As the Spice Girls once said, “If you’re gonna be my lover, you gotta get with my friends…”
It seems one man knows this only too well, as he recently went out of his way to help cheer up one of his girlfriend’s close pals.
But the internet seemed to think there was more to his sweet gesture than meets the eye.
Abigail Gibson, a student at Bull State University in Indiana, caused controversy on Twitter after sharing a tweet about her best friend and her boyfriend.
(Image: Twitter)
The 21-year-old revealed how her best friend Stephanie had recently been cheated on and she was understandably devastated.
Abigail’s boyfriend, Max, also 21, thought it would be nice to do something to cheer Stephanie up and prove that all guys weren’t awful.
So he gave the heartbroken girl a bunch of flowers.
His girlfriend was touched that he cared enough about her friends to do something like this and shared the whole thing online.
(Image: Twitter)
She wrote: “My best friend was cheated on by her boyfriend and MY boyfriend bought her flowers to show her that she deserves better than a cheater.
“He knows if he’s dating me, he’s dating my best friends.”
Her post quickly went viral, garnering over 21,000 likes and hundreds of comments.
While some praised Max, many suggested he may have had an ulterior motive for his actions – namely they thought he was sleeping with Stephanie.
“Your boyfriend’s shagging your bestpal,” replied one user.
Another said: “Ma’am why couldn’t you just buy your BFF the flowers and your BF introduce her to one of his homies. Y’all in a lil love triangle now.”
A third person questioned: “That’s sweet, but who’s gonna buy you flowers when they end up smashing?”
Someone else added: “Who’s gonna tell her?”
However not everyone thought this way, a different user replied: “If your friendships are healthy and your relationship is healthy you would understand the pure love in this.”
Abigail said she was “shocked” by the reaction to her post.
Speaking to Buzzfeed News, the student said: “I didn’t think the tweet would get so much backlash.
“Max messaged me and asked if buying her flowers would be creepy. I didn’t think it would come off creepy or overstepping, especially since they’re close friends.”
She added: “I meant it more as a metaphor… my friends are his friends.
“Max has a heart of gold and cares about the people I keep close to me, which is everything I could ask for in a boyfriend.”
