Daniel and I met when he started working at the mini-mart next to the tanning salon where I worked. He was a UMass college guy, but had just a little bit of that south Boston edge that you didn’t usually find in the student body. He was a business major, but a had a couple tattooes and wore a ripped Red Sox hat to class every day. He was just what I always wanted and it seemed like he felt the same way about me. Until Becca made her presence known.

Daniel and I had been dating casually for a few weeks the first time he met Becca. We weren’t yet officially boyfriend and girlfriend, but we had hung out every day for almost 20 days-straight, had hooked up a few times and had already talked about meeting up on break so we could introduce each other to other’s parents.

Becca invited us to her birthday party at her apartment. Just a little pre-game before everyone headed to the bars – shots, beer pong and loud music. Pretty predictable.

It took me a little while to notice Becca easing in on Daniel and by the time I did, it was too late. The diminutive beauty who people always described of having a gorgeous quality where she looked as if Belle from Beauty and the Beast was a real person, had taken Daniel away from my initial grasp. About an hour into the party, he would slink away from me as soon as I attached myself to him and say he had to go to the bathroom or something and then I would see him over across the room chatting up Becca and laughing.