A few months back, I (27M) came into a significant amount of money. This money was actually meant to go towards a chunk of my girlfriend’s (25F) student loan debt that I’d promised to help her with. But in a moment of terrible judgment, instead of transferring it as planned, I used that money to gamble on Stake. By some insane luck, I hit a big win, turning the initial $3000 into $5000. Feeling incredibly relieved (and a bit guilty), I decided to use $800 of the winnings to surprise her with Taylor Swift tickets for her Vancouver show. She’s been a massive Swiftie since forever and I knew this would mean the world to her.
Last week, I discovered she’d been secretly meeting up with her “work friend” for months. I found out because she accidentally left her Instagram DMs open on my laptop (she’d been using it to print something), and I saw weeks of flirty messages and plans to meet up. When I confronted her, she tried to deny it at first but eventually admitted they’d kissed several times and had been having an emotional affair.
I was devastated. These tickets were meant to be a special experience for us, and I couldn’t stomach the thought of taking her after this betrayal. Rather than let them go to waste, I decided to sell them. Given how insane the Taylor Swift ticket market is right now, I managed to sell them for $2,400 – triple what I paid.
When she found out I sold the tickets, she completely lost it. It wasn’t just about the concert; she threw the entire situation back in my face – the gambling, the money that was supposed to go to her loans, and now “profiting off her dream.” She’s been blowing up my phone, calling me petty and cruel, saying I “ruined her dream” and that the tickets were a “gift” so they belonged to her. Her friends are also messaging me saying I’m an awful person for using the tickets to hurt her, especially given how I got the money in the first place.
I feel like I had every right to sell tickets that I bought with my own money – money I technically generated, even if irresponsibly – especially after what she did. Her cheating was a massive betrayal. But she’s making me feel like my initial gambling action and then selling the tickets make me just as bad, or even worse. I’m questioning everything.
AITAH for selling the Taylor Swift tickets after she cheated, given the complicated history of how I got the money I used to buy them?