Reddit Stories - The BETRAYAL_ From REJECTION to ROMANCE with My Best Friend_

Episode Date: October 25, 2025

#redditstories #askreddit #aita #betrayal #rejection #romance #bestfriend #friendshipturnsromance  Summary: A captivating journey unfolds in "The BETRAYAL: From REJECTION to ROMANCE with My Best Friend." Follow the emotional rollercoaster as a friendship faces betrayal, rejection, and unexpected romance.  Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, betrayal, rejection, romance, best friend, friendship, love, relationship, storytelling, emotional, dramatic, heartbreak, forgiveness, confessions, true story, personal experienceBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6237355/support.

I hope you enjoy this story. Ignored a man on dating platform, then he began dating my closest companion just to remain nearby. Currently, he is attempting to disrupt my fresh partnership, all the while endeavoring to set me up with his friend. I, 19F, would like to start off by saying that I am in my own relationship, and although the title sounds weird, I just can't tell if I'm going crazy or not since everyone in my life has acted as if this situation is completely normal. A couple months ago, before I was in a relationship, I was on a dating app and would mainly use it unsuriously with my friends, mainly because I would never find anything substantial in them. I ended up matching with this guy, 19M, let's call him Dave, who only used Instagram to talk to

people, and therefore I ended up giving him my egg. I specifically remember talking to my friend, 18F, let's call her Leah, about Dave. My egg is full of pictures of me and my friends. I ended up ghosting Dave due to some personal issues I was going through and some mannerisms I caught onto that I didn't like. He was low-key aggressive, and I continued to post on my egg. Months later, my friend Leah comes up to me and tells me about this guy she matched with on a dating app.

Surprise, surprise, it's Dave. Leah starts saying that she understands why it wouldn't work out with me and Dave because we have nothing in common and that she's really excited for it. her date with Dave. I was also excited for her at first. She went on her first date with him. Things were going very well. On the second date, Dave tells Leah that he wants to meet her friends. He was so pushy about meeting her friends that he said he would plan the whole thing. I told Leah that I definitely did not have to meet Dave until they're more settled into the relationship and that I wouldn't take offense to not being invited. Leah told me that she wanted me to go and that all she felt she needed

to do was tell Dave that I would be at this meeting the friend's date. On Leah's third date with Dave she asks him who his celebrity crush is, and Dave responds with a popular actress of my ethnicity and then continues to express how women of my ethnicity are his type. Leah has a very different ethnicity to me and Dave was well aware of this. She finally musters up the courage to tell him that she is friends with me, and when she does he tells her. Oh, I know, do you know why she ghosted me? He then proceeded to tell her that he would bring a friend and turn this next date into a double date for us. I go to the double date, surprise his friend doesn't show up because he's too afraid of women. Then we go through the date with Dave and Leah heavily making out everywhere

we went to the point where I just continued to get secondhand embarrassment. I then realized that my ex-boyfriend worked at one of the stores nearby, and since I was on good terms with him, I decided to stop by and say hi to him. Again this is before me and my my current boyfriend got into a relationship. Leah and Dave show up and Dave asked my ex if he wanted to join us, and so he did. It was a pretty awkward setup since Leah and Dave continued to heavily make out at the restaurant we went to, but thankfully I was able to get through it without dying of boredom. A couple weeks go by and this is when I start dating my boyfriend.

We made it official before Leah and Dave did, and when he finally asked Leah to be his girlfriend, he sort of did it through text. Leah then tells me that they had gone on a date in the same mall we had gone on our double date and that Dave had gone back into the store my ex worked at to see if he could find him. Leah tried to play it off as a really cute thing because apparently Dave doesn't have a lot of friends since he just transferred to this college and she believes he's just trying to make friends his own age. I don't find it as endearing since my ex was very visibly uncomfortable with Dave throughout the dinner and barely talked to him.

A couple months later my boyfriend and I start to have issues. I confided in Leah, and she wasn't really helpful since all she talked about was how Dave would never do that to her. She also brought up the fact that she had a coworker who was looking for a girlfriend and that she showed him my egg and he seemed interested. Leah then started talking about how her coworker is actually one of Dave's new friends and how they're getting along well. Leah then puts Dave on the phone and he proceeds to tell me that I should break up with my boyfriend. Dave has never met my boyfriend.

Dave also said that I should get myself a man of his ethnicity. Leah then admits to me that Dave has been continuously asking her for updates on how my relationship with my boyfriend is going and if we have broken up yet. A couple days later I get a follow request from Leah's coworker and I asked her if she had told him to follow me. She says Dave was the one who told him to follow me and said that Leah's coworker would treat me better. Dave just met Leah's coworker.

He doesn't even know him that well. A couple hours later, Dave requested to follow me on his alternate account. I don't know what else to do or say. Leah, my boyfriend, nor my friends seem to be at all upset about this behavior, or at least not at the level I'm upset. My friends have said that it is very odd and seem to think he's weirdly involved with my life as my friend's boyfriend. Is this not weird?

Am I wrong for being upset? Update 1, December 18, 2024. Thank you so much for all the support you gave me on my original post, I just wanted to update you all on the development since then. My boyfriend and I made up and I updated him on the situation with Leah, Dave, and Leah's coworker. At first my boyfriend seemed unfazed, but the more time passed, the more it seemed to bother him.

Leah came over the night I uploaded the original post and the first thing she said was so what happened with your boyfriend? Everyone is dying to know, and by everyone I mean Dave and my co-worker. with a huge smile on her face. I pointed out the fact that it was odd that they wanted to know so badly. Leah simply brushed it off and said that her coworker actually wanted to apologize to me. Leah said that supposedly Dave had made it sound like my relationship was done for, which is why her coworker requested me.

As for Dave, he just continues to ask Leah if I'd broken up with him yet. Leah continued to express her disappointment with some comments Dave has started to make about her size. She specifically talked about how she had wanted to get some desert, but he had refused to get anything and then asked Leah, do you get deserts with your friends every time you go out with them? And then Leah alluded to him fat shaming her friends, specifically me and one of her other friends. A day or so later, Leah calls me and tells me that Dave has once again asked her if I've broken up with my boyfriend yet. We continue talking and she says that unfortunately she doesn't think that we can go on that trip she's been wanting to go on with all four of us.

Although I had already decided I wouldn't go anywhere if Dave were present, curiosity got the better of me and I asked what changed her mind. She said if Dave was in the same room as your boyfriend, I think he would, physically, fight him. She was being dead serious. My boyfriend and I got into a pretty run-in-the-mill argument. He didn't cheat or lie or steal or hit. It was a simple disagreement.

Therefore, I don't think getting physical with my boyfriend is at all warranted, especially considering the fact that this rage is coming from my friend's boyfriend who I originally turned down and barely know. The day after this phone call, my boyfriend brought Dave up and asked if he had done anything else. I informed him and he seemed genuinely concerned for Leah. He said that I should genuinely consider intervening as things have seemingly gotten worse. I made efforts to intervene when this relationship between Dave and Leah was fresh.

However, Leah simply accused me of jealousy. If I had been single at the time, I would have bit my tongue and taken the harsh accusation. However, by the time she made the accusation, I was in a relationship with my current boyfriend. Therefore, the accusation truly upset me, specifically because it was an insult to my boyfriend and our relationship. After reading so many of your comments, which I greatly appreciate, I think I have decided to make some space between me and Leah. Am I wrong for this?

Should I try harder to intervene? Update 2, December 25th, 2024. I wasn't going to make another update, but a lot of people have been requesting it. Thank you to everyone sending your feedback and support. It has been very helpful while managing the situation. I would like to say that after reading some of the comments, I decided to remove Dave from my following and unfollow him as well. This next part will be difficult to explain while maintaining the privacy of the people involved,

so please bear with me. For some more context, one of the strengths Leah and I had as friends was that we would call and text constantly, which made our friendship so strong as it transcended barriers like distance and things like that. This makes it a little difficult to get space from Leah without her noticing. Leah had called me one night and begged me to pick up the phone. I picked it up and she expressed that she was going to be taking a new step with Dave and that she was really nervous about it. She has never taken this step before. Based on the situation and the way Dave simply sprang it on her and just his overall treatment of the situation, I told her that she didn't have to take this step if she didn't feel

comfortable with it. She said she did and went along with it. A couple days later, she came over to get dinner with me saying she really needed to talk about the situation that happened. She told me that the next day, Dave had shown up with Leah's co-worker, let's call him Gabe, 18M, who he had befriended. This is the same guy Dave wanted to say. me up with. Leah explained that she got freaked out because she realized that she was talking and looking at Gabe a lot more than she was looking and talking to Dave. She said she felt bad, and then continued to say that Dave started talking about other girls and showed pictures of other girls he's been with. Leah then expressed to me that it really upset her and that

Gabe was the one who comforted her and reassured her that Dave was really into her. Leah said my boyfriend should be the one comforting me, not Gabe, so I asked her if she had feelings for Gabe. I expected her to say a stern no and continued her story, but when I looked up from my food, she gave me that look. She then said a meek no as she looked away from me. We went down this rabbit hole, talking about the possibility of Leah having feelings for Gabe. Leah continued to tell me that she had no feelings for Gabe and that Dave was her boyfriend. To really hammer in her point she set up, my boyfriend is Guy and then she stopped herself, her eyes widened, as did my smirk.

Leah then said, you know what I meant. She then expressed that Dave is simply a better match since Gabe isn't interested in pursuing an ambitious career. Meanwhile, Dave is on that path. In my opinion, just because you're on that path doesn't mean you'll actually accomplish it. It's still early enough for Dave to change career paths or drop out of university entirely,

so I wouldn't be choosing someone with Dave's past and track record over another guy I like simply because he says he's going to be successful in the future. Another issue I had with Leah's reasoning is that Gabe wasn't good enough for her, but apparently he was good enough for me to break up with my boyfriend and date Gabe instead. I also realized just how messy things would have gotten if I had actually done that not knowing Leah has feelings for Gabe. As finals wrapped up, I was supposed to go on one last date with my boyfriend before I left

and didn't see him for about a month or so. He continued to cancel on me throughout the week, and finally canceled on me the last day we were able to see each other and simply said see you when you come back and hung up the phone. So, I made the decision to break up with my boyfriend. He would rarely text or call, so our dates were the only time we would talk to each other, and we had those maybe once, rarely twice a week. I felt like he didn't care about me. There was more to it, but the point is that this was the last straw, so I ended it. The issue with this is that although I have many other friends, the timing of the breakup was awful, and right before the holidays, which meant I had to go home and I was a bit

disconnected from my college friends. I had maintained my distance from Leah, but my mother just had to be overly critical the second I got home. My self-esteem plummeted because of this, and I felt so unworthy, taking into account that I had to break up with my boyfriend because he didn't care for me, and then my mother's comments really did not help. Leah reached out, I needed a friend, so I told her what was happening. She said she would sorry and that this was for the best. A day or so go by and she texts me to tell me that Dave was really happy when she told him that I had broken up with my boyfriend, and that he told Gabe that I was single. She said he would be reaching out soon. I told her I didn't think it was a

good idea since she clearly had feelings for Gabe. Leah told me that she fixed her issues with Dave and that she didn't have feelings for Gabe. He's my co-worker, Dave is my boyfriend. At least this time she got the names right. I got the message from Gabe, and I decided to talk to him since I felt isolated at home. It was friendly. I asked him what he thought about Leah and Dave. He said that they were very different, and that Dave just has to stop talking about other women. We started talking about my ex-boyfriend and Gabe said I can't stand fuck boys. I don't know why girls always end up with them. Sometimes I feel like I should just be one of them. But I just can't do it. I wasn't raised that way I then asked him if he was saying that meant he didn't like Dave. Gabe then replies well,

he's changing, but have you heard him talk about the girls he's been with? I don't know what else you would call that. Leah called me, she told me that Gabe had called her asking to swap a shift. She said that when she had asked how the conversation was going with me, he simply said don't worry about it and hung up the phone. I told her not to worry then, and continued on my day. 30 minutes later, Leah calls me again, and then texts me. Why did you unfollow Dave? I asked her how she figured that out and she said I was on the phone with Dave and I checked his following and realized you didn't pop up on mutuals. Why did you unfollow him?

I didn't believe her, but I didn't know what else to say's Gabe won't tell me what you guys talked about, and now I see that you unfollowed him. What the hell is going on op? I told her to relax and I said that I had unfollowed him ages ago. I then asked her to swear she won't say anything to anyone, especially not Dave. She told me I promise I won't tell him. You're my best friend, I won't tell him, just please tell me so I sent her the weird sly messages Gabe sent me. Leah then said so he likes me.

That wasn't my first thought when I got the texts from Gabe. I mainly felt like he knew Dave wasn't exactly the best boyfriend, but I suppose it could could mean he has feelings for Leah. Yeah, I can't show this to Dave, he'll freak out. I told my family about what was happening. My mother and sister both said that Gabe obviously liked Leah, but then accused me of liking Dave yet again. Writing this out and reading over it again, I feel like I should just stop talking to Gabe and cut myself out of the situation. I feel a lot weaker right now than I was when I first posted this situation. Next story, wife has dragged me to Disney World nine times.

When she finally agreed to try a different destination, she got in an accident and now we're going back to Disney again. My wife Jess and I have been married for the past 13 years. We're both 39. After experiencing financial hardship throughout our 20s and early 30s, Jess and I are now fortunate enough to have the means to travel once or twice a year. The only problem is that Jess literally only wants to go to Disney World. We have been to Disney nine times now, and every vacation we have ever taken together was to go there,

including our honeymoon. So we go, we eat the Mickey Mouse ice cream, we wear the mouse ears, we stay in the official hotels, we see the characters, we ride the rides, we take the pictures in front of Cinderella's castle, and we come home. Every trip. I'm honestly beyond sick of Disney, and I never really liked going in the first place. Jess knows this, but she has no concept of beyond Disney. We're currently planning a trip for April, and Jess, as usual, said that we can just go to Disney. I explained that it sounds fun, but hey, why don't we go somewhere like Hawaii this time? Jess was confused. She asked why we would go to Hawaii. I responded that we could enjoy the spas and go to the beach. Jess mumbled a half-hearted answer and walked away. A few days later,

she approached me, saying that she made hotel reservations for Hawaii. At first, I was excited because although she did so without consulting me, it seemed like she was really listening. But then when she showed me the hotel she booked, I found she had made reservations for Alani, the Disney resort in Hawaii. Frustrated, I told her that I'm honestly tired of Disney, and that I just want to have a different experience this time. She told me that she was compromising with me, and that I should be appreciative for the time she spent. I asked her if she was willing to consider anything other than Disney for our trip, and she said no. At this point, I said that I wasn't going. Now she's furious. She canceled the reservation she made, and now she's looking for a friend

to go to Disney World with again without me. Was I the asshole here for not trying to accommodate her request? Update 1, December 20th, 24. About a week ago, I made a post about an argument my wife Jess and I had. The TL-D-R version of it is Jess loves going to Disney World, and we have gone there for literally every trip during our marriage, which is now at an impressive nine times. When I asked Jess if we could go somewhere like Hawaii, she suggested Alani, the Disney resort, and I dismissed the idea immediately.

This upset Jess. Here's the update, I screwed up. I know most people were giving me the NTA judgment, but Jess actually showed a great deal of openness to my idea. She took initiative by reserving the hotel because she wanted me to be happy. When I said nope. No Disney, she felt that I hadn't put any effort into taking her feelings into consideration. And she was completely right. I hadn't.

It was, in a twisted way, my form of revenge for dragging me to Disney World all those times. In the last post, some people commented about how Alani barely even looks like a Disney resort at all. This is something I should have researched myself before I threw the gauntlet down with Jess. When I looked into it, it looks like a run-of-the-mill Hawaiian resort. In my defense, going to Disney World nine times has kind of made me sensitive. And I'm fairly sure that on a Rorschach test I'd see nothing but mouse ears at this point, but I really should not have jumped to conclusions. A day after I made the post, I approached Jess and apologized.

I was wrong. Yes, she might be a Disney adult, but aside from always wanting to go to their theme parks, she's never obnoxious about it. I said I was sorry and asked for permission to reserve the hotel again. And Jess responded that she'd love to go to Alani with me. When I told her that it's not really all that Disney, Jess said, of course I knew that. I wanted to go because my sister said it was beautiful. I'm a moron. Jess and I have replanned our vacation, and we're super excited to be going now.

I came to this realization because a lot people pointed out some things I should have figured out myself. Thank you. Update 2, January 5th, 2025. Hi again, everybody. This situation all started because my wife Jess and I had an argument about going to Disney World on vacation again. I didn't want to go because we had already been nine times, and when I suggested Hawaii, Jess made reservations for Alani, which is a Disney-owned resort. I immediately rejected this idea, mistakenly believing it was just another Disney vacation. Eventually, I realized that I was wrong, and that Alani was a perfectly fine compromise. Unfortunately, we will not be going to

Wallani for our upcoming vacation. A couple of days after Christmas, Jess had a minor car accident. She mistook drive for reverse and backed into our garage door. When I heard the loud bang, I ran outside, and I found Jess holding her neck in the car. I immediately drove her to the hospital, where she got x-rays done. She seemed fine, but the doctor said that based on her symptoms, headache, neck pain, numbness in her fingers, she could have whiplash. Jess and I figured that she would be fine in a couple of days, but almost two weeks later, she is still complaining about back pain. Yesterday, she approached me, saying that she wasn't confident she could go to Hawaii in a few

months. I asked what she wanted to do, and while apologizing profusely, she asked me if we could postpone that trip. I responded that she had absolutely nothing to apologize for. After that, she said that she felt bad about not being able to go to Hawaii, but she might be able to make it to Disney World. While I didn't understand at first, she told me that it has very high accessibility and, in a worst-case scenario, ECV rentals. She doubts that will be necessary, but assured me that we could take it easy there. I know that this isn't the conclusion people here wanted, and it's certainly not what I wanted to do with my next vacation, but Jess's health has to come first here. We've made our reservations. It's not where I want to go, but Jess is super happy right now, and that's what matters most to me.

Thank you all for your input.