People who cheated, why did you do it? What was going through your mind when/after you did it?

Story time? Story time. It was the summer after I had graduated from high school. I had been with my gf at the time for a little over a year and things weren't great but I thought I was in love. So a friend of mine was having a graduation party (my gf was a grade younger and didnt have any mutual friends in the group so didn't come) and it was a blast. While there a friend of mine informs me that shes been cheating on me (again) but this time with his cousin. Really upset but whatever, i decided to deal with it later because we were all having so much fun. Things wind down and my friend Emily invites me back to her house where a few people were going to have a bonfire and drink. Perfect, i could use a drink. I had always had a crush on her and was probably going to ask her out before, but then i met my current gf at the time. We had been co-captains of our schools co-ed frisbee team and had a bunch of classes together so we always saw eachother and she was by far my closest female friend. Everything started normally at the afterparty, just hanging out with friends, no other intentions. As the drinks flowed we started flirting and im not sure exactly how it happened but eventually after everyone had left i ended up spending the night with her in a tent outside. I knew i had fucked up and felt like the biggest piece of shit and ended up confessing to my gf the following morning.

This was about 4 years ago and i consider this my biggest regret in my life. Not because i cheated on my gf, because she was actually a terrible person, but because afterwards i had tried to stay together with my gf and ended up alienating Emily and ultimately lost my best friend in the process.

/r/AskReddit Thread