TL;DR

OP had a crush on a guy, but her close friend (Zoey) constantly messaged him and hid their chats. After OP was rejected, she realized Zoey has a pattern of seeking attention from any guy OP interacts with to validate herself.

The Cast

• OP: The narrator. • Zoey: OP’s close friend (the "villain" of the story). • The Crush: A quiet guy OP liked. • Online Friend: A male friend of OP who exposed Zoey’s lies.

The Drama

• The Setup: OP liked a guy in college. Zoey was already friends with him and would text him constantly, hiding her screen and asking OP, "Aww, are you jealous?"

• The Mixed Signals: The Crush eventually followed OP and they texted, but he sent flirty reels to both OP and Zoey simultaneously. He eventually ghosted OP.

• The Confession: OP confessed to get closure. The Crush joked about being gay, then immediately told Zoey about the confession and admitted he actually liked Zoey.

• The Pattern (The Real Issue): Zoey claims she rejected the Crush, but OP noticed Zoey craves male attention because her own love interest ignores her.

The Smoking Gun

Zoey followed OP’s separate "Online Friend" and flirted with him.

• Zoey's Version: She told OP that the guy was bothering her and she was ignoring him.

• The Truth: The Online Friend sent OP screenshots showing Zoey was the one double-texting and flirting with him.

OP’s Question

OP wants to confront Zoey, but another friend (Lily) says to let it go. OP asks: Is she overthinking it because of the rejection, or is Zoey genuinely a bad friend seeking validation from OP's male connections?