Dating My Ex's Idol

Chloe Bennett, a senior at Westbridge University, grew up with Lucas Reed as her childhood sweetheart. Their families joked they would marry, and Lucas assumed it was settled. At a holiday family dinner, Lucas was asked about the wedding fund he had been saving, and he looked at Chloe as if he expected her to blush. Chloe revealed a boyfriend was coming by tomorrow. The next day, Adrian Vale, a Westbridge alumnus and founder of a technology company, arrived as that boyfriend.

Before winter break, Chloe and Adrian had already been secretly dating. When Lucas called to offer her a ride home with his uncle, he spoke as if he could decide her plans. Riley Quinn, the woman Lucas called one of the guys, mocked him during the call. Chloe refused the ride and ended the call. Adrian did not push her about Lucas or tell her to cut him off. He only reminded her that no one who disrespects her gets to decide for her.

Lucas kept showing up. He waited downstairs, sent a text telling her not to be late for the east gate, and later appeared with breakfast and a cheap necklace. He treated the problem as the necklace. Riley mocked the attempt. For Chloe, a real apology meant knowing what he did wrong, not cheap food and gratitude.

The fuller picture came from Lucas's birthday party. Riley was introduced as one of the guys, but she joked about the family marriage joke. On Riley's social feed, Lucas looked generous. With Chloe, he split cheap bubble tea and gave a knockoff necklace. Lucas later justified the gap: Riley reminded him of his own family's bankruptcy, and Chloe's family was not broken. When he was drunk, he said both families already knew Chloe would marry him, so why spend that much on her.

Chloe understood she had not lost to Riley. She had lost to the version of herself Lucas assumed would be his. She stopped texting him back. On her worst days she walked by the river, not to do anything, but because she felt like an idiot for holding on to one childhood promise for years. Adrian followed her there, thought she might jump, and walked with her. He checked her department's scholarship list and reminded her that someone who does not value her does not get to decide how she sees herself.

Before break, Westbridge held an alumni talk. Riley canceled her train ticket to ride with Lucas, and Lucas saved the extra seat for Chloe only if she changed her attitude. Lucas did not know Adrian was the one sending Chloe that good night emoji. On stage, Adrian spoke about technology solving real problems and respecting users before growth. Asked about a setup, Adrian had a girlfriend.

Chloe had believed Lucas's penny-pinching was proof he was saving for their future. Seeing him splurge on Riley while giving her scraps changed that. In Adrian's respect, she learned to choose herself. Lucas only seemed to value what he might lose. Adrian had treated her as worth choosing from the start.