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That night, though, Ethan found me at work, breathless and oddly elated.
"You jealous now?" he asked.
Before I could answer he babbled, "I wasn't sure you liked me. Your attitude's been so noncommittal. I started posting stuff to provoke you. Today you finally got mad. So you do care, right?"
He said more: "I decided I won't go abroad. Let's stay here together."
The mental load was heavy.
Those weird posts were just to rile me?
If I'd been upset about that—would it match my people-pleaser image?
Finally Ethan calmed down and I tried to explain, "I'm not angry."
"I don't believe you." Ethan's still convincing himself of his own narrative.
What could I say?
Thankfully the experiment that day finished and I had time. I tried to be blunt.
"I'm seeing your brother, Nathaniel. Believe it or not."
Ethan covered his ears in disbelief like a child. He thought I was still sulking.
I couldn't pry his hands free, so I left because a bus came.
Later, in the library while sorting reports, my phone didn't stop buzzing: Ethan, Nathaniel, Lucas—countless messages.
Nathaniel asking why I quit without telling him. Ethan pinging to ask whether I was still mad.
Lucas wanted to celebrate my "resignation." I sighed. I realized I couldn't possibly satisfy them all.
Being a people-pleaser is exhausting.
So I made that group chat.
[I cheated. Let's break up—everyone.]
The responses were immediate and ridiculous: Lucas wrote "6"(a nonsense emoji), Ethan begged to be the side guy, Nathaniel called me spineless, Lucas pleaded to delete the chat and pretend none of it happened.
