Baiting My Roommate’s Man

During the spring semester of my freshman year, a new confession popped up on the campus feed: Hey guys, is it totally normal to catch feelings for your roommate's boyfriend? The moment it went live, the comment section blew up. I sat right at my desk, listening to my roommate scoff from across the room, laughing about how disgusting that girl was. Little did she know, I was the one who posted it. I leaned back in my chair, scrolling through my phone. The replies were already drowning in pure venom. I tapped on the screenshot to read the full confession: Hey admin, quick question. Does anyone else get butterflies over their roommate's boyfriend when he’s on FaceTime 24/7? She always leaves him on speaker. His voice is ridiculously hot, and as a total sucker for deep voices, I think I’m genuinely falling for him. I love the way he talks, love how he looks. Every time they call, I do a full face of makeup, put on my shortest skirts, and "accidentally" walk into her camera frame. He’s even mentioned me a few times—saying stuff about her cute roommate. Doesn't that mean he’s noticing me? I’m so into him. Any advice? It sounded completely shameless. Yet, my heart rate didn’t even spike. My roommate, Harper, had just stumbled across the post too. She swiveled around in shock, leaning over my shoulder. "Chloe, did you see this home-wrecking trash?!" I knew what she was talking about. I was about to nod when I caught her wording. "Home-wrecking trash?" "Yeah! That’s what everyone in the comments is calling her. She knows her roommate has a man, yet she’s out here trying to steal him." Harper shoved her screen in my face. I quietly locked my own phone and scanned her screen instead: [Zero shame. Literally lusting after her own roommate's guy.] [Every day on this campus we hit a new low. Imagine being proud of being a side piece.] [This girl really thinks she’s that girl, huh? Must think she’s a ten. Newsflash, sweetie: guys aren't blind, and nobody wants an easy pick-me.] [I feel so bad for the roommate. She’s probably totally clueless while this snake schemes behind her back.] [Her profile picture is cute though. Bet she uses it as bait. Pretty face, rotten soul.] The top comments were dripping with malice. I didn't bother scrolling further; I had already read the rest earlier. The profile picture on the post showed a girl's silhouette from behind, standing against the sunset. Slender frame, sundress fluttering in the wind—an effortless, aesthetic shot. Harper zoomed in on the profile picture, squinting. "Wait, this pic looks kind of familiar..." Harper tilted her head, thinking hard. "Chloe, why does this look like you?" I didn't answer. Seeing my blank face, Harper pulled her phone back with a chuckle. "Nah, definitely just a random Pinterest picture. You’d never do something that gross." She shook her head. "Don't you think she's disgusting? Like, if you're down that bad, keep it to yourself. Why post it online just to get dragged?" "Yeah. Literally asking to get dragged," I agreed smoothly, then looked her in the eye. "Do you really think that girl actually likes her roommate's boyfriend?" Harper looked confused by the question. "Well, she literally said so herself. People like that are just messed up." Once Harper went back to scrolling and turned away, I let out a slow, quiet breath. The dorm had barely settled into silence when loud, obnoxious chatter echoed down the hall. The voice grew louder and louder until it stopped right outside our door. "Babe, hold on a sec, let me grab my keys... Mhm, yep, I'm right outside our room." The door swung open, and the campus feed's "poor, innocent victim" strutted in. Ashley was staring down at her screen, locked into a FaceTime call. In her other hand, she dangled an iced coffee, her tone sickeningly sweet: "Baaaabe~ thanks so much for the coffee! I love you so much, you're the best! Give me a kiss, mwah~" This exact show played out every single day. A normal person would just text a thank-you, but Ashley lived in mortal fear that we wouldn't know her boyfriend bought her things. Every single gift required a loud, dramatic repeat performance inside the dorm. Behind me, Harper had already shoved her noise-canceling headphones over her ears, shutting out the world. I pulled my gaze back to my screen, spotting a brand-new comment under the post: [Am I the only one who thinks this girl is being completely sarcastic?]I raised an eyebrow, tapped "like" on the comment, and backed out to check my notifications. Two red badges sat on my chat list. Logan had texted saying he’d be waiting downstairs in a bit. I shot him a quick "sounds good" before checking the second thread. The counter read 99+. I didn't bother scrolling up; my eyes just drifted over his latest text: [You really are a stuck-up btch. I took you out and you still reject me? Who do you think you are?] It wasn't the first time Chase had texted me like this. Every single time I turned down his invitations, he’d unleash a stream of verbal abuse, only to follow up hours later acting like a caring, devoted guy. It was repulsive. I closed the tab and hid the conversation. Ashley was already lounging at her desk. Seeing that nobody was reacting to her, she chimed in again: "Aw, nobody bought you guys coffee today? Seriously, you girls need to get boyfriends. Being single looks so tragic." Her tone dripped with pity, as if being single made us homeless strays. "Babe, let's FaceTime. We just said bye, but I miss you already." Ashley whined into her speaker. A wave of goosebumps broke out on my arms. A guy's voice boomed through the dorm room. It sounded clean enough, but right now, it was grating on every last nerve. Up on her loft bed, Sienna finally had enough. She yanked back her bed curtain. "Ashley, can you put on some damn headphones? Do you seriously think anyone wants to hear you guys baby-talking all day?" Ashley shot Sienna a dirty look and sneered. "You're just bitter because nobody wants you. If you're so mad, go get your own man. I don't feel like wearing headphones, deal with it." This wasn't our first fight. Sienna’s chest heaved with fury, completely at a loss for words against someone so shameless. I caught Sienna’s eye. Her face was flushed with anger, helpless and suffocated. Seeing Sienna back down, Ashley smirked and went right back to cooing at her boyfriend, Tyler. "They're just jealous of us, babe. You're the best~" I watched Sienna roll her eyes, grab a pair of foam earplugs, and shove them into her ears. It wasn't like we hadn't talked to our Resident Advisor. But room swaps weren't granted over "minor squabbles." To make matters worse, whenever we brought it up, Ashley put on a tearful act, pretending she was the victim, and our RA simply told us to handle our personal drama like adults. "You're all college students now. You really need faculty to hold your hands over dorm noise?" the RA had snapped, visibly annoyed. Yet minutes later, he was sharing private jokes with Ashley in the lobby. That was when we found out Tyler was the RA's younger brother. From that day on, any respect we had for the dorm staff evaporated. Just looking at his face made us sick. With the RA in her corner, Ashley grew bolder. She regularly stayed up past midnight, cackling on speakerphone with Tyler. Whenever we told her to keep it down, Ashley just scoffed: "What's the point of college if you don't stay up late? You guys are literally wasting your youth." Sienna already had chronic health issues and severe insomnia. Ashley’s late-night calls kept her awake night after night, leaving her an exhausted wreck by morning. Sienna was from out of state, and renting an off-campus apartment was way out of her budget. Many nights, she broke down in tears behind her bed curtain, muffling her sobs so nobody would hear. Ashley couldn't care less. She kept blasting TikToks and running loud FaceTimes on speaker, desperate for the whole floor to hear. Harper had bought heavy-duty ear protection, basically wearing her headset around the clock unless Ashley was out. Ashley had also seen the viral post on the campus feed by now. She sneered into her screen. "Ugh, this girl is so disgusting. Trying to steal her roommate's man? Where is her self-respect?" "If I were that guy, I’d be throwing up. Having some desperate pick-me obsess over you is honestly vile." Tyler’s voice echoed back through the speaker, agreeing eagerly: "Right? A girl like that? I wouldn't touch her if she paid me." Listening to them, my stomach churned with nausea. I checked the time. Logan should be downstairs by now. Ashley was still FaceTiming away. I pushed my chair back and grabbed my keys. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ashley subtly tilt her phone screen again—angling the camera so my full body was framed right in the shot.It was the peak of summer. As soon as I walked out of the dorm lobby, I spotted Logan waiting beneath the shade of an oak tree. He held a coffee cup, casually leaning against the trunk as he scrolled through his phone. He looked like he’d been there for a while, though he hadn't sent a single text to rush me. I walked over. He was tall, and when I tapped his shoulder, I caught a glimpse of what was on his screen. "You're down," Logan said immediately, locking his screen and turning around to offer the drink. "Got you a coffee." I took it with a smile. "How'd you know I like iced Americanos? Thanks. I’ll buy you something next time." "It's just a coffee, don't worry about it." Logan studied my face carefully. Seeing that I looked totally unfazed, he hesitated before speaking. "That post on the campus feed... you haven't seen it yet, have you?" I cradled the cold cup in both hands and looked up at him. "I saw it. Why?" I wasn't surprised he recognized it. The profile picture on my throwaway account was a photo Logan had taken of me when we went to catch the sunrise. "I know it's not you, but people are already digging up your real pictures. You probably shouldn't look at the comments for a while." Worry creased Logan's brow, but I just smiled. "It was me." "What?" "I said, I posted it." I gave the coffee cup a little shake toward him. "Thanks for the drink, by the way. Love it." With that, I turned on my heel and walked away. I didn't stick around to see his reaction, nor did I pay attention to the figure slipping behind the nearby bushes. Carrying my coffee, I headed back upstairs. The second I pushed the dorm door open, I saw Ashley holding her phone high in the air, recording. When she saw me walk in, she took several exaggerated steps backward in disgust. "Chloe, I honestly never thought you were this kind of person! Lusting after your own roommate's boyfriend?!" Ashley's voice was piercingly loud. My hand paused on the doorknob. Harper had already pulled off her headphones, staring at me from the corner. Up on the loft bed, Sienna poked her head out from behind the curtain. Ashley pointed between the two of them. "You guys saw it too! That post was Chloe! How am I stuck living with such a disgusting snake?!" Clearly, my photo had already circulated everywhere. Across the hall, I heard doors clicking open as neighbors peeked out. I shrugged indifferently and walked over to my desk. Harper called my name softly, looking worried. I waved a dismissive hand, turned toward Ashley—who was still rolling her live FaceTime—and spoke clearly: "Yeah, I posted it. So what? What are you gonna do about it?" I deliberately left the dorm door cracked open. My voice carried cleanly into the crowded hallway. I kept going: "Besides, it looks to me like your boyfriend loves checking me out. Why don't you let him know that if he likes what he sees, he can hit me up directly? No need to sneak peeks through your screen every day." Whispers erupted instantly outside in the hall. Sienna scrambled down from her bed and slammed the door shut. "Chloe, what are you talking about? There's no way you actually posted that!" Sienna and Harper looked completely bewildered. I shot them a reassuring smile, took a seat at my desk, and stayed quiet. Ashley noticed the new coffee cup on my desk and let out a cold scoff. "Oh look, did your little simp buy you that? Does he know you're busy throwing yourself at other girls' boyfriends?" I glanced at Ashley calmly, slid the straw into the lid, took a slow sip, and let out a contented sigh. Ashley glared daggers at me, her face twisting in fury before she turned away. I knew I was attractive. If Ashley genuinely believed I was after her man, she’d be spiraling in panic, wouldn't she?