Valentine’s Day is a day characterized by romantic gestures, chocolates and love. But for side chicks and side dudes, it can be a day of pain or a reminder that they’re not the main squeeze.

A side dude (or chick) is someone who dates a person with or without knowing that person is already in a serious relationship.

According to Trustify, a private investigation firm, partners admit to cheating in one third of marriages. So there’s clearly many side people out there.

So to give the side people out there something to identify with on Valentine’s Day, the Valencia Voice staff has spent the last week gathering unconventional love stories from Valencia students. The best are summarized below. (Names have been changed to protect identities).

Robert, 21, IT major:

“I was hanging out with this girl for a long time, a friend knew her.” So he asked his friend if she had a boyfriend and his friend said yes. “There’s no way this girl has a boyfriend because he’s not on any of her social media,” thought Robert. He maintained this opinion until one day when he took her out for ice cream and he noticed that her phones lock screen was a picture of a guy. “Is this your guy?” he asked. When she wouldn’t answer the question he told her, “I’m sorry, I gotta get the hell outta here.”

Alvaro, 25, Graphic Design major

“About two years ago I had a girlfriend and when Tinder started being popular I decided to try it. I used to take both my girlfriend and side chick out, but it started getting hard because I was running out of money. One Valentine’s I took them both out, girlfriend in the morning and my side chick at night. I had to try my best to keep them apart however one night, a few days after Valentine’s Day, they found out about each other through Facebook and confronted me together, which was very weird and uncomfortable. They never talked to me again.”

Alicia, 24, Communications major:

“I’ve had five partners outside of my relationship and my relationship has lasted two years with a friend that I’ve known for five,” explained Alicia. And her boyfriend not only knows, he’s ok with it. “he’s actually driven me to most of my dates.”

Alicia’s first instance was with a couple, then she moved on to two one night stands over the course of 24 hours with people she met on Tinder. Her boyfriend drove her to both dates.

Alicia said her dates knew she had a boyfriend and was just looking for fun.

“The first night I went out for drinks with this guy and I ended up bringing [the guy] to my place so my boyfriend heard what was happening from his bedroom,” says Alicia. Her boyfriend just stayed in his room of their shared apartment.

The next night she went to the guys house and her boyfriend picked her up when she was done. 

Alicia also had some suggestions for anyone looking to be with more than one person. “Get tested between partners, use protection and be safe (don’t get kidnapped).”

JP, 21, Business major:

JP met his girlfriend when he turned 19. She “was the most beautiful girl on the planet,” he said.

They began dating and the relationship was going great, but a year and a half in, her sister moved to town. “Her sister was even more beautiful,” he said. He developed feelings for her.

One time when he was at his girlfriends house, only her sister was there and they began to talk, they ended up kissing a couple times. They then decided to hide their newly realized love for each other from her sister/his girlfriend.

Their secret lasted nine months until it met it’s doom on valentines day when a friend of the girlfriend sent a picture of her boyfriend and her sister at the movies together. She ended the relationship and has not spoken to her sister since.

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