Austin FrankelFounder & CEO, Study Share · Student at Bucknell University | Founder of Study Share & Seat Maker

Reddit Story Compilation

4 Jan 2023 · 2 min

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2:06

The narrator recounts a lifelong friendship with a girl who died after a drunk‑driver accident. While they were teenagers they staged a mock wedding: he gave her a fake ring and she gave him a scrunchie, and on her deathbed she extracted a promise that he would visit her on their "wedding" anniversary and wear her scrunchie during the visit. Four years ago he began dating a new girlfriend, told her about the promise, and she initially accepted the tradition. On their 10th anniversary, the girlfriend demanded that he stop the ritual, calling it "pathetic" and uncomfortable. The narrator became angry, defending the promise as a tribute to his best‑friend‑like sister, emphasizing that the mock marriage was never romantic and that he does not keep other memorabilia. The girlfriend left for work angry and has not returned. He asks the Reddit community whether he is the asshole for insisting on honoring the dying wish despite his girlfriend’s discomfort.

Chapters

Am I the asshole for telling my girlfriend I'll keep honoring my best friend's dying wish, even if it makes her uncomfortable? My late best friend and I knew each other since we were little. We were next-door neighbors and always played together. We even went to the same kindergarten, primary school, and middle or high school together. One day during our sophomore year, we started talking about how most of our classmates had started dating. We obviously weren't okay with that and decided to get one up on all of them by getting married. As a joke, I made her a fake ring, and she gave me her scrunchie. A few weeks later, drunk driver hit her. She sustained multiple injuries, and was in the ICU for 2 months. The doctor told her family that her survival chances are slim. In the only time I talked to her before she died, she made me promise to always visit her on our wedding anniversary, and to wear her scrunchie during the visit. 4 years ago when I started dating my girlfriend, I told her about it, and asked if she was okay with it. She commented about how how sweet and nice the tradition was and told me she was perfectly fine with it. Today was the 10th anniversary and I took the day off. Before my girlfriend went to work, she told me it's time to put this tradition to rest and move on because it was starting to get pathetic that I still wear a dead girl scrunchie to celebrate a fake marriage that we had 10 years ago. Was furious at her comments because she wasn't just a dead girl, she was my best friend and like a sister to me. We grew up and did everything together. I told my girlfriend a long time ago that we never had a sexual or romantic relationship and that our wedding was just a joke. It's not like I talk about her or keep her photos around the house or anything similar. The only times I've talked about her to my girlfriend is when I told her if she was okay with the tradition or if she asked me about her. When I told her that I'll keep honoring my best friend's dying wish, even if it made her uncomfortable, She left for work angry at me and hasn't came back home yet. Am I the asshole?