1. “There is no better satisfaction than when your ex realizes he messed up. Like yeah, this is how friggen fantastic I am, and you missed out. Sucks for you!” —Cassandra, 24

2. “He dumped me before he left to study abroad in England. He said the distance would ‘just be too difficult.’ I was really disappointed, I thought I meant more to him, and that he’d want to make it work, but clearly I was wrong. The entire time he was over there I had to see his awful Facebook photos with his arm around a new girl every night. I wanted him to have fun, but he didn’t have to throw it in my face like that. After the semester when he came back to the states, he texted me within a week of being home. Of course he wanted to get back together. After seeing him with all of those girls in England I was in no rush to get back with him, but I was secretly beaming on the inside when he showed interest.” —Taylor, 22

3. “I found my girlfriend’s sexts with someone else. I never asked who it was because I really didn’t want to know, I was so disgusted after reading them. I immediately was like, WTF, and broke up with her. She said she never did anything with him, that it was just playful texting, bla bla bla. She basically wouldn’t accept the fact that I was ending it. I told her not to contact me, and surprisingly she listened, until 3 months later when she was at her best friend’s bachelorette party and called me wasted. I knew it was bound to happen eventually. I was actually very entertained by the whole thing. She was probably so embarrassed the next morning, and that made me very happy.” —Carl, 24

4. “I love it when they realize how wrong they were about you, and you realize how wrong they were for you.” —Nina, 25

5. “She actually broke up with me. She said there was ‘no connection,’ whatever the hell that meant. It was tough, I liked her a lot, but life goes on. The breakup actually got me really motivated. I joined a gym, I finally found a job, I could hook up with whoever I wanted, life was good. She messaged me on Facebook one night to congratulate me about the job. I was cordial and gave her a simple, ‘thank you,’ but she kept carrying on the small talk. She asked if I wanted to meet up sometime to ‘get coffee.’ I thought about it, and the potential sex that would most likely happen, and then I thought about the satisfaction I would get from telling her no, so I did that instead. Such a great feeling when someone who gave you up regrets that they did.” —Steve, 26

6. “I’ve never had an ex come crawling back, but if they did I’d say, ‘Screw you.’ If they couldn’t appreciate you the first time around, what makes you think they’ll appreciate you now?” —Amy, 24

7. “I don’t think anyone would be unhappy about an ex begging to get back with you. You’re stupid if you give in though. They’re your ex for a reason.” —Correy, 25

8. “He kept asking my friends about me (like they wouldn’t tell me he was asking, he’s so dumb), and of course they told him I was doing better than ever, and he actually asked my best friend to tell me to call him. A) You can call me if you really want to speak to me, and B) Don’t go through my effing friends. Be a man and come talk to me, my friends want nothing to do with you.” —Sam, 24

9. “We were both on the soccer team in college, obviously I was on the women’s he was on men’s. So when we broke up it was kind of weird because all of the soccer parties would be extremely uncomfortable and awkward for the both of us. We usually just avoided each other, but one night (I think he was super stoned) he came up to me and said I looked great. I partially hated him, but was partially flattered by the compliment, I would never let him know that though. I literally didn’t say a word to him, I turned around and walked to the keg to get more beer. One of my prouder moments.” —Michelle, 23

10. “We met through a book club (I know strange), but she was super sexy, and really nice, and she loved reading which meant she had some kind of intelligence. The relationship was awesome, I have no complaints or anything bad to say about her, it was an amicable breakup, so when she reached out again after the relationship was over, I found her hard to resist. I’m not embarrassed that I gave her another shot, she was worth one. I did feel great about myself when she reached out though.” —Andy, 27

11. “An ex asking to have you back is how you unintentionally get back at them for dumping you in the first place. They’re basically kicking themselves in the ass, so you don’t have to. It makes me feel great about myself.” —Abby, 24