Chapter 34
Stella:
Emily pulled out her phone, scrolling through something, then paused with a small, amused expression. "Actually, speaking of you being impressive—I've had three girls in my RA hall ask me if I know you in the past week. You're becoming something of a campus figure, Noah."
Noah blinked. "I'm really not."
"You kind of are." She tilted her head, something between teasing and genuinely curious. "And then there's this video that's been circulating—it came up in my residents' group chat a few days ago, actually. Someone dug it up from last weekend and it started making the rounds again last night." She turned her phone toward him. "Is this you? My residents are losing their minds over it."
I leaned over to look.
The video showed Noah at El Camino Taco Truck's outdoor seating, clearly from the weekend before everything had happened—he was wearing the grey hoodie I'd seen him in before, sitting with Tyler and Marcus and Sofia at one of the picnic tables.
Then a woman appeared from behind—blonde hair catching the late afternoon light, oversized designer sunglasses, an expensive leather jacket—but the angle made it impossible to see her face clearly. She leaned down and wrapped her arms around Noah from behind.
The audio came through clearly even through Emily's phone speaker:
"Hey babe, I missed you so much." The woman's voice was warm, playful, with a teasing lilt that made it sound unmistakably intimate. "Sorry I'm late. Had to make myself look good for you."
The audio was what made it catastrophic.
Noah's face in the video went through visible confusion, then recognition, then what looked like pure horror as he tried to turn around.
"I can explain—" his voice started, but the woman cut him off.
"Shh, don't talk," she whispered, audible even through the phone speaker. "I ditched my husband to come see my favorite boy. Doesn't that make you feel special?" A pause, then her voice dropped lower. "I've been thinking about your hands... the way you touch me when we're alone..."
Then she pressed a long, deliberate kiss to his cheek—the kind that lasted several seconds too long to be innocent—before the video cut out.
"Wait," I said, looking at the video more carefully. "Who posted this originally?"
Emily scrolled up. "It was on Marcus Johnson's Instagram Story yesterday. But someone screen-recorded it and posted it to SCU Gossip Wall, and then it just... exploded. It's on TikTok now, Reddit, everywhere."
Noah pulled out his phone, presumably checking his messages. "Marcus has been blowing up my phone since last night trying to apologize. He deleted the Story like five minutes after posting it, but—"
"But the internet is forever," Emily finished sympathetically. "Once one person saved it, it was over."
Noah watched the video with an expression of dawning realization, and then—to my complete shock—he started laughing.
"Oh my god," he said, shaking his head with genuine amusement. "She actually did it. I can't believe she actually went through with it." He looked at Emily, grinning. "That's commitment right there."
Emily blinked, clearly confused. "You're... not upset?"
"Upset? This is classic Zoe." He replayed the video, still smiling. "She's been threatening to do something like this since orientation week. I just didn't think she'd go this hard with the audio."
"Noah," I said carefully, glancing at Emily's phone where comments were still flooding in, "even the people saying she's your sister think this is inappropriate."
"I know." He scrolled through the comments with the casual interest of someone reading entertainment news. "But it's Zoe. Anyone who knows her will get that it's a prank. And everyone else—" He shrugged. "—they're just bored and looking for drama."
Emily glanced at me, uncertain. "But the comments are pretty intense. People are saying—"
"Let me guess." Noah didn't even look up from the phone. "That I'm a homewrecker? " He handed the phone back to Emily with an easy smile. "People said I was a spoiled rich kid during orientation week too. It's just noise. Give it three days and they'll find someone else to obsess over."
I pulled out my own phone, finding the video in one of the faculty group chats where someone had shared it with the caption "SCU student caught with married woman—anyone know who this is?"
I scrolled to the comments, my anger building with each one I read.
"she literally LIED to her husband to meet him"
"what kind of wife does this"
"Jason Chen deserves so much better than a cheater"
"this is predatory behavior, she's clearly been grooming him"
"someone needs to report her to her company's HR department"
"I hope he takes everything in the divorce"
"disgusting woman, absolutely disgusting"
My hands were shaking. Actually shaking.
"Stella?" Noah's voice had lost its casual amusement. "You okay?"
"No." I looked up at him. "No, I'm not okay. These people are calling Zoe a predator. They're saying she's a cheater, that she's been grooming you, that Jason should divorce her." My voice rose despite my efforts to keep it level. "And you're sitting there acting like it's some kind of joke?"
"Because it is—"
"It's not a joke to them!" I thrust my phone toward him. "Look at what they're saying about her. Actually read it, Noah."
He took my phone, and I watched his expression shift as he scrolled through the comments. The easy confidence dimmed slightly, but he still seemed more confused than concerned.
"Okay, yeah, some of these are harsh," he admitted. "But people who don't know the full story always jump to conclusions. That's just how the internet works."
"That's just how the internet works?" I snatched my phone back. "Zoe is my best friend. One of the most professional, accomplished women I know. And now people who've never even met her are calling her a predator, saying her husband should divorce her—all because of a prank that got taken out of context."
Emily shifted uncomfortably. "I'm going to go," she said quietly. "But Noah—if you need anything, just let me know. Character witnesses, statements, whatever."
"Thanks, Emily," Noah said quietly, not looking up.
After she left, Noah set the books down on my desk with careful precision. "You're really upset about this."
"Of course I'm upset. Zoe is my best friend. And people are—" I stopped, pressing my palms against my desk to steady myself. "She doesn't deserve any of this."
"I know she doesn't." His voice was gentler now. "But Stella, Zoe can handle this. She's dealt with worse than internet comments."
"She shouldn't have to handle it at all." I closed my eyes, trying to calm the fury still burning in my chest. "It's not fair."
"No," Noah agreed quietly. "It's not."
I took a deep breath, forcing myself back toward something resembling professional composure. "We should go. I need to get out of here."
"Okay." He grabbed my bag from behind the desk. "Let's go to your place. We can figure out what to do from there."