.

00:19:32Taylor?

00:19:33Can you come home this weekend?

00:19:34Just once?

00:19:35I really need you.

00:19:36He said no without missing a beat.

00:19:37Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:19:40You haven't been here yet.

00:19:40You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:19:42There's always something to spend money on.

00:19:44My coursework is brutal.

00:19:46I can't carve out the time.

00:19:47Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:19:51Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:19:53But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:19:55No problem.

00:19:55Brutal coursework.

00:19:57Sure.

00:19:57Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:20:01BFF jealous?

00:20:02I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:20:04When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:20:07Just you.

00:20:08All to yourself.

00:20:12Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

00:20:15I didn't reply.

00:20:20Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:20:23She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:20:28Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life, using Taylor's parents' card,

00:20:33going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:20:35And Taylor, still home, hunched over essays.

00:20:39Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:20:42She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:20:45But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:20:47For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:20:51He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:20:53But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:20:59The one you actually end up with.

00:21:00If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now, there was a real chance Ethan would panic and drop

00:21:05her to try to fix things.

00:21:07That was not the ending she was going for.

00:21:08Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step, until Ethan was the one who called

00:21:14it.

00:21:14That moment hadn't come yet.

00:21:15And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:21:19She could not blow this up too early.

00:21:21Although, Ethan's family had money.

00:21:22Real money.

00:21:23Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:21:26She was still running through the fantasy.

00:21:29Who are you texting?

00:21:31Nobody.

00:21:32Ethan.

00:21:33For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:21:36I want you completely to myself.

00:21:37That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

00:21:40He didn't mind giving her that.

00:21:41It was a small ask.

00:21:43She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

00:21:45After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

00:21:47The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:21:49There are strict rules around phone use.

00:21:51I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

00:21:54Don't worry.

00:21:54I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:21:58You're the best.

00:21:59I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

00:22:03This little...

00:22:04He's still lying to you?

00:22:05Right now?

00:22:06Block him.

00:22:07Block both of them.

00:22:08So disgusting.

00:22:09Done.

00:22:10All blocked.

00:22:11Those two are never touching my life again.

00:22:14Time moved fast.

00:22:16Before long, it was move-in day.

00:22:19The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:22:23Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:22:26Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:22:28He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:22:30But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:22:35Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:22:38He let it go and started typing.

00:22:41Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:22:43I'll come get you.

00:22:47He'd been blocked.

00:22:48He figured he'd misread it.

00:22:51What was going on?

00:22:57He called her straight to voicemail.

00:23:01The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:23:27The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:23:31Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend, Ethan, and my best friend, Lexi.

00:23:35Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves.

00:23:37To keep dating behind my back.

00:23:38They'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

00:23:42Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:23:45I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:23:48Don't say that.

00:23:50Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:23:53we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:23:59Made her miss the deadline.

00:24:00She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:24:02We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:24:04That's already bad enough.

00:24:05When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:24:09Obviously.

00:24:11So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:24:13In secret?

00:24:13As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:24:15Right then, I was standing there.

00:24:17A complete joke.

00:24:18Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:24:20I promised you a full year as your guy.

00:24:21Not one day less.

00:24:23Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:24:25It runs through May 1st this year.

00:24:27I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:24:29I'm yours.

00:24:30Until the fall semester starts.

00:24:31I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer.

00:24:33To do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Sinai.

00:24:35Not going home.

00:24:37We'll stay in the city together.

00:24:38Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:25:08That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline and cancel the

00:25:11deposit before the deadline.

00:25:13How is that even possible?

00:25:14The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:25:16Your record is outstanding.

00:25:18If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:25:21But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:25:24There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:25:26Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:25:28I was devastated.

00:25:30I couldn't accept it.

00:25:31And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:25:32Taylor!

00:25:33My birthday party's starting!

00:25:34Get over here!

00:25:35Ethan's already here!

00:25:36We're just waiting on you!

00:25:37I told them what happened.

00:25:38Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:25:40Oh my god!

00:25:41How does that even happen?

00:25:43These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:25:45So what are you gonna do now?

00:25:46If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:25:49I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:25:51I thought about four years of work.

00:25:53No.

00:25:54I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:25:56There was a beat of silence on the call.

00:25:57Then Ethan's voice.

00:25:58With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

00:26:01Focus on reapplying.

00:26:03Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:26:05Ethan's right.

00:26:06Then my birthday wish this year is for our Taylor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:26:09No problem.

00:26:10Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

00:26:14Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

00:26:16All of it just to hide what they were doing.

00:26:18To make her real birthday wish come true.

00:26:20Dating my boyfriend.

00:26:23I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:26:25That part didn't surprise me.

00:26:27What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:26:31She texted me constantly.

00:26:32Every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:26:35I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:26:37Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages for her.

00:26:40My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:26:47The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

00:26:51I'm dead.

00:26:52He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so, drum roll, I bought it for him.

00:26:57We got a hotel room last night.

00:26:59He's so hot.

00:27:02Hey, Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:27:05No.

00:27:07Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:27:10After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:27:13There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else.

00:27:15And then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

00:27:17And that killed whatever mood was left.

00:27:18When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way,

00:27:21she sent back a voice note that was practically a performance.

00:27:24No?

00:27:24No way!

00:27:31Taylor, don't you know?

00:27:32If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

00:27:35Oops.

00:27:36Did I say something wrong?

00:27:37I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:27:40Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:27:44I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

00:27:47I just changed the subject.

00:27:48Anyway, you move fast.

00:27:50You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:27:52What does he look like?

00:27:54Send a pic.

00:27:54Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:27:56One word.

00:27:57Hot.

00:27:58How hot?

00:27:59Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

00:28:02But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

00:28:05And now, standing outside the apartment, watching the two of them together,

00:28:08I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:28:10What are you up to?

00:28:16At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

00:28:19I held down the nausea and replied,

00:28:21Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:28:24Again?

00:28:25Why does she keep bothering you?

00:28:27She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:28:28She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

00:28:30Like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:28:33Good thing I'm careful.

00:28:34I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:28:37Covers it.

00:28:37Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:28:38She pushed a little further.

00:28:39You're that scared of her finding out?

00:28:41You could just tell her about us?

00:28:44If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even be mad?

00:28:48Don't.

00:28:48Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

00:28:51Ever.

00:28:51Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:28:54Okay, okay, forget it.

00:28:55Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:28:58Let's do something fun.

00:29:01That desperate?

00:29:05I'll take care of it tonight.

00:29:07ER is slammed.

00:29:09Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:29:10Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:29:12Don't worry.

00:29:13Love you.

00:29:13I read every word.

00:29:14Then I texted my parents.

00:29:16Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:29:18I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:29:23They called immediately.

00:29:25Sweetie, what happened?

00:29:26What changed?

00:29:27You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:29:28Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:29:30Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:29:31My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:29:33What?

00:29:34But at prom last year, Ethan was...

00:29:36She stopped herself.

00:29:37Like she just figured something out.

00:29:39Didn't finish the sentence.

00:29:40I was the one reassuring them.

00:29:41My application this year was stronger.

00:29:43I got into MIT.

00:29:44Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

00:29:47I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

00:29:50Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

00:29:53I'll talk later.

00:29:54I need to book a flight home.

00:29:56Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:29:56My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

00:29:59We were all fooled.

00:30:00Lexi's private high school tuition, her college tuition right now, your mother and I have

00:30:05been paying all of it.

00:30:06If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:30:10Done.

00:30:11Okay.

00:30:11Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:30:13She came from a broken home.

00:30:14Ninth grade.

00:30:15Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:30:17Left her behind.

00:30:18No plan for her education.

00:30:19Nothing.

00:30:20I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:30:22Mom, dad, can we please help her?

00:30:24She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:30:26Just think of it as charity.

00:30:27When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:30:29My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:30:31They said yes.

00:30:32Paid her private high school tuition.

00:30:33Let her move into the guest room.

00:30:35Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:30:38Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:30:41When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:30:44Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:30:48I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:31:00Boyfriend booked the room.

00:31:02$2,000 a night.

00:31:03He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:31:04What do you think I should do for him?

00:31:05I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:31:08I was barely holding it together.

00:31:10I called Ethan.

00:31:12Taylor?

00:31:12Can you come home this weekend?

00:31:14Just once?

00:31:15I really need you.

00:31:16He said no without missing a beat.

00:31:17Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:31:20You haven't been here yet.

00:31:20You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:31:22There's always something to spend money on.

00:31:24My coursework is brutal.

00:31:25I can't carve out the time.

00:31:27Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:31:31Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:31:33But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:31:35No problem.

00:31:35Brutal coursework.

00:31:36Sure.

00:31:37Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:31:41BFF jealous?

00:31:41I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:31:44When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:31:47Just you.

00:31:48All to yourself.

00:31:52Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

00:31:55I didn't reply.

00:32:00Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:32:03She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:32:08Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life, using Taylor's parents' card,

00:32:13going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:32:14And Taylor, still home, hunched over essays.

00:32:19Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:32:22She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:32:25But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:32:27For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:32:31He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:32:33But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of

00:32:38girl.

00:32:39The one you actually end up with.

00:32:40If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now, there was a real chance Ethan would

00:32:44panic and drop her to try to fix things.

00:32:47That was not the ending she was going for.

00:32:49Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step, until Ethan was the

00:32:53one who called it.

00:32:54That moment hadn't come yet.

00:32:55And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:32:59She could not blow this up too early.

00:33:00Although, Ethan's family had money.

00:33:02Real money.

00:33:03Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:33:06She was still running through the fantasy.

00:33:09Who are you texting?

00:33:11Nobody.

00:33:12Ethan.

00:33:13For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:33:16I want you completely to myself.

00:33:17That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

00:33:20He didn't mind giving her that.

00:33:21It was a small ask.

00:33:23She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

00:33:25After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

00:33:27The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:33:28There are strict rules around phone use.

00:33:31I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

00:33:34Don't worry.

00:33:34I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:33:38You're the best.

00:33:39I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

00:33:43This little...

00:33:44He's still lying to you?

00:33:45Right now?

00:33:46Block him.

00:33:47Block both of them.

00:33:48So disgusting.

00:33:49Done.

00:33:50All blocked.

00:33:51Those two are never touching my life again.

00:33:54Time moved fast.

00:33:56Before long, it was move-in day.

00:33:59The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:34:03Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:34:06Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:34:08He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:34:10But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:34:15Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:34:18He let it go and started typing.

00:34:21Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:34:23I'll come get you.

00:34:27He'd been blocked.

00:34:28He figured he'd misread it.

00:34:30What was going on?

00:34:37He called her straight to voicemail.

00:34:41The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:34:46That line, too.

00:34:47Blocked.

00:35:07The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived,

00:35:09I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:35:11Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan

00:35:13and my best friend Lexi.

00:35:14Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves

00:35:16to keep dating behind my back.

00:35:18They'd altered my application,

00:35:20costing me an entire gap year.

00:35:22Ethan, once Taylor gets here,

00:35:24can we really still be this close?

00:35:25I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:35:28Don't say that.

00:35:29Last year, to make your birthday wish come true,

00:35:32the one where you wanted to date me,

00:35:33we snuck into her college application portal

00:35:35and click decline offer before decision day.

00:35:39Made her miss the deadline.

00:35:40She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:35:42We've been dating here in New York

00:35:43behind her back this entire time.

00:35:44That's already bad enough.

00:35:45When she moves to the city,

00:35:47I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:35:48Obviously.

00:35:51So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:35:53In secret?

00:35:53As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:35:55Right then, I was standing there,

00:35:56a complete joke.

00:35:58Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:36:00I promised you a full year as your guy,

00:36:01not one day less.

00:36:02Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:36:05It runs through May 1st this year.

00:36:07I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:36:09I'm yours until the fall semester starts.

00:36:11I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer

00:36:13to do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi,

00:36:15not going home.

00:36:17We'll stay in the city together.

00:36:18Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:36:28I thought back to last May 1st.

00:36:30That was Lexi's birthday.

00:36:31It was also the day I found out

00:36:32I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:36:34I'd stared at my student portal showing

00:36:36offer declined and couldn't believe it.

00:36:37My SAT scores and GPA were the highest

00:36:39out of the three of us.

00:36:40Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:36:42Only me, somehow, impossibly, had lost my spot.

00:36:45My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:36:48That's when we found out

00:36:48someone had used my account to click decline

00:36:50and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

00:36:53How is that even possible?

00:36:54The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:36:56Your record is outstanding.

00:36:58If we'd received the confirmation,

00:36:59you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:37:01But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:37:04There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:37:06Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:37:08I was devastated.

00:37:09I couldn't accept it.

00:37:11And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:37:12Taylor, my birthday party's starting.

00:37:14Get over here.

00:37:15Ethan's already here.

00:37:16We're just waiting on you.

00:37:17I told them what happened.

00:37:18Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:37:20Oh my God.

00:37:21How does that even happen?

00:37:23These things happen to everyone sometime.

00:37:24So what are you going to do now?

00:37:26If all else fails,

00:37:27pick up some credits at community college

00:37:28and transfer next year?

00:37:29I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:37:31I thought about four years of work.

00:37:33No, I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:37:35There was a beat of silence on the call.

00:37:37Then Ethan's voice.

00:37:38With your record,

00:37:39community college would be a waste of your time.

00:37:41Focus on reapplying.

00:37:43Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:37:45Ethan's right.

00:37:46Then my birthday wish this year

00:37:47is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:37:49No problem.

00:37:50Back then, I was so touched,

00:37:52I almost couldn't speak.

00:37:53It turns out every bit of it

00:37:55was something they'd planned together.

00:37:56All of it just to hide what they were doing,

00:37:58to make her real birthday wish come true.

00:38:00Dating my boyfriend.

00:38:03I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:38:05That part didn't surprise me.

00:38:07What I didn't know was that her boyfriend

00:38:08and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:38:11She texted me constantly,

00:38:12every day sharing little updates

00:38:14about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:38:15I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:38:17Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone

00:38:18to a wall of unread messages for her.

00:38:20My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:38:27The professor called on him randomly

00:38:29and he completely blanked.

00:38:31I'm dead.

00:38:32He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while,

00:38:35so drum roll, I bought it for him.

00:38:37We got a hotel room last night.

00:38:39He's so hot.

00:38:42Hey Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:38:45No.

00:38:47Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:38:50After that, it was straight into the chaos

00:38:52of application season.

00:38:53There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else

00:38:55and then the whole mess with my acceptance happened

00:38:57and that killed whatever mood was left.

00:38:58When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way,

00:39:01she sent back a voice note

00:39:02that was practically a performance.

00:39:04No?

00:39:04No way!

00:39:11Taylor, don't you know,

00:39:12if a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you,

00:39:14he's not actually into you.

00:39:15Oops, did I say something wrong?

00:39:17I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:39:20Looking back,

00:39:21every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:39:23I was too stressed out from applications

00:39:25to catch it at the time.

00:39:26I just changed the subject.

00:39:28Anyway, you move fast.

00:39:30You got a boyfriend your first week of school

00:39:31at some party?

00:39:32What does he look like?

00:39:34Send a pic.

00:39:35Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:39:36One word.

00:39:37Hot.

00:39:38How hot?

00:39:39Hot enough that the second you saw his face,

00:39:40you'd pass out on the spot.

00:39:42But he hates photos,

00:39:43so no pics for you.

00:39:45And now,

00:39:45standing outside the apartment

00:39:47watching the two of them together,

00:39:48I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:39:50What are you up to?

00:39:56At the hospital doing shadowing,

00:39:58completely slammed.

00:39:59I held down the nausea and replied,

00:40:01Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:40:04Again?

00:40:05Why does she keep bothering you?

00:40:07She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:40:08She said it like she was the real girlfriend,

00:40:10like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:40:13Good thing I'm careful.

00:40:14I got photos of a hospital hallway

00:40:15from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:40:17Covers it.

00:40:17Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:40:18She pushed a little further.

00:40:19You're that scared of her finding out?

00:40:21You could just tell her about us?

00:40:24If she really cares about you,

00:40:25really thinks of me as her best friend,

00:40:26how could she even be mad?

00:40:28Don't.

00:40:28Whatever's going on between us,

00:40:30she cannot find out.

00:40:31Ever.

00:40:31Lexi read his face

00:40:32and switched gears fast.

00:40:34Okay, okay, forget it.

00:40:35Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:40:38Let's do something fun.

00:40:41That desperate?

00:40:45I'll take care of it tonight.

00:40:47ER is slammed.

00:40:48Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:40:50Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:40:52Don't worry.

00:40:53Love you.

00:40:53I read every word.

00:40:54Then I texted my parents.

00:40:56Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:40:58I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:41:03They called immediately.

00:41:05Sweetie, what happened?

00:41:06What changed?

00:41:07You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:41:08Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:41:10Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:41:11My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:41:13What?

00:41:14But at prom last year,

00:41:15Ethan was...

00:41:16She stopped herself.

00:41:17Like she just figured something out.

00:41:19Didn't finish the sentence.

00:41:19I was the one reassuring them.

00:41:21My application this year was stronger.

00:41:23I got into MIT.

00:41:24Physics at MIT is better than Columbia

00:41:26by a long shot anyway.

00:41:27I was willing to go to New York

00:41:28because I had people there.

00:41:30Turns out those two aren't worth giving up

00:41:31the top engineering school in the country.

00:41:33I'll talk later.

00:41:34I need to book a flight home.

00:41:35Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:41:37My dad's voice came through,

00:41:38anger barely under control.

00:41:39We were all fooled.

00:41:40Lexi's private high school tuition,

00:41:42her college tuition right now.

00:41:44Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:41:46If this is how she's going to treat you,

00:41:47we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:41:50Done.

00:41:51Okay.

00:41:51Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:41:53She came from a broken home.

00:41:54Ninth grade.

00:41:55Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:41:57Left her behind.

00:41:58No plan for her education.

00:41:59Nothing.

00:42:00I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:42:02Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

00:42:04She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:42:06Just think of it as charity.

00:42:07When we're in college,

00:42:08we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:42:09My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:42:11They said yes.

00:42:12Paid her private high school tuition.

00:42:13Let her move into the guest room.

00:42:15Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year

00:42:16in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:42:18Taylor, I will never forget

00:42:19what your family has done for me.

00:42:20When I graduate and land something on Wall Street,

00:42:22I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:42:24Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:42:28I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:42:40Boyfriend booked the room.

00:42:41$2,000 a night.

00:42:43He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:42:44What do you think I should do for him?

00:42:45I thought back to a night three months

00:42:47before the application deadline.

00:42:48I was barely holding it together.

00:42:50I called Ethan.

00:42:52Taylor?

00:42:52Can you come home this weekend?

00:42:54Just once?

00:42:54I really need you.

00:42:56He said no without missing a beat.

00:42:57Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:42:59You haven't been here yet.

00:43:00You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:43:02There's always something to spend money on.

00:43:04My coursework is brutal.

00:43:05I can't carve out the time.

00:43:07Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:43:11Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:43:13But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:43:15No problem.

00:43:15Brutal coursework.

00:43:16Sure.

00:43:17Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:43:21BFF Jealous?

00:43:22I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:43:24When you move to New York,

00:43:25I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:43:27Just you.

00:43:28All to yourself.

00:43:32Reading her smug little mean girl tone,

00:43:34I almost felt sick.

00:43:35I didn't reply.

00:43:40Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor

00:43:42and didn't think much of it.

00:43:43She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond,

00:43:46which honestly made sense.

00:43:47Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life

00:43:51using Taylor's parents' card,

00:43:53going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:43:55And Taylor?

00:43:56Still home, hunched over essays.

00:43:59Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:44:02She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:44:05But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:44:07For one thing,

00:44:09Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:44:11He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:44:13But Lexi could tell,

00:44:15in the back of his mind,

00:44:16Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:44:19The one you actually end up with.

00:44:20If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now,

00:44:23there was a real chance Ethan would panic

00:44:25and drop her to try to fix things.

00:44:27That was not the ending she was going for.

00:44:29Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly,

00:44:31step by step,

00:44:32until Ethan was the one who called it.

00:44:34That moment hadn't come yet.

00:44:35And for another thing,

00:44:36she still needed Taylor's parents

00:44:37to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:44:39She could not blow this up too early.

00:44:40Although, Ethan's family had money.

00:44:42Real money.

00:44:43Once she had him fully,

00:44:44tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:44:46She was still running through the fantasy.

00:44:49Who are you texting?

00:44:51Nobody.

00:44:52Ethan.

00:44:53For the next two months,

00:44:54can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:44:56I want you completely to myself.

00:44:57That worshipful, clingy thing she did

00:44:59worked on him every time.

00:45:00He didn't mind giving her that.

00:45:01It was a small ask.

00:45:02She only had two months of being his anyway,

00:45:04officially.

00:45:05After that,

00:45:05he and Taylor had all the tea in the word.

00:45:07The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:45:08There are strict rules around phone use.

00:45:11I'll be hard to reach for a while,

00:45:12slow to respond.

00:45:13Don't worry.

00:45:14I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:45:18You're the best.

00:45:19I got that text,

00:45:20sitting at my kitchen table,

00:45:22eating barbecue.

00:45:23This little...

00:45:24He's still lying to you?

00:45:25Right now?

00:45:26Block him.

00:45:27Block both of them.

00:45:28So disgusting.

00:45:29Done.

00:45:30All blocked.

00:45:31Those two are never touching my life again.

00:45:34Time moved fast.

00:45:36Before long,

00:45:36it was move-in day.

00:45:39The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:45:43Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:45:46Ethan,

00:45:46I'm finally coming to York to find you.

00:45:48He'd told her not to reach out,

00:45:50fine.

00:45:50But she'd actually gone the whole summer

00:45:52without sending a single text.

00:45:55Still,

00:45:55today was the day she was flying in.

00:45:58He let it go and started typing.

00:46:01Babe,

00:46:02are you at the airport yet?

00:46:03I'll come get you.

00:46:07He'd been blocked.

00:46:08He figured he'd misread it.

00:46:11What was going on?

00:46:17He called her straight to voicemail.

00:46:21The number you are trying to reach

00:46:22is unavailable.

00:46:26That line too.

00:46:27Blocked.

00:46:47The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived,

00:46:50I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:46:51Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan

00:46:53and my best friend Lexi.

00:46:54Instead,

00:46:55I overheard them confess it themselves.

00:46:56To keep dating behind my back,

00:46:58they'd altered my application,

00:47:00costing me an entire gap year.

00:47:01Ethan,

00:47:02once Taylor gets here,

00:47:04can we really still be this close?

00:47:05I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:47:08Don't say that.

00:47:09Last year,

00:47:10to make your birthday wish come true,

00:47:12with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:47:13we snuck into her college application portal

00:47:15and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:47:18Made her miss the deadline.

00:47:20She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:47:22We've been dating here in New York

00:47:23behind her back this entire time.

00:47:24That's already bad enough.

00:47:25When she moves to the city,

00:47:27I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:47:28Obviously.

00:47:31So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:47:33In secret?

00:47:33As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:47:35Right then,

00:47:35I was standing there,

00:47:36a complete joke.

00:47:38Ethan kept going,

00:47:39comforting her.

00:47:39I promised you a full year as your guy,

00:47:41not one day less.

00:47:43Your birthday wish

00:47:43kicked in May 1st last year.

00:47:45It runs through May 1st this year.

00:47:47I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:47:49I'm yours,

00:47:50until the fall semester starts.

00:47:51I already told Taylor

00:47:52I'm staying in New York this summer

00:47:53to do pre-med clinical volunteering

00:47:55at Mount Simi,

00:47:55not going home.

00:47:57We'll stay in the city together.

00:47:58Whatever you want to do,

00:47:59I'm there.

00:48:08I thought back to last May 1st.

00:48:10That was Lexi's birthday.

00:48:11It was also the day I found out

00:48:12I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:48:14I'd stared at my student portal showing,

00:48:16offer declined,

00:48:17and couldn't believe it.

00:48:17My SAT scores and GPA

00:48:18were the highest out of the three of us.

00:48:20Both of them had gotten into Columbia

00:48:21without a problem.

00:48:22Only me, somehow,

00:48:23impossibly,

00:48:24had lost my spot.

00:48:25My parents panicked

00:48:26and called the admissions office.

00:48:27That's when we found out

00:48:28someone had used my account

00:48:30to click decline

00:48:30and cancel the deposit

00:48:32before the deadline.

00:48:33How is that even possible?

00:48:34The admissions rep

00:48:35sounded genuinely sorry.

00:48:36Your record is outstanding.

00:48:38If we'd received the confirmation,

00:48:39you absolutely would have been

00:48:40on the fall roster.

00:48:41But what the system shows us

00:48:43is what it shows us.

00:48:44There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:48:46Is it possible a wrong option

00:48:47was selected during confirmation?

00:48:48I was devastated.

00:48:49I couldn't accept it.

00:48:51And right then,

00:48:51Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:48:52Taylor,

00:48:53my birthday party's starting.

00:48:54Get over here.

00:48:55Ethan's already here.

00:48:56We're just waiting on you.

00:48:57I told them what happened.

00:48:58Lexi went into overdrive

00:48:59trying to make me feel better.

00:49:00Oh my God.

00:49:01How does that even happen?

00:49:03These things happen

00:49:03to everyone sometimes.

00:49:04So what are you going to do now?

00:49:06If all else fails,

00:49:07pick up some credits

00:49:07at community college

00:49:08and transfer next year?

00:49:09I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:49:11I thought about four years of work.

00:49:13No,

00:49:14I'm taking a gap year

00:49:15and reapplying.

00:49:15There was a beat of silence

00:49:16on the call,

00:49:17then Ethan's voice.

00:49:18With your record,

00:49:19community college

00:49:20would be a waste of your time.

00:49:21Focus on reapplying.

00:49:23Lexi and I will be waiting

00:49:24for you at Columbia.

00:49:25Ethan's right.

00:49:26Then my birthday wish this year

00:49:27is for our tailor

00:49:28to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:49:29No problem.

00:49:30Back then,

00:49:31I was so touched,

00:49:32I almost couldn't speak.

00:49:34Turns out,

00:49:34every bit of it

00:49:35was something they'd planned together.

00:49:36All of it just to hide

00:49:37what they were doing,

00:49:38to make her real birthday wish come true.

00:49:40Dating my boyfriend.

00:49:43I knew Lexi had a boyfriend

00:49:44once she got to New York.

00:49:45That part didn't surprise me.

00:49:47What I didn't know

00:49:48was that her boyfriend

00:49:48and my boyfriend

00:49:49were the same person.

00:49:50She texted me constantly.

00:49:52Every day,

00:49:53sharing little updates

00:49:54about this amazing guy

00:49:55she was seeing.

00:49:55I was home grinding

00:49:56through essays and AP coursework.

00:49:57Every weekend,

00:49:57I'd unlock my phone

00:49:58to a wall of unread messages from her.

00:50:00My boyfriend sat in

00:50:01on my sociology lecture today.

00:50:07The professor called on him randomly

00:50:09and he completely blanked.

00:50:11I'm dead.

00:50:12He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable

00:50:14for a while,

00:50:15so drum roll,

00:50:16I bought it for him.

00:50:17We got a hotel room last night.

00:50:19He's so hot.

00:50:22Hey Taylor,

00:50:23have you and Ethan

00:50:23ever actually done it?

00:50:25No.

00:50:27Ethan and I had made it official

00:50:28on prom night.

00:50:30After that,

00:50:31it was straight into the chaos

00:50:32of application season.

00:50:33There wasn't exactly a lot of time

00:50:34for anything else

00:50:35and then the whole mess

00:50:35with my acceptance happened

00:50:37and that killed whatever mood was left.

00:50:38When Lexi heard Ethan and I

00:50:40hadn't gone all the way,

00:50:41she sent back a voice note

00:50:42that was practically a performance.

00:50:43No?

00:50:44No way!

00:50:51Taylor,

00:50:51don't you know,

00:50:52if a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you,

00:50:54he's not actually into you.

00:50:55Oops,

00:50:56did I say something wrong?

00:50:57I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:51:00Looking back,

00:51:01every single one of those messages

00:51:03was loaded.

00:51:03I was too stressed out

00:51:04from applications

00:51:05to catch it at the time.

00:51:06I just changed the subject.

00:51:08Anyway,

00:51:09you move fast.

00:51:10You got a boyfriend

00:51:10your first week of school

00:51:11at some party?

00:51:12What does he look like?

00:51:14Send a pic.

00:51:14Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:51:16One word,

00:51:17hot.

00:51:17How hot?

00:51:19Hot enough that the second you saw his face,

00:51:20you'd pass out on the spot.

00:51:22But he hates photos,

00:51:23so no pics for you.

00:51:25And now,

00:51:25standing outside the apartment

00:51:27watching the two of them together,

00:51:28I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:51:30What are you up to?

00:51:36At the hospital doing shadowing,

00:51:38completely slammed.

00:51:39I held down the nausea

00:51:40and replied,

00:51:41take a pic of the hospital

00:51:42and send it to me.

00:51:44Again?

00:51:45Why does she keep bothering you?

00:51:46She's taking up time

00:51:47that's supposed to be mine.

00:51:48She said it like she was

00:51:49the real girlfriend,

00:51:50like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:51:53Good thing I'm careful.

00:51:54I got photos of a hospital hallway

00:51:55from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:51:57Covers it.

00:51:57Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:51:58She pushed a little further.

00:51:59You're that scared of her finding out?

00:52:01You could just

00:52:01tell her about us?

00:52:04If she really cares about you,

00:52:05really thinks of me

00:52:06as her best friend,

00:52:06how could she even be mad?

00:52:08Don't.

00:52:08Whatever's going on between us,

00:52:10she cannot find out.

00:52:11Ever.

00:52:11Lexi read his face

00:52:12and switched gears fast.

00:52:14Okay, okay, forget it.

00:52:15Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:52:18Let's do something fun.

00:52:21That desperate?

00:52:25I'll take care of it tonight.

00:52:27ER is slammed.

00:52:28Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:52:30Phone access is limited

00:52:31until this is over.

00:52:32Don't worry.

00:52:33Love you.

00:52:33I read every word.

00:52:34Then I texted my parents.

00:52:36Mom, Dad,

00:52:37I'm not going to Columbia.

00:52:38I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:52:43They called immediately.

00:52:45Sweetie, what happened?

00:52:46What changed?

00:52:47You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:52:48Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:52:50Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:52:51My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:52:53What?

00:52:54But at prom last year,

00:52:55Ethan was...

00:52:56She stopped herself.

00:52:57Like she just figured something out.

00:52:59Didn't finish the sentence.

00:52:59I was the one reassuring them.

00:53:01My application this year was stronger.

00:53:03I got into MIT.

00:53:04Physics at MIT is better than Columbia

00:53:06by a long shot anyway.

00:53:07I was willing to go to New York

00:53:08because I had people there.

00:53:10Turns out those two aren't worth giving up

00:53:11the top engineering school in the country.

00:53:13I'll talk later.

00:53:14I need to book a flight home.

00:53:15Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:53:17My dad's voice came through,

00:53:18anger barely under control.

00:53:19We were all fooled.

00:53:20Lexi's private high school tuition,

00:53:22her college tuition right now.

00:53:24Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:53:26If this is how she's going to treat you,

00:53:27we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:53:30Done.

00:53:31Okay.

00:53:31Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:53:33She came from a broken home,

00:53:34ninth grade.

00:53:35Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:53:37Left her behind.

00:53:38No plan for her education.

00:53:39Nothing.

00:53:40I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:53:42Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

00:53:44She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:53:46Just think of it as charity.

00:53:47When we're in college,

00:53:48we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:53:49My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:53:51They said yes.

00:53:52Paid her private high school tuition.

00:53:53Let her move into the guest room.

00:53:55Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year

00:53:56in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:53:58Taylor, I will never forget

00:53:59what your family has done for me.

00:54:00When I graduate and land something on Wall Street,

00:54:02I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:54:04Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:54:08I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:54:20Boyfriend booked the room.

00:54:21Two thousand dollars a night.

00:54:23He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:54:24What do you think I should do for him?

00:54:25I thought back to a night three months

00:54:27before the application deadline.

00:54:28I was barely holding it together.

00:54:30I called Ethan.

00:54:32Taylor?

00:54:32Can you come home this weekend?

00:54:34Just once?

00:54:35I really need you.

00:54:35He said no without missing a beat.

00:54:37Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:54:39You haven't been here yet.

00:54:40You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:54:42There's always something to spend money on.

00:54:44My coursework is brutal.

00:54:45I can't carve out the time.

00:54:47Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:54:51Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:54:53But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:54:55No problem.

00:54:55Brutal coursework.

00:54:56Sure.

00:54:57Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:55:01BFF jealous?

00:55:02I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:55:04When you move to New York,

00:55:05I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:55:07Just you.

00:55:08All to yourself.

00:55:12Reading her smug little mean girl tone,

00:55:14I almost felt sick.

00:55:15I didn't reply.

00:55:20Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor

00:55:22and didn't think much of it.

00:55:23She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond,

00:55:26which honestly made sense.

00:55:28Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life

00:55:31using Taylor's parents' card,

00:55:33going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:55:34And Taylor, still home, hunched over essays.

00:55:39Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:55:42She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:55:45But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:55:47For one thing,

00:55:48Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:55:51He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:55:53But Lexi could tell,

00:55:55in the back of his mind,

00:55:56Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:55:59The one you actually end up with.

00:56:00If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now,

00:56:03there was a real chance Ethan would panic

00:56:05and drop her to try to fix things.

00:56:06That was not the ending she was going for.

00:56:09Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly,

00:56:11step by step,

00:56:12until Ethan was the one who called it.

00:56:14That moment hadn't come yet.

00:56:15And for another thing,

00:56:16she still needed Taylor's parents

00:56:17to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:56:19She could not blow this up too early.

00:56:20Although Ethan's family had money,

00:56:22real money.

00:56:23Once she had him fully,

00:56:24tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:56:26She was still running through the fantasy.

00:56:29Who are you texting?

00:56:31Nobody, Ethan.

00:56:33For the next two months,

00:56:34can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:56:35I want you completely to myself.

00:56:37That worshipful, clingy thing she did

00:56:39worked on him every time.

00:56:40He didn't mind giving her that.

00:56:41It was a small ask.

00:56:42She only had two months of being his anyway,

00:56:44officially.

00:56:45After that,

00:56:45he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

00:56:47The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:56:49There are strict rules around phone use.

00:56:51I'll be hard to reach for a while,

00:56:52slow to respond.

00:56:53Don't worry,

00:56:54I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:56:58You're the best.

00:56:59I got that text,

00:57:00sitting at my kitchen table,

00:57:02eating barbecue.

00:57:03This little,

00:57:04he's still lying to you,

00:57:05right now?

00:57:06Block him.

00:57:07Block both of them.

00:57:08So disgusting.

00:57:09Done.

00:57:10All blocked.

00:57:11Those two are never touching my life again.

00:57:14Time moved fast.

00:57:16Before long,

00:57:16it was move-in day.

00:57:19The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:57:23Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:57:26Ethan,

00:57:26I'm finally coming to York to find you.

00:57:28He'd told her not to reach out,

00:57:30fine.

00:57:30But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:57:35Still,

00:57:35today was the day she was flying in.

00:57:37He let it go and started typing.

00:57:41Babe,

00:57:42are you at the airport yet?

00:57:43I'll come get you.

00:57:47He'd been blocked.

00:57:48He figured he'd misread it.

00:57:50What was going on?

00:57:54Hmm?

00:57:57He called her straight to voicemail.

00:58:00The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:58:06That line, too.

00:58:07Blocked.

00:58:27The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived,

00:58:30I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:58:31Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan

00:58:33and my best friend Lexi.

00:58:34Instead,

00:58:35I overheard them confess it themselves.

00:58:36To keep dating behind my back,

00:58:38they'd altered my application,

00:58:40costing me an entire gap year.

00:58:41Ethan,

00:58:42once Taylor gets here,

00:58:44can we really still be this close?

00:58:45I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:58:48Don't say that.

00:58:49Last year,

00:58:50to make your birthday wish come true,

00:58:52with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:58:53we snuck into her college application portal

00:58:55and click decline offer before decision day.

00:58:58Made her miss the deadline.

00:59:00She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:59:02We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:59:04That's already bad enough.

00:59:05When she moves to the city,

00:59:07I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:59:08Obviously.

00:59:11So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:59:13In secret?

00:59:13As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:59:15Right then,

00:59:15I was standing there.

00:59:16A complete joke.

00:59:18Ethan kept going,

00:59:19comforting her.

00:59:19I promised you a full year as your guy.

00:59:21Not one day less.

00:59:23Your birthday wish

00:59:23kicked in May 1st last year.

00:59:25It runs through May 1st this year.

00:59:27I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:59:29I'm yours.

00:59:30Until the fall semester starts.

00:59:31I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer.

00:59:33To do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi.

00:59:35Not going home.

00:59:36We'll stay in the city together.

00:59:38Whatever you want to do,

00:59:39I'm there.

00:59:48I thought back to last May 1st.

00:59:50That was Lexi's birthday.

00:59:51It was also the day I found out

00:59:52I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:59:54I'd stared at my student portal showing

00:59:56offer declined

00:59:56and couldn't believe it.

00:59:57My SAT scores and GPA

00:59:58were the highest out of the three of us.

01:00:00Both of them had gotten into Columbia

01:00:01without a problem.

01:00:02Only me, somehow,

01:00:03impossibly had lost my spot.

01:00:05My parents panicked

01:00:06and called the admissions office.

01:00:07That's when we found out

01:00:08someone had used my account

01:00:10to click decline

01:00:10and cancel the deposit

01:00:11before the deadline.

01:00:13How is that even possible?

01:00:14The admissions rep

01:00:15sounded genuinely sorry.

01:00:16Your record is outstanding.

01:00:18If we'd received the confirmation,

01:00:19you absolutely would have been

01:00:20on the fall roster.

01:00:21But what the system shows us

01:00:23is what it shows us.

01:00:24There's nothing we can do on our end.

01:00:26Is it possible a wrong option

01:00:27was selected during confirmation?

01:00:28I was devastated.

01:00:30I couldn't accept it.

01:00:31And right then,

01:00:31Lexi FaceTimed me.

01:00:32Taylor!

01:00:33My birthday party's starting!

01:00:34Get over here!

01:00:35Ethan's already here!

01:00:36We're just waiting on you!

01:00:37I told them what happened.

01:00:38Lexi went into overdrive

01:00:39trying to make me feel better.

01:00:40Oh my god!

01:00:41How does that even happen?

01:00:43These things happen

01:00:43to everyone sometimes.

01:00:44So what are you gonna do now?

01:00:46If all else fails,

01:00:46pick up some credits

01:00:47at community college

01:00:48and transfer next year?

01:00:49I looked at my parents'

01:00:50worried faces.

01:00:51I thought about

01:00:52four years of work.

01:00:53No.

01:00:54I'm taking a gap year

01:00:55and reapplying.

01:00:55There was a beat of silence

01:00:56on the call,

01:00:57then Ethan's voice.

01:00:58With your record,

01:00:59community college

01:01:00would be a waste of your time.

01:01:01Focus on reapplying.

01:01:03Lexi and I will be waiting

01:01:04for you at Columbia.

01:01:05Ethan's right.

01:01:06Then my birthday wish this year

01:01:07is for our tailor

01:01:08to get her Columbia offer next year.

01:01:09No problem.

01:01:10Back then,

01:01:11I was so touched,

01:01:12I almost couldn't speak.

01:01:14Turns out every bit of it

01:01:15was something they'd planned together.

01:01:16All of it just to hide

01:01:17what they were doing,

01:01:18to make her real birthday wish

01:01:19come true.

01:01:20Dating my boyfriend.

01:01:23I knew Lexi had a boyfriend

01:01:24once she got to New York.

01:01:25That part didn't surprise me.

01:01:27What I didn't know

01:01:27was that her boyfriend

01:01:28and my boyfriend

01:01:29were the same person.

01:01:30She texted me constantly,

01:01:32every day,

01:01:33sharing little updates

01:01:34about this amazing guy

01:01:34she was seeing.

01:01:35I was home grinding

01:01:36through essays and AP coursework.

01:01:37Every weekend,

01:01:37I'd unlock my phone

01:01:38to a wall of unread messages.

01:01:40My boyfriend sat in

01:01:41on my sociology lecture today.

01:01:47The professor called on him randomly

01:01:49and he completely blanked.

01:01:51I'm dead.

01:01:52He'd been eyeing

01:01:53this vintage turntable

01:01:54for a while,

01:01:55so drum roll.

01:01:56I bought it for him.

01:01:57We got a hotel room last night.

01:01:59He's so hot.

01:02:02Hey Taylor,

01:02:03have you and Ethan

01:02:03ever actually done it?

01:02:05No.

01:02:07Ethan and I had made it official

01:02:08on prom night.

01:02:10After that,

01:02:10it was straight into the chaos

01:02:12of application season.

01:02:13There wasn't exactly a lot of time

01:02:14for anything else

01:02:15and then the whole mess

01:02:15with my acceptance happened

01:02:17and that killed

01:02:17whatever mood was left.

01:02:18When Lexi heard Ethan and I

01:02:20hadn't gone all the way,

01:02:21she sent back a voice note

01:02:22that was practically

01:02:22a performance.

01:02:24No?

01:02:24No way!

01:02:31Taylor,

01:02:31don't you know,

01:02:32if a guy doesn't even want

01:02:33to sleep with you,

01:02:34he's not actually into you.

01:02:35Oops.

01:02:36Did I say something wrong?

01:02:37I swear I'm not trying

01:02:38to start anything.

01:02:40Looking back,

01:02:41every single one

01:02:42of those messages

01:02:43was loaded.

01:02:43I was too stressed out

01:02:44from applications

01:02:45to catch it at the time.

01:02:46I just changed the subject.

01:02:48Anyway,

01:02:49you move fast.

01:02:50You got a boyfriend

01:02:50your first week of school

01:02:51at some party?

01:02:52What does he look like?

01:02:53Send a pic.

01:02:54Let me see if he's good

01:02:55enough for you.

01:02:56One word.

01:02:57Hot.

01:02:57How hot?

01:02:59Hot enough that the second

01:03:00you saw his face,

01:03:00you'd pass out on the spot.

01:03:02But he hates photos,

01:03:03so no pics for you.

01:03:04And now,

01:03:05standing outside the apartment

01:03:07watching the two of them together,

01:03:08I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

01:03:10What are you up to?

01:03:16At the hospital doing shadowing,

01:03:18completely slammed.

01:03:19I held down the nausea

01:03:20and replied,

01:03:21Take a pic of the hospital

01:03:22and send it to me.

01:03:24Again?

01:03:25Why does she keep bothering you?

01:03:26She's taking up time

01:03:27that's supposed to be mine.

01:03:28She said it like

01:03:29she was the real girlfriend,

01:03:30like I was some unhinged stalker.

01:03:33Good thing I'm careful.

01:03:34I got photos of a hospital hallway

01:03:35from an upperclassman

01:03:36ahead of time.

01:03:37Covers it.

01:03:37Lexi still wasn't happy.

01:03:38She pushed a little further.

01:03:39You're that scared

01:03:40of her finding out?

01:03:41You could just

01:03:41tell her about us?

01:03:44If she really cares about you,

01:03:45really thinks of me

01:03:46as her best friend,

01:03:46how could she even be mad?

01:03:48Don't.

01:03:48Whatever's going on between us,

01:03:50she cannot find out.

01:03:51Ever.

01:03:51Lexi read his face

01:03:52and switched gears fast.

01:03:54Okay, okay, forget it.

01:03:55Don't go back

01:03:56to the dorms tonight.

01:03:58Let's do something fun.

01:04:01That desperate?

01:04:05I'll take care of it tonight.

01:04:07ER is slammed.

01:04:08Hospital has strict

01:04:09HIPAA requirements.

01:04:10Phone access is limited

01:04:11until this is over.

01:04:12Don't worry.

01:04:13Love you.

01:04:13I read every word.

01:04:14Then I texted my parents.

01:04:15Mom, Dad,

01:04:17I'm not going to Columbia.

01:04:18I'm accepting MIT's offer.

01:04:23They called immediately.

01:04:25Sweetie, what happened?

01:04:26What changed?

01:04:26You've been talking

01:04:27about Columbia for a year.

01:04:28Being in New York

01:04:29with Lexi and Ethan.

01:04:30Lexi and Ethan are together.

01:04:31My mom pulled a sharp breath

01:04:32on the other end.

01:04:33What?

01:04:34But at prom last year,

01:04:35Ethan was...

01:04:36She stopped herself.

01:04:37Like she just figured

01:04:38something out.

01:04:39Didn't finish the sentence.

01:04:39I was the one reassuring them.

01:04:41My application this year

01:04:42was stronger.

01:04:43I got into MIT.

01:04:44Physics at MIT

01:04:45is better than Columbia

01:04:46by a long shot anyway.

01:04:47I was willing to go to New York

01:04:48because I had people there.

01:04:50Turns out those two

01:04:50aren't worth giving up

01:04:51the top engineering school

01:04:52in the country.

01:04:53I'll talk later.

01:04:54I need to book a flight home.

01:04:55Tonight I want your barbecue.

01:04:57My dad's voice came through,

01:04:58anger barely under control.

01:04:59We were all fooled.

01:05:00Lexi's private high school tuition,

01:05:02her college tuition right now.

01:05:04Your mother and I

01:05:05have been paying all of it.

01:05:06If this is how she's going to treat you,

01:05:07we are done being her ATM next semester.

01:05:10Done.

01:05:11Okay.

01:05:11Lexi and I had grown up together.

01:05:13She came from a broken home.

01:05:14Ninth grade.

01:05:15Her parents divorced

01:05:16and moved to separate states.

01:05:17Left her behind.

01:05:18No plan for her education.

01:05:19Nothing.

01:05:20I was the one who begged

01:05:21my parents to step in.

01:05:22Mom, Dad,

01:05:23can we please help her?

01:05:24She doesn't even have money

01:05:25to finish high school.

01:05:26Just think of it as charity.

01:05:27When we're in college,

01:05:28we'll get jobs and pay you back.

01:05:29My parents didn't even hesitate.

01:05:31They said yes.

01:05:31Paid her private high school tuition.

01:05:33Let her move into the guest room.

01:05:34Covered Columbia's

01:05:3580-something thousand a year

01:05:36in tuition and housing

01:05:37without blinking.

01:05:38Taylor,

01:05:38I will never forget

01:05:39what your family has done for me.

01:05:40When I graduate

01:05:41and land something on Wall Street,

01:05:42I'll pay back

01:05:42every cent with interest.

01:05:44Turns out this was her version

01:05:46of paying it back.

01:05:48I turned around

01:05:49and called an Uber

01:05:50to JFK Airport.

01:06:00Boyfriend booked the room.

01:06:01$2,000 a night.

01:06:03He wants me to put in

01:06:03the effort tonight.

01:06:04What do you think

01:06:04I should do for him?

01:06:05I thought back to a night

01:06:06three months before

01:06:07the application deadline.

01:06:08I was barely holding it together.

01:06:10I called Ethan.

01:06:12Taylor?

01:06:13Can you come home this weekend?

01:06:14Just once?

01:06:14I really need you.

01:06:15He said no

01:06:16without missing a beat.

01:06:17Taylor,

01:06:18I genuinely can't afford

01:06:19the train ticket right now.

01:06:19You haven't been here yet.

01:06:20You don't know

01:06:21how expensive New York is.

01:06:22There's always something

01:06:23to spend money on.

01:06:24My coursework is brutal.

01:06:25I can't carve out the time.

01:06:27Can you try to be

01:06:27a little more mature about this?

01:06:31Couldn't scrape together

01:06:32a $40 train fare.

01:06:33But a $2,000 hotel suite?

01:06:35No problem.

01:06:35Brutal coursework.

01:06:36Sure.

01:06:37Racing to spend

01:06:38every available minute

01:06:39with my best friend.

01:06:41BFF jealous?

01:06:42I bet you've never

01:06:43stayed in a plaza suite.

01:06:44When you move to New York,

01:06:45I'll have my boyfriend

01:06:46book you your own room

01:06:46for a night.

01:06:47Just you,

01:06:48all to yourself.

01:06:52Reading her smug

01:06:53little mean girl tone,

01:06:54I almost felt sick.

01:06:55I didn't reply.

01:07:00Lexi didn't hear back

01:07:01from Taylor

01:07:02and didn't think much of it.

01:07:03She figured Taylor

01:07:04was just too jealous

01:07:05to respond,

01:07:06which honestly made sense.

01:07:07Lexi had spent the last year

01:07:09living her best college life

01:07:11using Taylor's parents' card,

01:07:13going everywhere

01:07:13with Taylor's boyfriend.

01:07:15And Taylor,

01:07:16still home,

01:07:17hunched over essays.

01:07:19Her main priority now

01:07:20was locking Ethan down

01:07:22for good.

01:07:22She was dying

01:07:23to rub all of it

01:07:24in Taylor's face.

01:07:25But the timing

01:07:26wasn't right yet.

01:07:27For one thing,

01:07:28Ethan still felt guilty

01:07:30about Taylor.

01:07:31He'd been enjoying

01:07:32what she'd essentially

01:07:32handed him.

01:07:33But Lexi could tell,

01:07:35in the back of his mind,

01:07:36Ethan still saw Taylor

01:07:37as the right kind of girl,

01:07:39the one you actually

01:07:39end up with.

01:07:40If she pushed him

01:07:41into a confrontation

01:07:42with Taylor now,

01:07:43there was a real chance

01:07:44Ethan would panic

01:07:45and drop her

01:07:45to try to fix things.

01:07:46That was not the ending

01:07:47she was going for.

01:07:48Her plan was to replace Taylor

01:07:50in his head slowly,

01:07:51step by step,

01:07:52until Ethan was the one

01:07:53who called it.

01:07:54That moment hadn't come yet.

01:07:55And for another thing,

01:07:56she still needed Taylor's parents

01:07:57to cover the rest

01:07:58of her tuition.

01:07:59She could not blow this up

01:08:00too early.

01:08:00Although Ethan's family

01:08:01had money,

01:08:02real money.

01:08:02Once she had him fully,

01:08:04tuition would be

01:08:04the least of her problems.

01:08:05She was still running

01:08:06through the fantasy.

01:08:09Who are you texting?

01:08:11Nobody.

01:08:12Ethan.

01:08:13For the next two months,

01:08:14can you stop talking

01:08:15to Taylor?

01:08:15I want you completely

01:08:17to myself.

01:08:17That worshipful,

01:08:18clingy thing she did

01:08:19worked on him every time.

01:08:20He didn't mind

01:08:20giving her that.

01:08:21It was a small ask.

01:08:22She only had two months

01:08:23of being his anyway,

01:08:24officially.

01:08:25After that,

01:08:25he and Taylor

01:08:26had all the time

01:08:26in the word.

01:08:27The volunteer program

01:08:27here is really demanding.

01:08:29There are strict rules

01:08:29around phone use.

01:08:31I'll be hard to reach

01:08:32for a while,

01:08:32slow to respond.

01:08:33Don't worry,

01:08:34I'll pick you up

01:08:35from the airport

01:08:35on move-in day.

01:08:38You're the best.

01:08:39I got that text

01:08:40sitting at my kitchen table

01:08:42eating barbecue.

01:08:43This little,

01:08:44he's still lying to you

01:08:45right now?

01:08:46Block him.

01:08:47Block both of them.

01:08:48So disgusting.

01:08:49Done.

01:08:50All blocked.

01:08:51Those two are never

01:08:52touching my life again.

01:08:54Time moved fast.

01:08:56Before long,

01:08:56it was move-in day.

01:08:59The last messages

01:09:01were from the day

01:09:01the results came out.

01:09:03Him telling her

01:09:03not to contact him

01:09:04over the summer.

01:09:06Ethan,

01:09:06I'm finally coming

01:09:07to New York

01:09:07to find you.

01:09:08He'd told her

01:09:08not to reach out,

01:09:09fine.

01:09:10But she'd actually

01:09:11gone the whole summer

01:09:12without sending

01:09:13a single text.

01:09:15Still,

01:09:15today was the day

01:09:16she was flying in.

01:09:17He let it go

01:09:18and started typing.

01:09:21Babe,

01:09:21are you at the airport yet?

01:09:23I'll come get you.

01:09:27He'd been blocked.

01:09:28He figured

01:09:29he'd misread it.

01:09:30What was going on?

01:09:37He called her

01:09:38straight to voicemail.

01:09:41The number you are

01:09:41trying to reach

01:09:42is unavailable.

01:09:46That line too.

01:09:47Blocked.

01:09:50Blocked.

01:09:51Blocked.

01:09:52Blocked.

01:09:53Blocked.

01:09:56Blocked.

01:09:57Blocked.

01:09:58Blocked.

01:09:59Blocked.

01:09:59You

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