Few things shake up a boring college lecture like a little attention from the cutie two rows over. A glance, a smile, and a flirty invitation can make the rest of the semester feel more bearable.
But one Arizona State University student says she went from flattered to furious in a matter of days.
‘Hey, I think you’re really pretty. I see you in class’
Content creator Hailey Marshall (@ilovehaileymarshall) shares how she was blindsided by a classmate. Her video has more than 96,000 views.
“Put a finger down if you were in class at ASU, in your lecture hall, and there is this really cute guy in your class, okay?” she says. “He’s looking at you … He has a friend next to him, by the way. Keep that in mind.”
Marshall says that on one particular day, class ended, and the guy came over.
“‘Hey, I think you’re really pretty,’” she recalls him telling her. “‘I see you in class. I’d love to get to know you. Let me take you out sometime.’”
Marshall says she gave him her phone number, and they started chatting. They planned a date for the next day. Then she says the silence began.
“The next day comes around, he doesn’t say anything,” Marshall says. “And you’re texting, you’re like, ‘Are we still on for tonight?’ And you get ready just in case … He doesn’t respond at all. He’s basically standing you up.”
The day after, Marshall says he texted. When Marshall asked what happened, he responded that he actually had a girlfriend, which left her “confounded.”
“And then you call him a disgusting pig,” Marshall says. “And he’s like, ‘No, I didn’t cheat.’ And then you say, ‘Yeah, you did. You asked me out.’ And he goes, ‘No, I didn’t ask you out.’”
So what was this guy actually up to?
As it turns out, the guy did not approach Marshall with pure intentions. Apparently, the friend who had been sitting next to him seemed to think he could no longer spit game, and dared him to get Marshall’s number and ask her out on a date.
Marshall says she was “offended, annoyed, mad, [and] sad,” among other things. Unfortunately, the texts did not stop there. Marshall says the man asked if she wanted his friend’s number. Marshall says she blocked his number, and concluded by sharing that she felt “really mad” every time she’d seen him in class since.
‘What a weird guy’
Viewers in Marshall’s comment section overwhelmingly had one piece of advice: Get revenge.
“Screen shot- send to his GF,” one viewer summed up. “What a weird guy.”
“I’d still be mad every single time I saw him,” another commented. “And yeah, I would definitely find out his girlfriend and tell her what a mean joke he played.”
One viewer even managed to identify a silver lining amid all the messiness.
“You know this means they probably scanned the room and thought you’re the ‘hottest, most unattainable’ in the room,” they wrote to Marshall. “And THAT’S why they made this bet on you … BUT ALSO get your revenge and tell his gf.”
Is simply flirting with someone else considered cheating?
Whether flirtation counts as cheating entirely depends on who you ask. Some people identify it as “micro-cheating,” a phrase that, according to Psychology Today, “refers to small breaches of trust in a relationship that don’t rise to the level of a physical affair.”
Psychologist Ty Tashiro told NBC News he considers so-called “micro-cheating” to still be cheating because it can break trust, as “what’s perceived as real is real in its consequences.”
Robert Weiss, CEO of Seeking Integrity, added that some couples consider flirting acceptable; others call it micro-cheating; and others still treat it as full infidelity. He said such behavior always signals a need for stronger communication in the relationship.
“Remember, with infidelity, it’s not the specific behavior, it’s the lying and secrets that drive a couple apart,” Weiss told NBC News. “If you can eliminate the lies and secrets, the relationship gets much stronger.”
Non-expert opinions appear to be split as well. WROR covered a Study Finds report in 2025, saying that 51% of everyday people said they might end a relationship over “harmless flirting,” especially if it seemed their partner tried to hide it.
In the same survey, 60% of respondents said chatting with an ex crossed a line, while 66% would not care if a partner danced with someone else.
@ilovehaileymarshall
Subplot News reached out to Marshall via email.
