My Pick Me Friend Constantly Puts Me Down In Front Of My Boyfriend While Pretending

Seeing Through the Act

The next morning Nathan and I went to brunch at this place near campus that makes amazing pancakes. He brought up Zoe before I could even mention her.

He said “Julian had texted him that she seemed really upset when we left the party.”

Nathan pushed his food around his plate and admitted he’d been trying to be nice because Zoe didn’t have many close friends, but he was starting to see how differently she acted toward me when he was around. I wanted to unload everything I’d been feeling for months, but I stopped myself.

Nathan needed to figure this out on his own, not because I pushed him into it. Instead, I reached across the table and held his hand.

I told him “I appreciated him noticing and that we could talk about it more when he was ready.”

We spent the rest of brunch talking about other stuff and laughing at stupid memes on his phone, and it felt good to just be us without Zoe’s shadow hanging over everything. I made a choice right then not to bring up Zoe again unless Nathan did first.

Three days passed and my phone buzzed with a text from Zoe asking if I was mad at her. She said things felt weird between us and she didn’t understand why there was tension.

I stared at the message for a full minute before typing back “that everything was fine and we should all hang out soon.”

My roommate Cavia looked over my shoulder and raised her eyebrows, asking if I was really going to pretend nothing happened.

I told her “I had a plan and sometimes the best way to win was to let people think you weren’t playing.”

Zoe sent back three happy emojis and said she was so glad we were cool. I put my phone down feeling slightly sick about how fake we were both being.

Genuine Connections and False Intentions

Tuesday afternoon I stopped at the campus coffee shop to grab something between classes. I saw Alex sitting alone at a corner table with his laptop open and papers spread everywhere.

I walked over and asked what he was working on, and his whole face lit up when he started explaining his engineering project about renewable energy systems. Most people’s eyes glazed over when Alex talked about his work, but I actually found it interesting.

I pulled up a chair and asked real questions about the technical parts. Twenty minutes flew by while we talked.

I made sure to laugh when he made jokes about his professor’s weird grading system. Alex seemed surprised that I cared about what he was doing instead of just pretending to listen.

I could tell Zoe had never shown this kind of genuine interest. He told me about the problems he was running into with his calculations.

I suggested “he talk to Professor Finley who taught my statistics class”

Alex grabbed his phone to write down her office hours. When I finally had to leave for class, Alex thanked me for the advice.

He said “it was really cool talking to someone who actually got what he was trying to do.”

Thursday morning Alex texted me that he was going to a study group at the library that night if I wanted to stop by.

I wrote back casually “that I might come since I needed to work on my psychology paper anyway.”

His response came back fast saying “he’d text me the room number and he hoped I could make it.”

I could picture Zoe’s face if she knew Alex was inviting me to study with him. Part of me felt guilty for using him this way, but another part remembered every time Zoe had made me feel small.

The Library Confrontation

That evening I picked out jeans and a comfortable sweater; nothing too fancy, but I made sure I looked good. I stopped at the store and grabbed bags of chips and cookies to bring for the group.

This was the kind of thoughtful thing Zoe would never do because she was too busy trying to prove she was one of the guys. The study room was on the third floor.

Alex jumped up to let me in and introduced me to his three friends who were all working on different projects. I put the snacks in the middle of the table and everyone thanked me before diving in.

For the next hour I actually worked on my paper while listening to their conversations about classes and professors and weekend plans. When they asked my opinion I gave it, and when they made jokes I laughed if they were funny.

Alex kept glancing over at me with this small smile like he was happy I’d come. I started to wonder if maybe I actually liked hanging out with him beyond just my plan to get back at Zoe.

The door opened without anyone knocking and Zoe walked in wearing shorts and a tank top even though it was cold outside. She looked around the room and her eyes landed on me sitting next to Alex.

I watched her whole body tense up. Zoe immediately started talking loud about how she’d heard there was a study group and decided to crash it.

She pulled a chair right up next to Alex’s other side. She asked him to explain some concept from their shared engineering class.

He started answering, but she kept interrupting to show off that she knew related information. Alex’s friends exchanged looks and went back to their own work while Zoe kept trying to prove she was the smartest person in the room.

I stayed quiet and focused on typing my paper, occasionally reaching for a chip or asking one of the other guys a question about their project. Every few minutes I felt Alex look over at me instead of at Zoe.

She challenged him to quiz her on formulas, and he did it half-heartedly while his friends started packing up their stuff earlier than planned. Zoe didn’t seem to notice she was clearing the room with her desperate energy.

I caught Alex glancing at me with this tired expression that looked a lot like relief. After everyone else left, Alex suggested we should probably head out too since the library would close soon.

Zoe said “she’d walk out with us”

But Alex told her “he was going to walk me back to my dorm since it was late.”

Her mouth opened and closed and she muttered something about having to go the other direction anyway before leaving ahead of us. Alex and I walked slowly across campus and he thanked me for bringing snacks and being cool to talk to.

He said “it was nice hanging out with someone who didn’t turn everything into a competition.”

He didn’t say Zoe’s name, but we both knew exactly who he meant. I told him his project was genuinely interesting and I’d love to hear how it turned out.

He asked “if I wanted to grab coffee sometime to talk more about it.”

We reached my building and exchanged numbers. I went upstairs feeling like my plan was working but also feeling weird about whether I actually liked Alex or if I was just using him to hurt Zoe.