Not Your Plaything: Outsmarting the "Pick-Me" Bestie

My supposed rideordie, Ashlyn, physically shoved Brooks right into my personal space.

She deliberately threw me at him, orchestrating the whole setup just to trigger his psychotic jealousy. The comment section was practically frothing at the mouth.

Everyone was dying to see this trustfund frat boy in his flashy sports car humiliate me, all to defend his socalled purely platonic bestie.

Ashlyn suddenly closed the distance between us, backing me into a corner. She leaned in close, demanding to know if I was going to say yes.

Chapter 1 My rejection caught Ashlyn off guard. "Why not? That's Brooks!

He's my platonic soulmate, the king of the Ivy League, frat president, varsity quarterback, and a trustfund heir…" Ashlyn ticked off his titles on her manicured fingers.

When she ran out of hands and looked ready to start on her toes, I held up a palm. "Stop, stop! I get it.

You can save the resume." Ashlyn pouted, clearly not done hyping him up. "Come on, my guy bestie is literally flawless!

I'm only giving you first dibs because you're my ultimate BFF. Anyone else? Forget about it." She gave me this smug look, like she was granting me the biggest favor of my life.

I crossed my arms and gave her a flat look. "Hard pass. If he's that much of a catch, keep him for yourself." It was like she didn't even hear the rejection.

Ashlyn shot me a reproachful look and giggled. "Oh my god, bestie, don't tell me you're misunderstanding Brooks and me just like everyone else! We are seriously just pure bros.

Look, if you don't believe me!" She shoved her phone screen right into my face. "Look at this picture!

The bad boy hijacked my iced shaken espresso and purposefully used my straw!" "And this one…" Ashlyn scrolled rapidly, proudly showing off a dozen photos of her and Brooks in one breath.

In every single shot, they were plastered against each other like velcro. In a few of them, their lips were literally millimeters apart. And she called this platonic?

I stared at the screen. What kind of "bros" posed like they were about to make out? "And this one—ah!" Ashlyn shrieked, frantically swiping away the new photo she just tapped on.

But I had already seen it, and my eyes went wide. In that highangle selfie, Ashlyn and Brooks had their lower bodies pressed completely flush against each other.

If they weren't fully clothed, I would have thought Ashlyn was sending me her premium OnlyFans content. God help me. My retinas were burning.

Of course, Ashlyn immediately started backpedaling, making it so much worse. "See? Brooks literally forgets I'm even a girl.

If that's not treating me like one of the guys, I don't know what is!" Whether he actually saw Ashlyn as one of the boys was up for debate.

But Ashlyn definitely thought I was legally blind and entirely braindead. "You guys are practically sharing the same personal space bubble.

Just bros, right?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "Ashlyn, you can try to gaslight me, but don't gaslight yourself." Ashlyn doubled down, huffing like I was the crazy one for overthinking it. "For the record, Brooks and I are strictly best bros.

We just vibe on a deeper level than most people, okay!" "Why else would I be trying to set you up with him? Bestie, you have to listen to me.

Brooks is a total catch, he's…" Chapter 2 [My god, the female lead is literally a perfect angel!

The way her eyes light up when she talks about her ultimate BFF, this mutual pining is everything!] [Right?!

The supporting character is so shameless, she obviously sees it but still wants to interfere!] [Does the supporting character have zero selfawareness?

Can't she see the female lead and male lead belong together?!] [The supporting character must be dying of jealousy.

Seeing those sweet photos of our angel and the male lead, she's so envious she can't even speak!

Haha!] [Am I the only one who thinks the supporting character's expression looking at those photos was more like her eyes were burning?] [What do you mean burning?!

That's pure sugar!] Sugar? That was pure garbage. The comments forced me to recall the very photos I was actively trying to scrub from my memory. Immediately, my face contorted.

Seeing my expression—which probably looked like I was watching someone swallow a rat whole on the subway—Ashlyn awkwardly stopped midsentence.

She gave a selfdeprecating laugh. "Listen to me, once I start talking about my amazing guy bestie, I literally can't stop.

But don't worry, bestie, I already told Brooks to add you. Hurry up and check, wait, where's your phone?" My phone was charging on the desk.

Ashlyn pounced on it and shrieked. "Brooks added you!

I'll accept the request for you and help you guys break the ice!" Before I could even process what she was doing, she was already furiously typing away on my phone, chatting with Brooks.

Big mistake. I needed to set a passcode the second I got that phone back. I lunged forward and snatched it out of her hands.

Ashlyn shot me an annoyed glare. "Bestie, what are you doing?

I was right in the middle of talking to Brooks!" A massive question mark practically materialized over my head. "Do you two strictly need my phone to communicate?" Ashlyn paused. "Oh, right.

No, I mean, since you're such an introvert, bestie, and you're so awkward at chatting with guys, I figured I'd help you break the ice with Brooks." [The supporting character is so manipulative!

She says she doesn't want him, but she still accepted his request!] [Exactly!

And she totally tricked our innocent angel into breaking the ice for her!] [The male lead likes our angel so much, if the angel starts the chat for the supporting character, won't the male lead easily get the wrong impression and like the supporting character?!] [Angel, please grow a brain!] These comment section replies were like brainless NPCs.

I just got my phone back, okay?

Besides, judging by the sickeningly sweet smile on Ashlyn's face, I didn't even want to know what kind of nonsense she had been spewing to Brooks from my account.

If my account got banned for this, I was going to lose it. I quickly looked down to check the chat logs. Brooks: Brooks. Me: Stop acting so cool!

Bow down to your queen, it's Ashlyn! Brooks: Why is it you? Didn't you say you were setting me up with your bestie? Can't bear to let me go? (Smirk emoji) Me: As if!

Who can't bear to let you go? I'm just worried your spoiled rich boy temper is going to bully my bestie! Brooks: Tch, so what are you going to do about it?

Me: I, Ashlyn, am warning you, you absolutely cannot bully my bestie, okay! Or else I'll beat you up with my tiny fists! What the actual hell?

Were these two trying to flirt through my phone? I was going to throw up. Ashlyn leaned over, pointing at the chat log, grinning from ear to ear. "See, bestie?

Didn't I tell you Brooks is great?" Right on cue, a new message from Brooks popped up: "Oh, so you dare to hit me now?

We'll see who's teaching who a lesson~ (Smirk emoji)" Ashlyn took one look at it, immediately whipped out her own phone, and dialed his number. "Oh, really Brooks?!

You dare try to teach your queen a lesson? Just wait until I chew you out for my bestie!" Absurd. This was nextlevel disgusting.

I just deleted Brooks's contact and locked myself in my room to find some peace. Chapter 3 [The supporting character is so ungrateful!

Our angel helped you add him, and you actually deleted him?!] [She probably saw our angel accidentally revealing herself and chatting so sweetly with the male lead, realized she had no chance, and just gave up~] [I think the supporting character deleted the male lead to get his attention!

She's playing hard to get!] [What?

The supporting character is so scheming, what is our innocent angel going to do?!] [Don't worry, as the author's favorite, our angel will definitely see through her socalled bestie's true colors sooner or later, and then slap her in the face hard!] My true colors?

Like, being a functional human being? Me, obsessing over the male lead? I have standards, thanks. Who even wants a guy blurring the lines with his "female bro"?

If the comment section loves this so much, I hope they all get one of their own! I scoffed and tossed my phone onto the mattress.

Staring up at the ceiling, I let the memories drift back. Ashlyn and I used to be neighbors. Kindergarten, elementary, middle school—we were practically attached at the hip.

Then in high school, her family moved out of state, and we just naturally drifted apart.

It wasn't until the second semester of my senior year, when I landed a toptier internship on Wall Street in Manhattan and rented a luxury apartment here.

Shortly after, she reached out, saying she was also interning in the city. To split the insane rent, we became roommates. Our schedules were complete opposites.

Plus, Ashlyn was MIA practically six and a half days a week. We barely crossed paths.

On those rare days off when our schedules actually aligned, I'd suggest grabbing a bite to reconnect.

She'd always brush me off, claiming she was exhausted or already had plans with her "bro." Today was literally the first time she actually had time to sit down and catch up.

But the second I tried to reminisce, she cut me off, insisting on setting me up. Setting me up with a guy who was a walking red flag.

While she reveled in her murky, boundarycrossing situationship with him. She wasn't the childhood bestie who used to study and play with me anymore.

I rolled my eyes, refusing to drain my energy on this toxic dynamic. Having figured that out, I crashed hard into the pillows.

The next morning, I woke up to a dozen notifications blowing up my screen. There were texts from Ashlyn sent at 3 AM: "Bestie, are you asleep?" "Are you seriously asleep?

It's so early!" "Why did you delete Brooks? Did you slip and hit the wrong button?

Add him back ASAP…" And then there were the unhinged friend requests from Brooks: "?" "Woman, why did you delete me?" "Heh, playing hard to get?" "Don't push it, it's not cute when you overdo it…" A critical hit to my sanity right out the gate.

I regretted looking at my phone the second I opened my eyes. The screen buzzed. Brooks was literally still typing. "It's not like I'm desperate to add you anyway.

If you don't want to, tell Ashlyn yourself." Unbelievable. An average of one message per hour. Did this guy even sleep?

I slammed the reject button on his request and typed back: "Will tell Ashlyn.

Do not request again." The reply was instantaneous: "Tch, if it wasn't for Ashlyn, who'd even look at you? So narcissistic." Already running late for work, I ignored him.

I rushed through my morning routine, threw down breakfast, and was just about to head out the door.

When Ashlyn practically tore her bedroom door off its hinges, hobbling out into the hallway. "Bestie! How could you reject Brooks?

I made such a huge sacrifice and worked so hard to get him to forgive you for deleting him!" Chapter 4 [The supporting character is seriously toxic!

She kept our female lead and male lead up all night!] [Right?!

Playing hard to get and deleting the male lead, forcing our angel to run out and comfort him so he wouldn't snap!] [But honestly, after last night, the male and female leads totally took things to the next level!] [Our angel literally got her ass spanked red trying to comfort him!

So spicy! OMG!] What? What exactly got spanked red? My jaw practically unhinged.

I stared at Ashlyn in sheer disbelief. "What exact sacrifice did you make?" "N—nothing major, you don't need to worry about it." Ashlyn's hands clamped defensively over her backside, her face flushing crimson.

She didn't look like she had sacrificed anything. She looked like she had just claimed a massive prize. Absolutely unhinged. "Then move.

You're blocking the door, and I have work." I averted my eyes and bolted. During my lunch break, I fired off a quick text to Ashlyn.

I spelled it out for her in plain English: I had zero interest in Brooks, and she needed to drop the matchmaking crusade immediately. Ashlyn just replied with a sticker.

I got home from work. Ashlyn's bedroom door was firmly shut. I assumed her bizarre obsession with setting me up was finally over. Sure, she was acting completely weird now.

But we barely crossed paths anyway. I figured treating her like a random tenant who paid half the rent was the easiest way to keep the peace.

Ten minutes later, Ashlyn barged into my room, hugging a massive stack of printed documents to her chest. I assumed it was her thesis or some internship reports.

Then she slammed them onto my desk.

It was Brooks's meticulously formatted Wikipedia page and printed transcripts of his Forbes billionaire list interviews! "Bestie, I thought about it all day.

You're only pushing Brooks away because you don't understand him well enough. So it is absolutely necessary for me to walk you through his flawless resume!

Brooks, 23 years old, Upper East Side old money heir…" Ashlyn was dead set on shoving Brooks and me together.

She clearly had a thing for him, and they were constantly crossing lines. How did she have the audacity to force him on me? The hypocrisy was staggering.

I literally couldn't comprehend it. "Ashlyn," I interrupted, staring dead at her. "Given your dynamic with Brooks, do you honestly think your future partners—or his—wouldn't care about how close you two are?" Ashlyn froze.

A defensive edge instantly sharpened her gaze. "Are you saying you mind how close Brooks and I are?" What kind of mental gymnastics was that?

I shoved the stack of papers away. "Who cares?

I have zero intention of getting involved in whatever you two have going on!" Ashlyn's face lit up, filtering out the second half of my sentence. "I knew it!

I knew you wouldn't mind, bestie! You have no idea!

Brooks's exgirlfriends used to lose their minds the second they found out I was his guy bestie!" Who wouldn't lose their minds watching their boyfriend grope his 'female bro'?

Not punching you in the face was pure charity. Yet here Ashlyn was, playing the victim and trashing his exes. "You're so amazing, bestie!

I literally cannot wait for you to be his girlfriend!

It's settled, I'm setting up a date for you guys this Saturday!" Ashlyn commandeered my Saturday without a second thought, not even bothering to ask for my consent.

She had completely lost her mind. Chapter 5 [Why does the supporting character look so smitten? Does she actually think Saturday is a date with Brooks?] [Haha, what date?

That's a party with the male and female lead's friends!] [And all their friends are hardcore shippers of the two of them!] [When the time comes, the supporting character is going to be the ultimate clown.

She'll get mercilessly mocked and played by them, just like all the male lead's exgirlfriends!

Just thinking about it is so satisfying!] [Aren't the male and female leads going a bit too far? If they like each other, they should just date.

Why do they have to drag innocent people into their mess?] [The prerelationship situationship tension is the best part!

If you don't get it, then don't read!] [If they want to be in a situationship, they should go find a quiet corner and do it. Why drag someone else into it?] Exactly.

If Ashlyn and Brooks wanted to play their little toxic situationship games, they could go right ahead. Why the hell were they dragging me into it? Absolute morons.

I clamped my hand over Ashlyn's babbling mouth and shoved her out into the hallway. "I'm working overtime this Saturday.

You can go on a date with your 'bro' by yourself." "Now, shut up! I'm going to sleep." After my shower, just as I was about to crawl into bed. Someone started pounding on my door.

I tried to ignore it, but the banging was relentless, demanding a response.

I punched the mattress, grabbed the broom from the corner of my room, and yanked the door open. "Ashlyn, I swear to—who the hell are you?" It wasn't Ashlyn standing in the hallway.

It was a complete stranger. The guy stood there with one hand shoved in his pocket, a cocky smirk twisting his lips. "So, you're Teagan? The woman who deleted my request?

Ashlyn's bestie?" So this was the infamous Brooks. He was practically begging to be punched in the face. My grip tightened on the broom handle.

Instead, Brooks just turned around and walked away, dropping a single command over his shoulder. "Come out and eat." [Ah! He's so hot!

Such alpha energy!] [The supporting character is staring, she's totally mesmerized!] [The male lead and supporting character don't even know each other, and the female lead didn't even give a headsup before letting him knock on her door?

Is that okay??] [Exactly, isn't this Teagan's apartment? Don't you guys think he's being incredibly rude?] [It's not like the male lead is a bad guy.

He's an Upper East Side old money heir!] Zero class. This guy was supposed to be the male lead? I was going to literally sweep him out of my apartment.

I looked toward the living room and saw Ashlyn with her back to me, acting sketchy, messing around with something on the counter.

I marched forward, broom still in hand, and raised my voice. "Ashlyn, why did you bring a guy back here?

Didn't we agree when we signed the lease: no guys allowed over?" Ashlyn jumped, spinning around. "I didn't!

We're just—" "Don't even try using that 'bro' excuse with me, or I'm calling the landlord right now!" I cut off her pathetic defense.

When we moved in, the landlord made it crystal clear: no overnight male guests. It was explicitly written into the lease. Ashlyn knew it too.

She pouted, her voice dripping with reluctance. "Brooks just brought me some latenight takeout.

He's leaving right after he finishes his drink, relax!" Brooks scoffed, clearly annoyed. "What kind of garbage rule is that?

Ashlyn, just move into my luxury penthouse." "I've got a private pool and unlimited party space. We can rage all night, whenever we want." A predatory smirk played on his lips.

I highly suspected his definition of "rage all night" was entirely inappropriate. Sure enough, Ashlyn's hand flew to cover her backside as her face flushed crimson. "Hmph! No way.

I'm the kind of cool girl who only hangs out with guys, I'm definitely not one of those whiny gold diggers who needs to rely on a man!

I want to live with my bestie!" Chapter 6 Noticing me, she suddenly remembered I was still standing there.

She grabbed a cup and shoved it against my chest. "Bestie, this is that viral kombucha from the place that always has a massive line.

Brooks specifically brought it for you, hurry and try it!" Drinking kombucha at this hour? Was she trying to give me insomnia? "I'm passing.

Tell Brooks to finish his drink and leave." I slammed the cup back onto the counter. Ashlyn's breath hitched. The comment section was panicking even harder. [She has to drink it!

It's laced with sleeping pills!] [Our angel is working so hard to set up the male lead and the supporting character!

She drugged both their kombuchas, and after they pass out, she's going to have to physically drag them into the same bed.] [Honestly, this is all the supporting character's fault for being so ungrateful!

Otherwise, our angel wouldn't have to go through all this trouble.] [The supporting character is getting off too easy! Thank god the male lead's cup has a lighter dose.

When he wakes up halfway through, he's going to furiously hunt down our angel, and then bang bang bang!] [Drugging someone?

Isn't that literally a felony?] [Why is the female lead like this? If she likes him, she should just confess.

Why does she keep pulling these sketchy, underhanded stunts?] [She acts like she's pushing him away, but she's actually deliberately triggering his possessiveness.

This is just reverse flirting, right?] Ice flooded my veins. My jaw practically locked. Ashlyn kept pushing the drink on me, while Brooks told her to drop it.

They were shoving and blocking each other right in front of me, absorbed in their little wrestling match.

I seized the distraction and swiftly swapped the cups on the counter. "Alright, shut up.

I'll drink it." I grabbed the only untampered kombucha, faked a sip, and casually walked back to my room. Ten minutes later, the comments were exploding with curses aimed at me.

Turns out, after Ashlyn and Brooks chugged the spiked drinks, the "bros" went to the bathroom together, and the pills kicked in