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DramaRave

👇Download the app to watch full HD episodes for free: https://reelslink.com/marketing/WNlf2n 👇Click to Find More HD EPs https://g.shrinkrl.com/BskKO3 🍁Notice: All videos by DramaRave are officially authorized. On the day her Columbia acceptance arrives, Taylor thinks her dreams are finally coming true. 🎓 But a surprise trip to New York exposes a cruel secret: Ethan and Lexi altered her application to steal her place and keep their affair hidden. 💔 Overhearing Ethan promise to return to her after summer, Taylor’s heartbreak turns into a determination to make them regret everything.

Transcript

00:00:04Time moved fast. Before long, it was move-in day.

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

00:00:13Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:00:16Ethan, I'm finally coming to York to find you.

00:00:18He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:00:20But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:00:25Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:00:28He let it go and started typing.

00:00:31Babe, are you at the airport yet? I'll come get you.

00:00:37He'd been blocked. He figured he'd misread it.

00:00:41What was going on?

00:00:47He called her straight to voicemail.

00:00:51The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:00:56That line, too. Blocked.

00:01:02The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:01:06Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan and my best friend Lexi.

00:01:10Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves to keep dating behind my back.

00:01:13They'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

00:01:17Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:01:20I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:01:23Don't say that.

00:01:24Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:01:28we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:01:34Made her miss the deadline.

00:01:35She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:01:37We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:01:39That's already bad enough.

00:01:40When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:01:44Obviously.

00:01:46So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:01:48In secret?

00:01:49As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:01:50Right then, I was standing there.

00:01:52A complete joke.

00:01:53Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:01:55I promised you a full year as your guy.

00:01:57Not one day less.

00:01:58Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:02:00It runs through May 1st this year.

00:02:02I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:02:04I'm yours.

00:02:05Until the fall semester starts.

00:02:06I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer.

00:02:08To do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi.

00:02:10Not going home.

00:02:12We'll stay in the city together.

00:02:13Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:02:23I thought back to last May 1st.

00:02:25That was Lexi's birthday.

00:02:26It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:02:29I'd stared at my student portal showing offer declined and couldn't believe it.

00:02:32My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

00:02:35Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:02:37Only me, somehow, impossibly had lost my spot.

00:02:40My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:02:43That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

00:02:48How is that even possible?

00:02:49The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:02:51Your record is outstanding.

00:02:53If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:02:56But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:02:59There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:03:01Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:03:03I was devastated.

00:03:05I couldn't accept it.

00:03:06And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:03:08Taylor!

00:03:08My birthday party's starting!

00:03:09Get over here!

00:03:10Ethan's already here!

00:03:11We're just waiting on you!

00:03:12I told them what happened.

00:03:13Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:03:15Oh my god!

00:03:16How does that even happen?

00:03:18These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:03:20So what are you going to do now?

00:03:21If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:03:24I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:03:26I thought about four years of work.

00:03:28No, I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:03:31There was a beat of silence on the call, then Ethan's voice.

00:03:33With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

00:03:36Focus on reapplying.

00:03:38Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:03:40Ethan's right.

00:03:41Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:03:45No problem.

00:03:45Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

00:03:49Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

00:03:51All of it just to hide what they were doing.

00:03:53To make her real birthday wish come true.

00:03:55Dating my boyfriend.

00:03:58I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:04:00That part didn't surprise me.

00:04:02What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:04:06She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:04:10I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:04:12Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages from her.

00:04:15My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:04:22The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

00:04:26He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so, drum roll, I bought it for him.

00:04:33We got a hotel room last night.

00:04:34He's so hot.

00:04:37Hey Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:04:40No.

00:04:42Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:04:45After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:04:48There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else.

00:04:50And then the whole mess with my acceptance happened, and that killed whatever mood was left.

00:04:54When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way, she sent back a voice note that was practically

00:04:57a performance.

00:04:59No?

00:04:59No way!

00:05:06Taylor, don't you know?

00:05:07If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

00:05:10Oops.

00:05:11Did I say something wrong?

00:05:12I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:05:15Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:05:19I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

00:05:22I just changed the subject.

00:05:23Anyway, you move fast.

00:05:25You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:05:27What does he look like?

00:05:29Send a pic.

00:05:30Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:05:31One word.

00:05:32Hot.

00:05:33How hot?

00:05:34Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

00:05:37But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

00:05:39And now, standing outside the apartment, watching the two of them together, I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:05:45What are you up to?

00:05:51At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

00:05:54I held down the nausea and replied.

00:05:56Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:05:59Again?

00:06:00Why does she keep bothering you?

00:06:02She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:06:04She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

00:06:05Like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:06:08Good thing I'm careful.

00:06:09I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:06:12Covers it.

00:06:12Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:06:13She pushed a little further.

00:06:14You're that scared of her finding out?

00:06:16You could just tell her about us?

00:06:19If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even be mad?

00:06:23Don't.

00:06:23Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

00:06:26Ever.

00:06:26Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:06:29Okay, okay, forget it.

00:06:30Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:06:33Let's do something fun.

00:06:36That desperate?

00:06:40I'll take care of it tonight.

00:06:42ER is slammed.

00:06:44Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:06:45Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:06:47Don't worry.

00:06:48Love you.

00:06:48I read every word.

00:06:49Then I texted my parents.

00:06:51Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:06:53I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:06:58They called immediately.

00:07:00Sweetie, what happened?

00:07:01What changed?

00:07:02You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:07:03Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:07:05Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:07:06My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:07:08What?

00:07:09But at prom last year, Ethan was...

00:07:11She stopped herself.

00:07:12Like she just figured something out.

00:07:14Didn't finish the sentence.

00:07:15I was the one reassuring them.

00:07:16My application this year was stronger.

00:07:18I got into MIT.

00:07:19Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

00:07:22I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

00:07:25Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

00:07:28I'll talk later.

00:07:29I need to book a flight home.

00:07:31Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:07:31My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

00:07:34We were all fooled.

00:07:36Lexi's private high school tuition, her college tuition right now.

00:07:39Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:07:41If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:07:45Done.

00:07:46Okay.

00:07:46Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:07:48She came from a broken home.

00:07:49Ninth grade.

00:07:50Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:07:52Left her behind.

00:07:53No plan for her education.

00:07:54Nothing.

00:07:55I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:07:57Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

00:07:59She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:08:01Just think of it as charity.

00:08:02When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:08:04My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:08:06They said yes.

00:08:07Paid her private high school tuition.

00:08:08Let her move into the guest room.

00:08:10Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:08:13Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:08:16When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:08:19Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:08:23I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:08:35Boyfriend booked the room.

00:08:37$2,000 a night.

00:08:38He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:08:39What do you think I should do for him?

00:08:41I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:08:43I was barely holding it together.

00:08:45I called Ethan.

00:08:47Taylor?

00:08:48Can you come home this weekend?

00:08:49Just once?

00:08:50I really need you.

00:08:51He said no without missing a beat.

00:08:52Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:08:55You haven't been here yet.

00:08:55You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:08:57There's always something to spend money on.

00:08:59My coursework is brutal.

00:09:01I can't carve out the time.

00:09:02Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:09:06Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:09:08But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:09:10No problem.

00:09:10Brutal coursework.

00:09:12Sure.

00:09:12Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:09:16BFF jealous?

00:09:17I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:09:19When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:09:22Just you, all to yourself.

00:09:27Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

00:09:30I didn't reply.

00:09:35Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:09:38She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:09:43Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life using Taylor's parents' card,

00:09:48going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:09:49And Taylor, still home, hunched over essays.

00:09:54Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:09:57She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:10:00But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:10:02For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:10:06He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:10:08But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind,

00:10:11Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:10:14The one you actually end up with.

00:10:15If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now,

00:10:18there was a real chance Ethan would panic and drop her to try to fix things.

00:10:22That was not the ending she was going for.

00:10:24Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step,

00:10:27until Ethan was the one who called it.

00:10:29That moment hadn't come yet.

00:10:30And for another thing,

00:10:31she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:10:34She could not blow this up too early.

00:10:36Although, Ethan's family had money.

00:10:37Real money.

00:10:38Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:10:41She was still running through the fantasy.

00:10:44Who are you texting?

00:10:46Nobody.

00:10:47Ethan.

00:10:48For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:10:51I want you completely to myself.

00:10:53That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

00:10:55He didn't mind giving her that.

00:10:56It was a small ask.

00:10:58She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

00:11:00After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

00:11:02The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:11:04There are strict rules around phone use.

00:11:06I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

00:11:09Don't worry.

00:11:09I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:11:13You're the best.

00:11:14I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

00:11:18This little...

00:11:19He's still lying to you?

00:11:20Right now?

00:11:21Block him.

00:11:22Block both of them.

00:11:23So disgusting.

00:11:24Done.

00:11:25All blocked.

00:11:26Those two are never touching my life again.

00:11:29Time moved fast.

00:11:31Before long, it was move-in day.

00:11:34The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:11:37Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:11:41Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:11:43He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:11:45But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:11:50Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:11:53He let it go and started typing.

00:11:56Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:11:58I'll come get you.

00:12:02He'd been blocked.

00:12:03He figured he'd misread it.

00:12:05What was going on?

00:12:12He called her straight to voicemail.

00:12:15The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:12:21That line, too.

00:12:22Blocked.

00:12:34Time moved fast.

00:12:36Before long, it was move-in day.

00:12:40The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:12:43Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:12:46Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:12:48He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:12:50But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:12:55Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:12:58He let it go and started typing.

00:13:01Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:13:03I'll come get you.

00:13:07He'd been blocked.

00:13:08He figured he'd misread it.

00:13:10What was going on?

00:13:17He called her straight to voicemail.

00:13:21The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:13:26That line, too.

00:13:27Blocked.

00:13:32The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:13:36Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend, Ethan, and my best friend, Lexi.

00:13:40Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves.

00:13:41To keep dating behind my back, they'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

00:13:47Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:13:50I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:13:53Don't say that.

00:13:54Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:13:58we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:14:04Made her miss the deadline.

00:14:05She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:14:07We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:14:09That's already bad enough.

00:14:10When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:14:13Obviously.

00:14:16So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:14:18In secret?

00:14:18As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:14:20Right then, I was standing there.

00:14:21A complete joke.

00:14:22Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:14:25I promised you a full year as your guy, not one day less.

00:14:28Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:14:30It runs through May 1st this year.

00:14:32I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:14:34I'm yours, until the fall semester starts.

00:14:36I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer,

00:14:38to do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi, not going home.

00:14:42We'll stay in the city together.

00:14:43Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:14:49I'm there.

00:14:52I'm there.

00:14:53I thought back to last May 1st.

00:14:55That was Lexi's birthday.

00:14:56It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:14:59I'd stared at my student portal showing offer declined and couldn't believe it.

00:15:02My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

00:15:05Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:15:07Only me, somehow, impossibly had lost my spot.

00:15:10My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:15:12That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline

00:15:15and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

00:15:18How is that even possible?

00:15:19The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:15:21Your record is outstanding.

00:15:23If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:15:26But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:15:29There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:15:31Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:15:33I was devastated.

00:15:35I couldn't accept it.

00:15:36And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:15:37Taylor, my birthday party's starting.

00:15:39Get over here.

00:15:40Ethan's already here.

00:15:41We're just waiting on you.

00:15:41I told them what happened.

00:15:43Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:15:45Oh my god.

00:15:46How does that even happen?

00:15:48These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:15:50So what are you going to do now?

00:15:51If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:15:54I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:15:56I thought about four years of work.

00:15:58No, I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:16:00There was a beat of silence on the call, then Ethan's voice.

00:16:03With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

00:16:06Focus on reapplying.

00:16:08Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:16:10Ethan's right.

00:16:11Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:16:14No problem.

00:16:15Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

00:16:19Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

00:16:21All of it just to hide what they were doing.

00:16:23To make her real birthday wish come true.

00:16:25Dating my boyfriend.

00:16:28I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:16:30That part didn't surprise me.

00:16:32What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:16:36She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:16:40I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:16:42Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages from her.

00:16:45My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:16:52The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

00:16:56I'm dead.

00:16:57He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so drum roll, I bought it for him.

00:17:02We got a hotel room last night.

00:17:04He's so hot.

00:17:07Hey Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:17:10No.

00:17:12Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:17:15After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:17:18There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else, and then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

00:17:22And that killed whatever mood was left.

00:17:23When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way,

00:17:26she sent back a voice note that was practically a performance.

00:17:28No? No way!

00:17:36Taylor, don't you know?

00:17:37If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

00:17:40Oops.

00:17:41Did I say something wrong?

00:17:42I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:17:45Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:17:48I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

00:17:51I just changed the subject.

00:17:53Anyway, you move fast.

00:17:55You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:17:57What does he look like?

00:17:59Send a pic.

00:17:59Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:18:01One word.

00:18:02Hot.

00:18:02How hot?

00:18:04Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

00:18:07But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

00:18:10And now, standing outside the apartment watching the two of them together,

00:18:13I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:18:15What are you up to?

00:18:21At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

00:18:24I held down the nausea and replied, take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:18:29Again?

00:18:30Why does she keep bothering you?

00:18:32She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:18:33She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

00:18:35Like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:18:38Good thing I'm careful.

00:18:39I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:18:42Covers it.

00:18:42Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:18:43She pushed a little further.

00:18:44You're that scared of her finding out?

00:18:46You could just tell her about us.

00:18:49If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even

00:18:52be mad?

00:18:53Don't.

00:18:53Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

00:18:56Ever.

00:18:56Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:18:59Okay, okay, forget it.

00:19:00Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:19:03Let's do something fun.

00:19:06That desperate?

00:19:10I'll take care of it tonight.

00:19:12ER is slammed.

00:19:13Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:19:15Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:19:17Don't worry.

00:19:18Love you.

00:19:18I read every word.

00:19:19Then I texted my parents.

00:19:21Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:19:23I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:19:28They called immediately.

00:19:30Sweetie, what happened?

00:19:31What changed?

00:19:32You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:19:33Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:19:35Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:19:36My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:19:39What?

00:19:39But at prom last year, Ethan was...

00:19:41She stopped herself.

00:19:42Like she just figured something out.

00:19:44Didn't finish the sentence.

00:19:45I was the one reassuring them.

00:19:46My application this year was stronger.

00:19:48I got into MIT.

00:19:49Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

00:19:52I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

00:19:54Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

00:19:58I'll talk later.

00:19:59I need to book a flight home.

00:20:00Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:20:02My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

00:20:04We were all fooled.

00:20:05Lexi's private high school tuition.

00:20:07Her college tuition right now.

00:20:09Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:20:11If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:20:15Done.

00:20:16Okay.

00:20:16Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:20:18She came from a broken home.

00:20:19Ninth grade.

00:20:20Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:20:22Left her behind.

00:20:23No plan for her education.

00:20:24Nothing.

00:20:25I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:20:27Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

00:20:29She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:20:31Just think of it as charity.

00:20:32When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:20:34My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:20:36They said yes.

00:20:37Paid her private high school tuition.

00:20:38Let her move into the guest room.

00:20:40Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:20:43Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:20:45When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:20:49Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:20:53I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:21:05Boyfriend booked the room.

00:21:06$2,000 a night.

00:21:08He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:21:09What do you think I should do for him?

00:21:10I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:21:13I was barely holding it together.

00:21:15I called Ethan.

00:21:17Taylor?

00:21:17Can you come home this weekend?

00:21:19Just once?

00:21:20I really need you.

00:21:21He said no without missing a beat.

00:21:22Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:21:24You haven't been here yet.

00:21:25You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:21:27There's always something to spend money on.

00:21:29My coursework is brutal.

00:21:30I can't carve out the time.

00:21:32Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:21:36Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:21:38But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:21:40No problem.

00:21:40Brutal coursework.

00:21:41Sure.

00:21:42Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:21:46BFF jealous?

00:21:47I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:21:49When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:21:52Just you.

00:21:53All to yourself.

00:21:55All to yourself.

00:22:05Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:22:08She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:22:13Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life using Taylor's parents' card,

00:22:18going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:22:20And Taylor?

00:22:21Still home, hunched over essays.

00:22:24Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:22:27She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:22:30But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:22:32For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:22:36He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:22:38But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:22:44The one you actually end up with.

00:22:45If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now, there was a real chance Ethan would panic

00:22:50and drop her to try to fix things.

00:22:51That was not the ending she was going for.

00:22:54Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step, until Ethan was the one who called

00:22:59it.

00:22:59That moment hadn't come yet.

00:23:00And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:23:04She could not blow this up too early.

00:23:05Although Ethan's family had money.

00:23:07Real money.

00:23:08Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:23:11She was still running through the fantasy.

00:23:14Who are you texting?

00:23:16Nobody.

00:23:17Ethan.

00:23:18For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:23:21I want you completely to myself.

00:23:22That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

00:23:25He didn't mind giving her that.

00:23:26It was a small ask.

00:23:28She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

00:23:30After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

00:23:32The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:23:34There are strict rules around phone use.

00:23:36I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

00:23:38Don't worry.

00:23:39I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:23:43You're the best.

00:23:44I got that text sitting at my kitchen table eating barbecue.

00:23:48This little...

00:23:49He's still lying to you?

00:23:50Right now?

00:23:51Block him.

00:23:52Block both of them.

00:23:53So disgusting.

00:23:54Done.

00:23:55All blocked.

00:23:56Those two are never touching my life again.

00:23:59Time moved fast.

00:24:00Before long, it was move-in day.

00:24:04The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:24:08Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:24:11Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:24:13He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:24:15But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:24:20Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:24:23He let it go and started typing.

00:24:26Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:24:28I'll come get you.

00:24:32He'd been blocked.

00:24:33He figured he'd misread it.

00:24:35What was going on?

00:24:42He called her straight to voicemail.

00:24:45The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:24:51That line, too.

00:24:52Blocked.

00:25:04Time moved fast.

00:25:06Before long, it was move-in day.

00:25:10The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:25:13Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:25:16Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:25:18He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

00:25:20But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:25:25Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:25:28He let it go and started typing.

00:25:31Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:25:33I'll come get you.

00:25:37He'd been blocked.

00:25:38He figured he'd misread it.

00:25:40What was going on?

00:25:47He called her straight to voicemail.

00:25:51The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:25:56That line, too.

00:25:57Blocked.

00:26:02The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:26:06Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend, Ethan, and my best friend, Lexi.

00:26:09Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves, to keep dating behind my back.

00:26:13They'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

00:26:16Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:26:20I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:26:23Don't say that.

00:26:24Last year, to make your birthday wish come true,

00:26:27with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:26:28we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:26:33Made her miss the deadline.

00:26:35She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:26:37We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:26:39That's already bad enough.

00:26:40When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:26:43Obviously.

00:26:46So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:26:48In secret?

00:26:48As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:26:50Right then, I was standing there.

00:26:51A complete joke.

00:26:53Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:26:54I promised you a full year as your guy.

00:26:56Not one day less.

00:26:58Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:27:00It runs through May 1st this year.

00:27:02I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:27:04I'm yours.

00:27:05Until the fall semester starts.

00:27:06I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer

00:27:08to do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi, not going home.

00:27:11We'll stay in the city together.

00:27:13Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:27:22I thought back to last May 1st.

00:27:25That was Lexi's birthday.

00:27:26It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:27:29I'd stared at my student portal showing offer declined and couldn't believe it.

00:27:32My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

00:27:35Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:27:37Only me, somehow, impossibly, had lost my spot.

00:27:40My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:27:42That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline

00:27:45and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

00:27:48How is that even possible?

00:27:49The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:27:51Your record is outstanding.

00:27:53If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:27:56But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:27:59There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:28:01Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:28:03I was devastated.

00:28:04I couldn't accept it.

00:28:06And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:28:07Taylor, my birthday party's starting.

00:28:09Get over here.

00:28:10Ethan's already here.

00:28:11We're just waiting on you.

00:28:12I told them what happened.

00:28:13Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:28:15Oh my god.

00:28:16How does that even happen?

00:28:18These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:28:19So what are you going to do now?

00:28:21If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:28:24I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:28:26I thought about four years of work.

00:28:28No.

00:28:29I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:28:30There was a beat of silence on the call.

00:28:32Then Ethan's voice.

00:28:33With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

00:28:36Focus on reapplying.

00:28:38Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:28:40Ethan's right.

00:28:41Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:28:44No problem.

00:28:45Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

00:28:49Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

00:28:51All of it just to hide what they were doing.

00:28:53To make her real birthday wish come true.

00:28:55Dating my boyfriend.

00:28:58I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:29:00That part didn't surprise me.

00:29:02What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:29:05She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:29:10I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:29:12Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages for her.

00:29:15My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:29:22The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

00:29:26I'm dead.

00:29:27He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so drum roll.

00:29:31I bought it for him.

00:29:32We got a hotel room last night.

00:29:34He's so hot.

00:29:37Hey Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:29:40No.

00:29:42Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:29:45After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:29:48There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else.

00:29:50And then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

00:29:52And that killed whatever mood was left.

00:29:53When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way,

00:29:56she sent back a voice note that was practically a performance.

00:29:58No?

00:29:59No way!

00:30:06Taylor, don't you know?

00:30:07If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

00:30:10Oops.

00:30:11Did I say something wrong?

00:30:12I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:30:15Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:30:18I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

00:30:21I just changed the subject.

00:30:23Anyway, you move fast.

00:30:25You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:30:27What does he look like?

00:30:28Send a pic.

00:30:29Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:30:31One word.

00:30:32Hot.

00:30:32How hot?

00:30:34Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

00:30:37But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

00:30:40And now, standing outside the apartment watching the two of them together,

00:30:43I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:30:45What are you up to?

00:30:51At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

00:30:54I held down the nausea and replied,

00:30:56Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:30:59Again?

00:31:00Why does she keep bothering you?

00:31:01She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:31:03She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

00:31:05Like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:31:08Good thing I'm careful.

00:31:09I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:31:12Covers it.

00:31:12Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:31:13She pushed a little further.

00:31:14You're that scared of her finding out?

00:31:16You could just tell her about us?

00:31:19If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend,

00:31:21how could she even be mad?

00:31:23Don't.

00:31:23Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

00:31:26Ever.

00:31:26Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:31:29Okay, okay, forget it.

00:31:30Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:31:33Let's do something fun.

00:31:36That desperate?

00:31:40I'll take care of it tonight.

00:31:42ER is slammed.

00:31:43Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:31:45Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:31:47Don't worry.

00:31:48Love you.

00:31:48I read every word.

00:31:49Then I texted my parents.

00:31:50Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:31:52I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:31:58They called immediately.

00:32:00Sweetie, what happened?

00:32:01What changed?

00:32:01You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:32:03Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:32:05Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:32:06My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:32:08What?

00:32:09But at prom last year, Ethan was...

00:32:11She stopped herself.

00:32:12Like she just figured something out.

00:32:14Didn't finish the sentence.

00:32:14I was the one reassuring them.

00:32:16My application this year was stronger.

00:32:18I got into MIT.

00:32:19Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

00:32:22I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

00:32:24Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

00:32:28I'll talk later.

00:32:29I need to book a flight home.

00:32:30Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:32:32My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

00:32:34We were all fooled.

00:32:35Lexi's private high school tuition.

00:32:37Her college tuition right now.

00:32:39Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:32:41If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:32:45Done.

00:32:46Okay.

00:32:46Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:32:48She came from a broken home.

00:32:49Ninth grade.

00:32:50Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:32:52Left her behind.

00:32:53No plan for her education.

00:32:54Nothing.

00:32:55I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:32:57Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

00:32:59She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:33:01Just think of it as charity.

00:33:02When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:33:04My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:33:06They said yes.

00:33:06Paid her private high school tuition.

00:33:08Let her move into the guest room.

00:33:09Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:33:13Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:33:15When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:33:19Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:33:23I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:33:35Boyfriend booked the room.

00:33:36$2,000 a night.

00:33:38He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:33:39What do you think I should do for him?

00:33:40I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:33:43I was barely holding it together.

00:33:45Taylor, I called Ethan.

00:33:47Taylor?

00:33:48Can you come home this weekend?

00:33:49Just once?

00:33:49I really need you.

00:33:50He said no without missing a beat.

00:33:52Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:33:54You haven't been here yet.

00:33:55You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:33:57There's always something to spend money on.

00:33:59My coursework is brutal.

00:34:00I can't carve out the time.

00:34:02Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:34:06Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:34:08But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:34:10No problem.

00:34:10Brutal coursework.

00:34:11Sure.

00:34:12Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:34:16BFF jealous?

00:34:17I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:34:19When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:34:22Just you.

00:34:23All to yourself.

00:34:27Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

00:34:30I didn't reply.

00:34:35Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:34:38She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:34:43Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life, using Taylor's parents' card,

00:34:48going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:34:49And Taylor, still home, hunched over essays.

00:34:54Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:34:57She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:35:00But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:35:02For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:35:06He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:35:08But Lexi could tell.

00:35:10In the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:35:14The one you actually end up with.

00:35:15If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now,

00:35:18there was a real chance Ethan would panic and drop her to try to fix things.

00:35:21That was not the ending she was going for.

00:35:23Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step,

00:35:27until Ethan was the one who called it.

00:35:29That moment hadn't come yet.

00:35:30And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:35:34She could not blow this up too early.

00:35:35Although, Ethan's family had money.

00:35:37Real money.

00:35:38Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:35:40She was still running through the fantasy.

00:35:44Who are you texting?

00:35:46Nobody.

00:35:47Ethan.

00:35:48For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:35:50I want you completely to myself.

00:35:52That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

00:35:55He didn't mind giving her that.

00:35:56It was a small ask.

00:35:57She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

00:36:00After that, he and Taylor had all the tea in the word.

00:36:02The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:36:04There are strict rules around phone use.

00:36:06I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

00:36:08Don't worry.

00:36:09I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:36:13You're the best.

00:36:14I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

00:36:18This little...

00:36:19He's still lying to you?

00:36:20Right now?

00:36:21Block him.

00:36:22Block both of them.

00:36:23So disgusting.

00:36:24Done.

00:36:25All blocked.

00:36:26Those two are never touching my life again.

00:36:29Time moved fast.

00:36:31Before long, it was move-in day.

00:36:34The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:36:38Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:36:41Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:36:43He'd told her not to reach out.

00:36:44Fine.

00:36:45But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:36:50Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:36:52He let it go and started typing.

00:36:56Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:36:58I'll come get you.

00:37:02He'd been blocked.

00:37:03He figured he'd misread it.

00:37:05What was going on?

00:37:12He called her straight to voicemail.

00:37:15The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:37:21That line, too.

00:37:22Blocked.

00:37:34Time moved fast.

00:37:36Before long, it was move-in day.

00:37:39The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:37:43Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:37:46Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

00:37:48He'd told her not to reach out.

00:37:49Fine.

00:37:50But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:37:55Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:37:57He let it go and started typing.

00:38:01Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:38:03I'll come get you.

00:38:04I'll come get you.

00:38:20The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:38:26That line, too.

00:38:27Blocked.

00:38:32The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:38:36Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan and my best friend Lexi.

00:38:39Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves.

00:38:41To keep dating behind my back, they'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

00:38:46Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:38:50I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:38:53Don't say that.

00:38:54Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

00:38:58we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:39:03Made her miss the deadline.

00:39:05She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:39:07We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:39:09That's already bad enough.

00:39:10When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:39:13Obviously.

00:39:16So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:39:18In secret?

00:39:18As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:39:20Right then, I was standing there.

00:39:21A complete joke.

00:39:22Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:39:24I promised you a full year as your guy.

00:39:26Not one day less.

00:39:28Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:39:30It runs through May 1st this year.

00:39:32I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:39:34I'm yours.

00:39:35Until the fall semester starts.

00:39:36I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer.

00:39:38To do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi.

00:39:40Not going home.

00:39:41We'll stay in the city together.

00:39:43Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:39:53I thought back to last May 1st.

00:39:55That was Lexi's birthday.

00:39:56It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:39:59I'd stared at my student portal showing offer declined and couldn't believe it.

00:40:02My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

00:40:05Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:40:07Only me, somehow, impossibly, had lost my spot.

00:40:10My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:40:12That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline and cancel the

00:40:16deposit before the deadline.

00:40:17How is that even possible?

00:40:19The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:40:21Your record is outstanding.

00:40:23If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:40:26But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:40:29There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:40:30Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:40:33I was devastated.

00:40:34I couldn't accept it.

00:40:35And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:40:37Taylor, my birthday party's starting.

00:40:39Get over here.

00:40:40Ethan's already here.

00:40:41We're just waiting on you.

00:40:42I told them what happened.

00:40:43Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:40:45Oh my god.

00:40:46How does that even happen?

00:40:47These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:40:49So what are you going to do now?

00:40:51If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:40:54I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:40:56I thought about four years of work.

00:40:58No.

00:40:59I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:41:00There was a beat of silence on the call.

00:41:02Then Ethan's voice.

00:41:03With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

00:41:06Focus on reapplying.

00:41:08Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:41:10Ethan's right.

00:41:11Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:41:14No problem.

00:41:15Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

00:41:19Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

00:41:21All of it just to hide what they were doing.

00:41:23To make her real birthday wish come true.

00:41:25Dating my boyfriend.

00:41:28I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:41:30That part didn't surprise me.

00:41:31What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:41:35She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:41:40I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:41:42Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages from her.

00:41:45My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:41:52The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

00:41:56I'm dead.

00:41:57He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so, drum roll, I bought it for him.

00:42:02We got a hotel room last night.

00:42:04He's so hot.

00:42:07Hey, Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:42:10No.

00:42:12Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:42:15After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:42:18There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else, and then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

00:42:22And that killed whatever mood was left.

00:42:23When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way, she sent back a voice note that was practically

00:42:27a performance.

00:42:28No?

00:42:29No way!

00:42:36Taylor, don't you know?

00:42:37If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

00:42:40Oops.

00:42:41Did I say something wrong?

00:42:42I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:42:45Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:42:48I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

00:42:51I just changed the subject.

00:42:53Anyway, you move fast.

00:42:55You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:42:57What does he look like?

00:42:58Send a pic.

00:42:59Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:43:01One word.

00:43:02Hot.

00:43:02How hot?

00:43:04Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

00:43:07But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

00:43:09And now, standing outside the apartment, watching the two of them together, I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:43:15What are you up to?

00:43:21At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

00:43:23I held down the nausea and replied.

00:43:26Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:43:29Again?

00:43:30Why does she keep bothering you?

00:43:31She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:43:33She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

00:43:35Like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:43:38Good thing I'm careful.

00:43:39I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:43:42Covers it.

00:43:42Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:43:43She pushed a little further.

00:43:44You're that scared of her finding out?

00:43:46You could just tell her about us?

00:43:48If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even be mad?

00:43:53Don't.

00:43:53Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

00:43:56Ever.

00:43:56Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:43:59Okay, okay, forget it.

00:44:00Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:44:03Let's do something fun.

00:44:05That desperate?

00:44:10I'll take care of it tonight.

00:44:12ER is slammed.

00:44:13Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:44:15Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:44:17Don't worry.

00:44:18Love you.

00:44:18I read every word.

00:44:19Then I texted my parents.

00:44:20Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:44:23I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:44:28They called immediately.

00:44:30Sweetie, what happened?

00:44:31What changed?

00:44:31You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:44:33Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

00:44:35Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:44:36My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:44:38What?

00:44:39But at prom last year, Ethan was...

00:44:41She stopped herself.

00:44:42Like she just figured something out.

00:44:43Didn't finish the sentence.

00:44:44I was the one reassuring them.

00:44:46My application this year was stronger.

00:44:48I got into MIT.

00:44:49Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

00:44:52I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

00:44:55Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

00:44:58I'll talk later.

00:44:59I need to book a flight home.

00:45:00Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:45:01My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

00:45:04We were all fooled.

00:45:05Hold Lexi's private high school tuition.

00:45:07Her college tuition right now.

00:45:09Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:45:11If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:45:15Done.

00:45:16Okay.

00:45:16Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:45:18She came from a broken home.

00:45:19Ninth grade.

00:45:20Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:45:22Left her behind.

00:45:23No plan for her education.

00:45:24Nothing.

00:45:25I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:45:27Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

00:45:29She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:45:31Just think of it as charity.

00:45:32When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:45:34My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:45:36They said yes.

00:45:36Paid her private high school tuition.

00:45:38Let her move into the guest room.

00:45:39Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:45:43Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:45:45When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:45:49Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:45:53I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:46:05Boyfriend booked the room.

00:46:06$2,000 a night.

00:46:08He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:46:09What do you think I should do for him?

00:46:10I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:46:13I was barely holding it together.

00:46:15I called Ethan.

00:46:17Taylor?

00:46:17Can you come home this weekend?

00:46:19Just once?

00:46:19I really need you.

00:46:20He said no without missing a beat.

00:46:22Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:46:24You haven't been here yet.

00:46:25You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:46:27There's always something to spend money on.

00:46:29My coursework is brutal.

00:46:30I can't carve out the time.

00:46:32Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:46:36Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:46:38But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:46:39No problem.

00:46:40Brutal coursework.

00:46:41Sure.

00:46:42Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:46:46BFF jealous?

00:46:47I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:46:49When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:46:52Just you.

00:46:53All to yourself.

00:46:57Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

00:47:00I didn't reply.

00:47:05Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:47:08She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:47:13Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life using Taylor's parents' card,

00:47:17going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:47:20And Taylor?

00:47:20Still home, hunched over essays.

00:47:24Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:47:27She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

00:47:30But the timing wasn't right yet.

00:47:32For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

00:47:36He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

00:47:38But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

00:47:43The one you actually end up with.

00:47:45If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now,

00:47:48there was a real chance Ethan would panic and drop her to try to fix things.

00:47:51That was not the ending she was going for.

00:47:53Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step,

00:47:57until Ethan was the one who called it.

00:47:59That moment hadn't come yet.

00:48:00And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

00:48:04She could not blow this up too early.

00:48:05Although, Ethan's family had money.

00:48:07Real money.

00:48:07Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

00:48:10She was still running through the fantasy.

00:48:14Who are you texting?

00:48:16Nobody.

00:48:17Ethan.

00:48:18For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

00:48:20I want you completely to myself.

00:48:22That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

00:48:25He didn't mind giving her that.

00:48:26It was a small ask.

00:48:27She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

00:48:30After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

00:48:32The volunteer program here is really demanding.

00:48:34There are strict rules around phone use.

00:48:36I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

00:48:38Don't worry.

00:48:39I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

00:48:42You're the best.

00:48:44I got that text sitting at my kitchen table eating barbecue.

00:48:48This little...

00:48:49He's still lying to you?

00:48:50Right now?

00:48:51Block him.

00:48:52Block both of them.

00:48:53So disgusting.

00:48:54Done.

00:48:55All blocked.

00:48:55Those two are never touching my life again.

00:48:59Time moved fast.

00:49:00Before long, it was move-in day.

00:49:04The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:49:07Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:49:11Ethan, I'm finally coming to York to find you.

00:49:13He'd told her not to reach out.

00:49:14Fine.

00:49:15But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:49:19Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:49:22He let it go and started typing.

00:49:26Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:49:28I'll come get you.

00:49:32He'd been blocked.

00:49:33He figured he'd misread it.

00:49:35What was going on?

00:49:42He called her straight to voicemail.

00:49:45The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:49:50That line too.

00:49:52Blocked.

00:50:04Time moved fast.

00:50:05Before long, it was move-in day.

00:50:09The last messages were from the day the results came out.

00:50:12Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

00:50:16Ethan, I'm finally coming to York to find you.

00:50:18He'd told her not to reach out.

00:50:19Fine.

00:50:20But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

00:50:24Still, today was the day she was flying in.

00:50:27He let it go and started typing.

00:50:31Babe, are you at the airport yet?

00:50:33I'll come get you.

00:50:37He'd been blocked.

00:50:38He figured he'd misread it.

00:50:40What was going on?

00:50:47He called her straight to voicemail.

00:50:50The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

00:50:56That line too.

00:50:57Blocked.

00:51:02The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

00:51:06Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan and my best friend Lexi.

00:51:09Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves.

00:51:11To keep dating behind my back.

00:51:13They'd altered my application.

00:51:14Costing me an entire gap year.

00:51:16Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

00:51:20I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

00:51:23Don't say that.

00:51:24Last year, to make your birthday wish come true,

00:51:27the one where you wanted to date me,

00:51:28we snuck into her college application portal

00:51:30and clicked decline offer before decision day.

00:51:33Made her miss the deadline.

00:51:35She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

00:51:37We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

00:51:39That's already bad enough.

00:51:40When she moves to the city,

00:51:41I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

00:51:43Obviously.

00:51:46So we can still keep meeting like this?

00:51:47In secret?

00:51:48As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

00:51:50Right then, I was standing there.

00:51:51A complete joke.

00:51:52Ethan kept going, comforting her.

00:51:54I promised you a full year as your guy.

00:51:56Not one day less.

00:51:57Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

00:52:00It runs through May 1st this year.

00:52:02I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

00:52:03I'm yours.

00:52:05Until the fall semester starts.

00:52:06I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer

00:52:08to do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi.

00:52:10Not going home.

00:52:11We'll stay in the city together.

00:52:13Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

00:52:16I'm there.

00:52:18I'm there.

00:52:19I'm there.

00:52:23I thought back to last May 1st.

00:52:25That was Lexi's birthday.

00:52:26It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

00:52:29I'd stared at my student portal showing offer declined

00:52:31and couldn't believe it.

00:52:32My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

00:52:35Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

00:52:37Only me, somehow, impossibly had lost my spot.

00:52:40My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

00:52:42That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline

00:52:45and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

00:52:47How is that even possible?

00:52:49The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

00:52:51Your record is outstanding.

00:52:53If we'd received the confirmation,

00:52:54you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

00:52:56But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

00:52:59There's nothing we can do on our end.

00:53:00Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

00:53:03I was devastated.

00:53:04I couldn't accept it.

00:53:06And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

00:53:07Taylor, my birthday party's starting.

00:53:09Get over here.

00:53:10Ethan's already here.

00:53:10We're just waiting on you.

00:53:11I told them what happened.

00:53:13Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

00:53:15Oh my god.

00:53:16How does that even happen?

00:53:17These things happen to everyone sometimes.

00:53:19So what are you going to do now?

00:53:20If all else fails,

00:53:21pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

00:53:24I looked at my parents' worried faces.

00:53:26I thought about four years of work.

00:53:28No, I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

00:53:30There was a beat of silence on the call.

00:53:32Then Ethan's voice.

00:53:33With your record,

00:53:34community college would be a waste of your time.

00:53:36Focus on reapplying.

00:53:38Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

00:53:40Ethan's right.

00:53:40Then my birthday wish this year

00:53:42is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

00:53:44No problem.

00:53:45Back then, I was so touched,

00:53:47I almost couldn't speak.

00:53:48Turns out every bit of it

00:53:50was something they'd planned together.

00:53:51All of it just to hide what they were doing,

00:53:53to make her real birthday wish come true.

00:53:55Dating my boyfriend.

00:53:58I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

00:54:00That part didn't surprise me.

00:54:01What I didn't know was that her boyfriend

00:54:03and my boyfriend were the same person.

00:54:05She texted me constantly,

00:54:07every day,

00:54:08sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

00:54:10I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

00:54:12Every weekend,

00:54:12I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages from her.

00:54:15My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

00:54:22The professor called on him randomly,

00:54:24and he completely blanked.

00:54:26I'm dead.

00:54:27He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while,

00:54:29so drum roll,

00:54:31I bought it for him.

00:54:32We got a hotel room last night.

00:54:33He's so hot.

00:54:37Hey, Taylor,

00:54:38have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

00:54:40No.

00:54:42Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

00:54:45After that,

00:54:45it was straight into the chaos of application season.

00:54:48There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else,

00:54:50and then the whole mess with my acceptance happened,

00:54:51and that killed whatever mood was left.

00:54:53When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way,

00:54:56she sent back a voice note

00:54:57that was practically a performance.

00:54:58No?

00:54:59No way!

00:55:06Taylor, don't you know?

00:55:07If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you,

00:55:09he's not actually into you.

00:55:10Oops.

00:55:11Did I say something wrong?

00:55:12I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

00:55:15Looking back,

00:55:16every single one of those messages was loaded.

00:55:18I was too stressed out from applications

00:55:20to catch it at the time.

00:55:21I just changed the subject.

00:55:23Anyway,

00:55:23you move fast.

00:55:24You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

00:55:27What does he look like?

00:55:28Send a pic.

00:55:29Let me see if he's good enough for you.

00:55:31One word.

00:55:32Hot.

00:55:32How hot?

00:55:34Hot enough that the second you saw his face,

00:55:35you'd pass out on the spot.

00:55:37But he hates photos,

00:55:38so no pics for you.

00:55:39And now,

00:55:40standing outside the apartment,

00:55:42watching the two of them together,

00:55:43I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

00:55:45What are you up to?

00:55:51At the hospital doing shadowing,

00:55:53completely slammed.

00:55:53I held down the nausea and replied,

00:55:55take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

00:55:59Again?

00:56:00Why does she keep bothering you?

00:56:01She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

00:56:03She said it like she was the real girlfriend,

00:56:05like I was some unhinged stalker.

00:56:08Good thing I'm careful.

00:56:09I got photos of a hospital hallway

00:56:10from an upperclassman ahead of time.

00:56:12Covers it.

00:56:12Lexi still wasn't happy.

00:56:13She pushed a little further.

00:56:14You're that scared of her finding out?

00:56:16You could just tell her about us.

00:56:18If she really cares about you,

00:56:20really thinks of me as her best friend,

00:56:21how could she even be mad?

00:56:23Don't.

00:56:23Whatever's going on between us,

00:56:24she cannot find out.

00:56:25Ever.

00:56:26Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

00:56:28Okay, okay, forget it.

00:56:30Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

00:56:33Let's do something fun.

00:56:35That desperate?

00:56:40I'll take care of it tonight.

00:56:42ER is slammed.

00:56:43Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

00:56:45Phone access is limited until this is over.

00:56:47Don't worry.

00:56:47Love you.

00:56:48I read every word.

00:56:49Then I texted my parents.

00:56:50Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

00:56:53I'm accepting MIT's offer.

00:56:58They called immediately.

00:57:00Sweetie, what happened?

00:57:01What changed?

00:57:01You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

00:57:03Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan?

00:57:05Lexi and Ethan are together.

00:57:06My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

00:57:08What?

00:57:09But at prom last year,

00:57:10Ethan was...

00:57:11She stopped herself.

00:57:12Like she just figured something out.

00:57:13Didn't finish the sentence.

00:57:14I was the one reassuring them.

00:57:16My application this year was stronger.

00:57:18I got into MIT.

00:57:19Physics at MIT is better than Columbia

00:57:21by a long shot anyway.

00:57:22I was willing to go to New York

00:57:23because I had people there.

00:57:25Turns out those two aren't worth giving up

00:57:26the top engineering school in the country.

00:57:28I'll talk later.

00:57:29I need to book a flight home.

00:57:30Tonight I want your barbecue.

00:57:31My dad's voice came through,

00:57:33anger barely under control.

00:57:34We were all fooled.

00:57:35Lexi's private high school tuition.

00:57:37Her college tuition right now.

00:57:39Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

00:57:41If this is how she's going to treat you,

00:57:42we are done being her ATM next semester.

00:57:45Done.

00:57:46Okay.

00:57:46Lexi and I had grown up together.

00:57:48She came from a broken home.

00:57:49Ninth grade.

00:57:50Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

00:57:52Left her behind.

00:57:53No plan for her education.

00:57:54Nothing.

00:57:55I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

00:57:57Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

00:57:59She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

00:58:01Just think of it as charity.

00:58:02When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

00:58:04My parents didn't even hesitate.

00:58:06They said yes.

00:58:06Paid her private high school tuition.

00:58:08Let her move into the guest room.

00:58:09Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year

00:58:11in tuition and housing without blinking.

00:58:13Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

00:58:15When I graduate and land something on Wall Street,

00:58:17I'll pay back every cent with interest.

00:58:19Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

00:58:23I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

00:58:35Boyfriend booked the room.

00:58:36$2,000 a night.

00:58:37He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

00:58:39What do you think I should do for him?

00:58:40I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

00:58:43I was barely holding it together.

00:58:45I called Ethan.

00:58:47Taylor?

00:58:47Can you come home this weekend?

00:58:48Just once?

00:58:49I really need you.

00:58:50He said no without missing a beat.

00:58:52Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

00:58:54You haven't been here yet.

00:58:55You don't know how expensive New York is.

00:58:57There's always something to spend money on.

00:58:59My coursework is brutal.

00:59:00I can't carve out the time.

00:59:02Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

00:59:06Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

00:59:08But a $2,000 hotel suite?

00:59:09No problem.

00:59:10Brutal coursework.

00:59:11Sure.

00:59:12Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

00:59:15BFF jealous?

00:59:17I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

00:59:19When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

00:59:22Just you.

00:59:23All to yourself.

00:59:27Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

00:59:30I didn't reply.

00:59:35Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

00:59:38She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

00:59:43Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life, using Taylor's parents' card,

00:59:47going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

00:59:49And Taylor?

00:59:51Still home, hunched over essays.

00:59:54Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

00:59:57She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

01:00:00But the timing wasn't right yet.

01:00:02For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

01:00:06He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

01:00:08But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

01:00:13The one you actually end up with.

01:00:15If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now, there was a real chance Ethan would

01:00:19panic and drop her to try to fix things.

01:00:21That was not the ending she was going for.

01:00:23Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step, until Ethan was the one

01:00:28who called it.

01:00:29That moment hadn't come yet.

01:00:30And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

01:00:34She could not blow this up too early.

01:00:35Although, Ethan's family had money.

01:00:37Real money.

01:00:37Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

01:00:40She was still running through the fantasy.

01:00:44Who are you texting?

01:00:46No, buddy.

01:00:47Ethan, for the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

01:00:50I want you completely to myself.

01:00:52That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

01:00:55He didn't mind giving her that.

01:00:56It was a small ask.

01:00:57She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

01:01:00After that, he and Taylor had all the tea in the word.

01:01:01The volunteer program here is really demanding.

01:01:04There are strict rules around phone use.

01:01:06I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

01:01:08Don't worry.

01:01:09I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

01:01:13You're the best.

01:01:13I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

01:01:18This little...

01:01:19He's still lying to you?

01:01:20Right now?

01:01:21Block him.

01:01:22Block both of them.

01:01:23So disgusting.

01:01:24Done.

01:01:25All blocked.

01:01:26Those two are never touching my life again.

01:01:29Time moved fast.

01:01:30Before long, it was move-in day.

01:01:34The last messages were from the day the results came out.

01:01:38Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

01:01:41Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

01:01:43He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

01:01:45But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

01:01:49Still, today was the day she was flying in.

01:01:52He let it go and started typing.

01:01:56Babe, are you at the airport yet?

01:01:57I'll come get you.

01:02:02He'd been blocked.

01:02:03He figured he'd misread it.

01:02:05What was going on?

01:02:12He called her straight to voicemail.

01:02:15The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

01:02:20That line, too.

01:02:22Blocked.

01:02:34Time moved fast.

01:02:35Before long, it was move-in day.

01:02:39The last messages were from the day the results came out.

01:02:42Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

01:02:46Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

01:02:48He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

01:02:50But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

01:02:54Still, today was the day she was flying in.

01:02:57He let it go and started typing.

01:03:01Babe, are you at the airport yet?

01:03:03I'll come get you.

01:03:07He'd been blocked.

01:03:08He figured he'd misread it.

01:03:10What was going on?

01:03:17He called her straight to voicemail.

01:03:20The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

01:03:25That line, too.

01:03:27Blocked.

01:03:32The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

01:03:36Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend Ethan and my best friend Lexi.

01:03:39Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves.

01:03:41To keep dating behind my back, they'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

01:03:46Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

01:03:50I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

01:03:53Don't say that.

01:03:54Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

01:03:58we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

01:04:03Made her miss the deadline.

01:04:05She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

01:04:06We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

01:04:09That's already bad enough.

01:04:10When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

01:04:13Obviously.

01:04:15So we can still keep meeting like this?

01:04:17In secret?

01:04:18As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

01:04:20Right then, I was standing there.

01:04:21A complete joke.

01:04:22Ethan kept going, comforting her.

01:04:24I promised you a full year as your guy.

01:04:26Not one day less.

01:04:27Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

01:04:30It runs through May 1st this year.

01:04:32I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

01:04:33I'm yours.

01:04:34Until the fall semester starts.

01:04:36I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer.

01:04:38To do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi.

01:04:40Not going home.

01:04:41We'll stay in the city together.

01:04:43Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

01:04:52I thought back to last May 1st.

01:04:54That was Lexi's birthday.

01:04:56It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

01:04:59I'd stared at my student portal showing offer declined and couldn't believe it.

01:05:02My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

01:05:05Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

01:05:07Only me, somehow, impossibly, had lost my spot.

01:05:10My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

01:05:12That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

01:05:17How is that even possible?

01:05:19The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

01:05:21Your record is outstanding.

01:05:23If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

01:05:26But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

01:05:29There's nothing we can do on our end.

01:05:30Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

01:05:33I was devastated.

01:05:34I couldn't accept it.

01:05:35And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

01:05:37Taylor!

01:05:38My birthday party's starting!

01:05:39Get over here!

01:05:40Ethan's already here!

01:05:40We're just waiting on you!

01:05:41I told them what happened.

01:05:43Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

01:05:45Oh my god!

01:05:46How does that even happen?

01:05:47These things happen to everyone sometimes.

01:05:49So what are you gonna do now?

01:05:50If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

01:05:54I looked at my parents' worried faces.

01:05:56I thought about four years of work.

01:05:58No.

01:05:58I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

01:06:00There was a beat of silence on the call.

01:06:02Then Ethan's voice.

01:06:03With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

01:06:06Focus on reapplying.

01:06:08Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

01:06:10Ethan's right.

01:06:11Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

01:06:14No problem.

01:06:15Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

01:06:18Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

01:06:21All of it just to hide what they were doing.

01:06:23To make her real birthday wish come true.

01:06:25Dating my boyfriend.

01:06:27I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

01:06:30That part didn't surprise me.

01:06:31What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

01:06:35She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

01:06:40I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

01:06:42Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages from her.

01:06:45My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

01:06:52The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

01:06:56I'm dead.

01:06:57He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so, drum roll, I bought it for him.

01:07:02We got a hotel room last night.

01:07:04He's so hot.

01:07:07Hey, Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

01:07:10No.

01:07:11Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

01:07:15After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

01:07:18There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else, and then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

01:07:21And that killed whatever mood was left.

01:07:23When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way, she sent back a voice note that was practically

01:07:27a performance.

01:07:28No?

01:07:29No way!

01:07:36Taylor, don't you know?

01:07:37If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

01:07:40Oops.

01:07:41Did I say something wrong?

01:07:42I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

01:07:45Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

01:07:48I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

01:07:51I just changed the subject.

01:07:53Anyway, you move fast.

01:07:54You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

01:07:57What does he look like?

01:07:58Send a pic.

01:07:59Let me see if he's good enough for you.

01:08:01One word.

01:08:02Hot.

01:08:02How hot?

01:08:03Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

01:08:07But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

01:08:09And now, standing outside the apartment, watching the two of them together, I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

01:08:15What are you up to?

01:08:21At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

01:08:23I held down the nausea and replied,

01:08:25Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

01:08:29Again?

01:08:30Why does she keep bothering you?

01:08:31She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

01:08:33She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

01:08:35Like I was some unhinged stalker.

01:08:38Good thing I'm careful.

01:08:39I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

01:08:42Covers it.

01:08:42Lexi still wasn't happy.

01:08:43She pushed a little further.

01:08:44You're that scared of her finding out?

01:08:46You could just tell her about us.

01:08:48If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even be mad?

01:08:53Don't.

01:08:53Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

01:08:55Ever.

01:08:56Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

01:08:58Okay, okay, forget it.

01:09:00Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

01:09:03Let's do something fun.

01:09:05That desperate?

01:09:10I'll take care of it tonight.

01:09:12ER is slammed.

01:09:13Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

01:09:15Phone access is limited until this is over.

01:09:17Don't worry.

01:09:17Love you.

01:09:18I read every word.

01:09:19Then I texted my parents.

01:09:20Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

01:09:23I'm accepting MIT's offer.

01:09:28They called immediately.

01:09:30Sweetie, what happened?

01:09:31What changed?

01:09:31You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

01:09:33Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

01:09:35Lexi and Ethan are together.

01:09:36My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

01:09:38What?

01:09:39But at prom last year, Ethan was...

01:09:41She stopped herself.

01:09:42Like she just figured something out.

01:09:43Didn't finish the sentence.

01:09:44I was the one reassuring them.

01:09:46My application this year was stronger.

01:09:48I got into MIT.

01:09:49Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

01:09:52I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

01:09:54Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

01:09:58I'll talk later.

01:09:59I need to book a flight home.

01:10:00Tonight I want your barbecue.

01:10:01My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

01:10:04We were all fooled.

01:10:05Lexi's private high school tuition, her college tuition right now.

01:10:09Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

01:10:11If this is how she's going to treat you, we are done being her ATM next semester.

01:10:14Done.

01:10:16Okay.

01:10:16Lexi and I had grown up together.

01:10:18She came from a broken home.

01:10:19Ninth grade.

01:10:20Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

01:10:22Left her behind.

01:10:23No plan for her education.

01:10:24Nothing.

01:10:24I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

01:10:27Mom, dad, can we please help her?

01:10:28She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

01:10:31Just think of it as charity.

01:10:32When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

01:10:34My parents didn't even hesitate.

01:10:35They said yes.

01:10:36Paid her private high school tuition.

01:10:38Let her move into the guest room.

01:10:39Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

01:10:43Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

01:10:45When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

01:10:49Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

01:10:53I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

01:11:05Boyfriend booked the room.

01:11:06$2,000 a night.

01:11:07He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

01:11:09What do you think I should do for him?

01:11:10I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

01:11:13I was barely holding it together.

01:11:15I called Ethan.

01:11:17Taylor?

01:11:17Can you come home this weekend?

01:11:19Just once?

01:11:19I really need you.

01:11:20He said no without missing a beat.

01:11:22Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

01:11:24You haven't been here yet.

01:11:25You don't know how expensive New York is.

01:11:27There's always something to spend money on.

01:11:29My coursework is brutal.

01:11:30I can't carve out the time.

01:11:32Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

01:11:35Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

01:11:38But a $2,000 hotel suite?

01:11:39No problem.

01:11:40Brutal coursework.

01:11:41Sure.

01:11:42Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

01:11:45BFF jealous?

01:11:46I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

01:11:48When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

01:11:52Just you, all to yourself.

01:11:56Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

01:12:00I didn't reply.

01:12:05Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

01:12:08She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

01:12:13Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life, using Taylor's parents' card,

01:12:17going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

01:12:19And Taylor, still home, hunched over essays.

01:12:24Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

01:12:27She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

01:12:30But the timing wasn't right yet.

01:12:32For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

01:12:35He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

01:12:38But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

01:12:43The one you actually end up with.

01:12:45If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now,

01:12:48there was a real chance Ethan would panic and drop her to try to fix things.

01:12:51That was not the ending she was going for.

01:12:53Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step,

01:12:57until Ethan was the one who called it.

01:12:59That moment hadn't come yet.

01:13:00And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

01:13:04She could not blow this up too early.

01:13:05Although Ethan's family had money.

01:13:07Real money.

01:13:07Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

01:13:10She was still running through the fantasy.

01:13:14Who are you texting?

01:13:16Nobody.

01:13:17Ethan.

01:13:18For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

01:13:20I want you completely to myself.

01:13:22That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

01:13:25He didn't mind giving her that.

01:13:26It was a small ask.

01:13:27She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

01:13:30After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

01:13:31The volunteer program here is really demanding.

01:13:33There are strict rules around phone use.

01:13:35I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

01:13:38Don't worry.

01:13:39I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

01:13:42You're the best.

01:13:44I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

01:13:48This little...

01:13:48He's still lying to you?

01:13:50Right now?

01:13:51Block him.

01:13:52Block both of them.

01:13:53So disgusting.

01:13:54Done.

01:13:54All blocked.

01:13:56Those two are never touching my life again.

01:13:59Time moved fast.

01:14:00Before long, it was move-in day.

01:14:04The last messages were from the day the results came out.

01:14:07Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

01:14:11Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

01:14:13He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

01:14:15But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

01:14:19Still, today was the day she was flying in.

01:14:22He let it go and started typing.

01:14:26Babe, are you at the airport yet?

01:14:28I'll come get you.

01:14:32He'd been blocked.

01:14:33He figured he'd misread it.

01:14:35What was going on?

01:14:42He called her straight to voicemail.

01:14:45The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

01:14:50That line, too.

01:14:52Blocked.

01:14:57Blocked.

01:15:04Time moved fast.

01:15:05Before long, it was move-in day.

01:15:09The last messages were from the day the results came out.

01:15:12Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

01:15:16Ethan, I'm finally coming to New York to find you.

01:15:18He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

01:15:20But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

01:15:24Still, today was the day she was flying in.

01:15:27He let it go and started typing.

01:15:30Babe, are you at the airport yet?

01:15:33I'll come get you.

01:15:37He'd been blocked.

01:15:38He figured he'd misread it.

01:15:40What was going on?

01:15:47He called her straight to voicemail.

01:15:50The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

01:15:55That line, too.

01:15:57Blocked.

01:16:02The day my Columbia acceptance letter arrived, I kept it a secret from everyone.

01:16:06Flew to New York to surprise my boyfriend, Ethan, and my best friend, Lexi.

01:16:09Instead, I overheard them confess it themselves.

01:16:11To keep dating behind my back.

01:16:13They'd altered my application, costing me an entire gap year.

01:16:16Ethan, once Taylor gets here, can we really still be this close?

01:16:19I wish she'd never gotten to Columbia.

01:16:23Don't say that.

01:16:24Last year, to make your birthday wish come true, with the one where you wanted to date me,

01:16:28we snuck into her college application portal and clicked decline offer before decision day.

01:16:33Made her miss the deadline.

01:16:35She had to take a whole gap year because of us.

01:16:37We've been dating here in New York behind her back this entire time.

01:16:39That's already bad enough.

01:16:40When she moves to the city, I'll go back to being her boyfriend.

01:16:43Obviously.

01:16:45So we can still keep meeting like this?

01:16:47In secret?

01:16:48As long as Taylor doesn't find out.

01:16:50Right then, I was standing there.

01:16:51A complete joke.

01:16:52Ethan kept going, comforting her.

01:16:54I promised you a full year as your guy.

01:16:56Not one day less.

01:16:57Your birthday wish kicked in May 1st last year.

01:17:00It runs through May 1st this year.

01:17:01I'll give you an extra three months on top of that.

01:17:03I'm yours.

01:17:04Until the fall semester starts.

01:17:06I already told Taylor I'm staying in New York this summer.

01:17:08To do pre-med clinical volunteering at Mount Simi.

01:17:10Not going home.

01:17:11We'll stay in the city together.

01:17:13Whatever you want to do, I'm there.

01:17:22I thought back to last May 1st.

01:17:24That was Lexi's birthday.

01:17:26It was also the day I found out I was locked out of my dream school for good.

01:17:29I'd stared at my student portal showing,

01:17:31Offer declined.

01:17:31I couldn't believe it.

01:17:32My SAT scores and GPA were the highest out of the three of us.

01:17:35Both of them had gotten into Columbia without a problem.

01:17:37Only me, somehow, impossibly, had lost my spot.

01:17:40My parents panicked and called the admissions office.

01:17:42That's when we found out someone had used my account to click decline and cancel the deposit before the deadline.

01:17:47How is that even possible?

01:17:49The admissions rep sounded genuinely sorry.

01:17:51Your record is outstanding.

01:17:53If we'd received the confirmation, you absolutely would have been on the fall roster.

01:17:56But what the system shows us is what it shows us.

01:17:59There's nothing we can do on our end.

01:18:00Is it possible a wrong option was selected during confirmation?

01:18:03I was devastated.

01:18:04I couldn't accept it.

01:18:05And right then, Lexi FaceTimed me.

01:18:07Taylor!

01:18:08My birthday party's starting!

01:18:09Get over here!

01:18:09Ethan's already here!

01:18:10We're just waiting on you!

01:18:11I told them what happened.

01:18:13Lexi went into overdrive trying to make me feel better.

01:18:15Oh my god!

01:18:16How does that even happen?

01:18:17These things happen to everyone sometimes.

01:18:19So what are you gonna do now?

01:18:20If all else fails, pick up some credits at community college and transfer next year?

01:18:24I looked at my parents' worried faces.

01:18:25I thought about four years of work.

01:18:28No.

01:18:28I'm taking a gap year and reapplying.

01:18:30There was a beat of silence on the call.

01:18:32Then Ethan's voice.

01:18:33With your record, community college would be a waste of your time.

01:18:36Focus on reapplying.

01:18:38Lexi and I will be waiting for you at Columbia.

01:18:40Ethan's right.

01:18:41Then my birthday wish this year is for our tailor to get her Columbia offer next year.

01:18:44No problem.

01:18:45Back then, I was so touched, I almost couldn't speak.

01:18:48Turns out every bit of it was something they'd planned together.

01:18:51All of it just to hide what they were doing.

01:18:53To make her real birthday wish come true.

01:18:55Dating my boyfriend.

01:18:57I knew Lexi had a boyfriend once she got to New York.

01:19:00That part didn't surprise me.

01:19:01What I didn't know was that her boyfriend and my boyfriend were the same person.

01:19:05She texted me constantly, every day, sharing little updates about this amazing guy she was seeing.

01:19:10I was home grinding through essays and AP coursework.

01:19:12Every weekend, I'd unlock my phone to a wall of unread messages for her.

01:19:15My boyfriend sat in on my sociology lecture today.

01:19:22The professor called on him randomly, and he completely blanked.

01:19:26I'm dead.

01:19:27He'd been eyeing this vintage turntable for a while, so, drum roll, I bought it for him.

01:19:32We got a hotel room last night.

01:19:33He's so hot.

01:19:37Hey, Taylor, have you and Ethan ever actually done it?

01:19:40No.

01:19:41Ethan and I had made it official on prom night.

01:19:45After that, it was straight into the chaos of application season.

01:19:48There wasn't exactly a lot of time for anything else.

01:19:49And then the whole mess with my acceptance happened.

01:19:51And that killed whatever mood was left.

01:19:53When Lexi heard Ethan and I hadn't gone all the way,

01:19:55she sent back a voice note that was practically a performance.

01:19:58No?

01:19:59No way!

01:20:06Taylor, don't you know?

01:20:07If a guy doesn't even want to sleep with you, he's not actually into you.

01:20:10Oops.

01:20:10Did I say something wrong?

01:20:12I swear I'm not trying to start anything.

01:20:15Looking back, every single one of those messages was loaded.

01:20:18I was too stressed out from applications to catch it at the time.

01:20:21I just changed the subject.

01:20:23Anyway, you move fast.

01:20:24You got a boyfriend your first week of school at some party?

01:20:27What does he look like?

01:20:28Send a pic.

01:20:29Let me see if he's good enough for you.

01:20:31One word.

01:20:32Hot.

01:20:32How hot?

01:20:33Hot enough that the second you saw his face, you'd pass out on the spot.

01:20:37But he hates photos, so no pics for you.

01:20:39And now, standing outside the apartment watching the two of them together,

01:20:43I genuinely felt a little dizzy.

01:20:45What are you up to?

01:20:51At the hospital doing shadowing, completely slammed.

01:20:53I held down the nausea and replied,

01:20:55Take a pic of the hospital and send it to me.

01:20:59Again?

01:21:00Why does she keep bothering you?

01:21:01She's taking up time that's supposed to be mine.

01:21:03She said it like she was the real girlfriend.

01:21:05Like I was some unhinged stalker.

01:21:08Good thing I'm careful.

01:21:09I got photos of a hospital hallway from an upperclassman ahead of time.

01:21:11Covers it.

01:21:12Lexi still wasn't happy.

01:21:13She pushed a little further.

01:21:14You're that scared of her finding out?

01:21:15You could just tell her about us?

01:21:18If she really cares about you, really thinks of me as her best friend, how could she even be mad?

01:21:22Don't.

01:21:23Whatever's going on between us, she cannot find out.

01:21:25Ever.

01:21:26Lexi read his face and switched gears fast.

01:21:28Okay, okay, forget it.

01:21:30Don't go back to the dorms tonight.

01:21:33Let's do something fun.

01:21:35That desperate?

01:21:39I'll take care of it tonight.

01:21:42ER is slammed.

01:21:43Hospital has strict HIPAA requirements.

01:21:45Phone access is limited until this is over.

01:21:47Don't worry.

01:21:47Love you.

01:21:48I read every word.

01:21:49Then I texted my parents.

01:21:50Mom, Dad, I'm not going to Columbia.

01:21:53I'm accepting MIT's offer.

01:21:58They called immediately.

01:22:00Sweetie, what happened?

01:22:00What changed?

01:22:01You've been talking about Columbia for a year.

01:22:03Being in New York with Lexi and Ethan.

01:22:04Lexi and Ethan are together.

01:22:06My mom pulled a sharp breath on the other end.

01:22:08What?

01:22:09But at prom last year, Ethan was...

01:22:11She stopped herself.

01:22:12Like she just figured something out.

01:22:13Didn't finish the sentence.

01:22:14I was the one reassuring them.

01:22:15My application this year was stronger.

01:22:18I got into MIT.

01:22:19Physics at MIT is better than Columbia by a long shot anyway.

01:22:22I was willing to go to New York because I had people there.

01:22:24Turns out those two aren't worth giving up the top engineering school in the country.

01:22:28I'll talk later.

01:22:29I need to book a flight home.

01:22:30Tonight I want your barbecue.

01:22:31My dad's voice came through, anger barely under control.

01:22:34We were all fooled.

01:22:35Lexi's private high school tuition.

01:22:37Her college tuition right now.

01:22:39Your mother and I have been paying all of it.

01:22:41If this is how she's going to treat you,

01:22:42we are done being her ATM next semester.

01:22:44Done.

01:22:45Okay.

01:22:46Lexi and I had grown up together.

01:22:47She came from a broken home.

01:22:49Ninth grade.

01:22:50Her parents divorced and moved to separate states.

01:22:52Left her behind.

01:22:53No plan for her education.

01:22:54Nothing.

01:22:54I was the one who begged my parents to step in.

01:22:57Mom, Dad, can we please help her?

01:22:58She doesn't even have money to finish high school.

01:23:01Just think of it as charity.

01:23:02When we're in college, we'll get jobs and pay you back.

01:23:04My parents didn't even hesitate.

01:23:05They said yes.

01:23:06Paid her private high school tuition.

01:23:08Let her move into the guest room.

01:23:09Covered Columbia's 80-something thousand a year in tuition and housing without blinking.

01:23:12Taylor, I will never forget what your family has done for me.

01:23:15When I graduate and land something on Wall Street, I'll pay back every cent with interest.

01:23:19Turns out this was her version of paying it back.

01:23:23I turned around and called an Uber to JFK Airport.

01:23:35Boyfriend booked the room.

01:23:36$2,000 a night.

01:23:37He wants me to put in the effort tonight.

01:23:39What do you think I should do for him?

01:23:40I thought back to a night three months before the application deadline.

01:23:43I was barely holding it together.

01:23:45I called Ethan.

01:23:47Taylor?

01:23:47Can you come home this weekend?

01:23:48Just once?

01:23:49I really need you.

01:23:50He said no without missing a beat.

01:23:52Taylor, I genuinely can't afford the train ticket right now.

01:23:54You haven't been here yet.

01:23:55You don't know how expensive New York is.

01:23:57There's always something to spend money on.

01:23:59My coursework is brutal.

01:24:00I can't carve out the time.

01:24:01Can you try to be a little more mature about this?

01:24:05Couldn't scrape together a $40 train fare.

01:24:08But a $2,000 hotel suite?

01:24:09No problem.

01:24:10Brutal coursework.

01:24:11Sure.

01:24:12Racing to spend every available minute with my best friend.

01:24:15BFF jealous?

01:24:16I bet you've never stayed in a plaza suite.

01:24:18When you move to New York, I'll have my boyfriend book you your own room for a night.

01:24:22Just you, all to yourself.

01:24:26Reading her smug little mean girl tone, I almost felt sick.

01:24:30I didn't reply.

01:24:35Lexi didn't hear back from Taylor and didn't think much of it.

01:24:38She figured Taylor was just too jealous to respond, which honestly made sense.

01:24:42Lexi had spent the last year living her best college life using Taylor's parents' card,

01:24:47going everywhere with Taylor's boyfriend.

01:24:49And Taylor, still home, hunched over essays.

01:24:53Her main priority now was locking Ethan down for good.

01:24:57She was dying to rub all of it in Taylor's face.

01:25:00But the timing wasn't right yet.

01:25:02For one thing, Ethan still felt guilty about Taylor.

01:25:05He'd been enjoying what she'd essentially handed him.

01:25:08But Lexi could tell, in the back of his mind, Ethan still saw Taylor as the right kind of girl.

01:25:13The one you actually end up with.

01:25:15If she pushed him into a confrontation with Taylor now, there was a real chance Ethan would

01:25:19panic and drop her to try to fix things.

01:25:21That was not the ending she was going for.

01:25:23Her plan was to replace Taylor in his head slowly, step by step, until Ethan was the one

01:25:28who called it.

01:25:29That moment hadn't come yet.

01:25:30And for another thing, she still needed Taylor's parents to cover the rest of her tuition.

01:25:33She could not blow this up too early.

01:25:35Although, Ethan's family had money.

01:25:37Real money.

01:25:37Once she had him fully, tuition would be the least of her problems.

01:25:40She was still running through the fantasy.

01:25:44Who are you texting?

01:25:46Nobody.

01:25:47Ethan.

01:25:48For the next two months, can you stop talking to Taylor?

01:25:50I want you completely to myself.

01:25:52That worshipful, clingy thing she did worked on him every time.

01:25:55He didn't mind giving her that.

01:25:56It was a small ask.

01:25:57She only had two months of being his anyway, officially.

01:25:59After that, he and Taylor had all the time in the word.

01:26:01The volunteer program here is really demanding.

01:26:03There are strict rules around phone use.

01:26:05I'll be hard to reach for a while, slow to respond.

01:26:08Don't worry.

01:26:09I'll pick you up from the airport on move-in day.

01:26:12You're the best.

01:26:14I got that text, sitting at my kitchen table, eating barbecue.

01:26:18This little...

01:26:18He's still lying to you?

01:26:20Right now?

01:26:21Block him.

01:26:21Block both of them.

01:26:22So disgusting.

01:26:24Done.

01:26:24All blocked.

01:26:26Those two are never touching my life again.

01:26:29Time moved fast.

01:26:30Before long, it was move-in day.

01:26:34The last messages were from the day the results came out.

01:26:37Him telling her not to contact him over the summer.

01:26:40Ethan, I'm finally coming to York to find you.

01:26:43He'd told her not to reach out, fine.

01:26:45But she'd actually gone the whole summer without sending a single text.

01:26:49Still, today was the day she was flying in.

01:26:52He let it go and started typing.

01:26:55Babe, are you at the airport yet?

01:26:58I'll come get you.

01:27:02He'd been blocked.

01:27:03He figured he'd misread it.

01:27:05What was going on?

01:27:12He called her straight to voicemail.

01:27:15The number you are trying to reach is unavailable.

01:27:20That line too.

01:27:22Blocked.

Forward Without Him | HD, NO CUT

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