The QB Bad Boy and Me by Tay Marley (and Movie Adaptation Review)

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:19):
Welcome to Ready to Be Romanced.I'm Tori.
I'm Sam. And I'm Shelby.
And today we're discussing the QB bad boy.
Oh. God.
That was probably horrific. I'll fix it in both.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited for you both to

(00:40):
be here. I'm excited, yeah.
I'm like jumping up and down in my seat.
I know, OK, me too, because I just have so much.
I feel like we on this podcast have been covering like
relatively high quality books, but it's it's really fun to just
like go through like a doozy. Oh yeah, definitely.

(01:03):
I think we get that over on the ROM complex a lot where we're
like, yeah, cinema, but also worst movie we've ever seen in
our entire lives that we can't stop talking about.
Yeah. So you've got to it's, it's
about balance. It's a balance, but like this
one was so like sometimes it's so bad it's good, but this one
was just so bad it's bad. Like honestly, Tay Marley might

(01:26):
be my enemy now after reading this book.
No, truly, truly. So you tell us about your
podcast, The ROM Complex. Well, on the ROM complex, we
talk about ROM coms obviously, but sometimes ROM drums or, you
know, coming of age romances, you know, we branch out and Sam

(01:48):
and I talk about them and kind of use it as a lens of, or we
use the lens of looking at our relationships in our life and
figuring out what lessons we learned from ROMs and sort of
talking about them that way. But then we also just end up
gossiping about the characters like they're real people.
Yeah. Which is the other half of the

(02:10):
fun. So much fun.
And I came on and we did bring it on.
All or nothing? Yeah.
Was that the Hayden? Hayden Pitcher.
Yeah, yeah. Which is such a good movie.
I think it's so good actually, this movie, The dance scene,
some of them kind of reminded meof that movie.

(02:31):
Yeah, you know what? I can see that.
I think there is something aboutteens dancing that yeah,
there's, you know, there's so many connections.
I was really, really, really, really like eager to like really
close to fast forwarding and some of this, some of those
scenes. That's why you.

(02:52):
You have to get like a Lego set or just something to do while
you're while you're watching. These so true.
It's like time to paint your nails right?
Put away your laundry like something.
Otherwise you're cringing the whole time.
So you cover movies, in particular ROM coms, but what
about your relationship to romance salvos?
Do I know Sam you read romance but Shelby D read romance too?

(03:16):
I do, I mean I read a lot of genres, but I would say romance
might be like my third highest read genre. 3rd or 4th.
Nice. You know, depends if you count
sci-fi and fantasy as one, but Ilove romance.
I love to read it. I think a favorite of mine is
Landline by Rainbow Rowell, so if you ever cover that one,

(03:37):
message me. I especially love a romance that
has some kind of element of like, sci-fi or fantasy in
there. Yeah.
Romanticy. Yeah, romanticy.
Exactly. And Sam, what about you?
What do you like reading? I.
Exclusively read romance story you know listen.
I know I can. Tell by everything about me that

(03:58):
all I read is romance and I likeit.
You know, I, I have considered like when people ask me, oh, do
you read? And I'm like, yeah, I read quite
a bit. There are times when I'm like,
oh, I should have like a more reputable book to bring up than
like a motorcycle romance novel.You know what?

(04:19):
I mean like, yes, yes. A dark, you know, reverse harem
situation. No, I don't want to bring those
up to people in public, but I read 75 books last year and they
were all romance, so. Yeah, I'm about the same as you,
which is like it's sometimes horrific because you're right.
I like should toss in some some something else.

(04:40):
But like, at the same time, it'slike really what I enjoy and it,
it, the romance show has got me back into reading after like
like 15 years of not reading. Yeah, so I mean, my favorite
author, my favorite romance author who I think is really
good at just like ROM com specifically because obviously
there's all these sub genres, isEmily Henry.

(05:01):
I think when I first read one ofher books, I read People We Meet
on Vacation, which they are currently filming for.
Yes, Yeah, I read that book and I saw myself so well in the
character and Emily Henry books are not like reinventing the
wheel by any means, especially for the genre.
But there is something still so fresh about the changes she does

(05:25):
make to the genre. So we keep the style, but also
add a few little a few little surprises in there, and you're
like, hell yeah. Like characters going to therapy
before they get together. What crazy.
Yeah. Totally and that makes total
sense cuz she is like that. You would like her because and I
do too. I do feel like she is like a

(05:46):
modern day ROM com like she could, which is why all of her
books are becoming movies. Yeah, because I feel like all
the ROM coms that we grew up with very this is just like the
adult. Yeah, it's like she's the Nora
Ephron of the twenty 20s. You know, make them all into
movies, please. So spoiler warning, we're going

(06:08):
to be discussing the book, the QB bad boy and me and it's movie
adaptation. So spoilers ahead.
And I also want to give a content warning off the top
because like, I never read trigger warnings, even if this
book had one. I I listened to the audio book
so it didn't but and then I'm always shocked when there's
actually like real life like fucking shit in the book.

(06:31):
So I want to say we won't lingeron these things but there is
going to be mentions of a child being murdered and then teen
pregnancy and someone dating a miner.
And not like a coal miner like. Like an MINO.

(06:52):
They're all lots of children trigger warnings.
Yeah, a lot of children having sex.
Yeah. Which was right off the bat one
of my biggest grapes and rumblesis just like, why didn't you age
up these characters like? Literally putting them in adult
situations and then being like, yeah, it's a teen club, you

(07:13):
know, for teens. Yeah, like an underage club and
stuff like that. It was like, why don't they just
meet in their last year of college or something like that?
It made no sense, literally. But the book was written by Tay
Marley, it is a Wattpad originaland it was published October
15th, 2017, which you can totally tell with all of the
music references. There are so many.

(07:35):
I laughed every time because they would literally go we were
listening to. Blah blah blah the blah blah.
Remix by so and so. Like so specific.
I was like, I don't care that you're listening to Imagine
Dragon so bad. But we meet our protagonist,
Dallas, who is at cheer practice.

(07:58):
She's a high school senior living in Castle Rock, Co.
And she's on the cheer team because she wants to become a
dancer, but her school doesn't have a dance team, So she thinks
that this will kind of meet thatrequirement.
And she lives with her older brother who is her guardian
because her parents passed away.Intro Intro The other

(08:24):
protagonist, who is Drayton. Drayton, this is.
A horrific. Thing.
So let me bring you to the firstnote I wrote down, which is just
the name Drayton, because when Isaw the name Drayton Leahy, I
was like, that cannot be real. You did not type that and think

(08:46):
that sounded good. No, it's so bad.
Have you ever met a Drayton? No, I don't think that name
exists. But The funny thing?
Make up a name. That's OK.
The thing? Is, is that and that's how you
know, we're in a Wattpad, right?Because I feel like I didn't
read a lot of Wattpad when I wassuper young.

(09:06):
Like I tended to gravitate more towards like Harry Potter fanfic
and you know, that kind of stuffon AO3.
But like I did read some One Direction fanfic on Wattpad and
I feel like anytime I read a newstory on on there it was always
like a competition for like who can make the most ridiculous

(09:27):
name for their main character. Like I think of another book
that was adapted from Wattpad which was after and they changed
his name because it was a Harry Styles fanfic which I did read
back when it came out They changed his name to Harden
Scott. It's so bad.
It's like a competition. They're like, Hey, how can I

(09:48):
make the male like love interestcharacter the most ridiculous
name in the I just don't get it because like why don't like
obviously you don't want like a Chad or a Brad or whatever, but
like you could totally have a normal a Ben a.
Colin A Dylan. Yeah, just a race.
I love me a Dylan, yeah. I just, I don't get it.

(10:12):
Like I just, I truly don't get it.
Like it was just hard to read like because I just could not
take it seriously right off the bat.
But I have to give this, I have to give this girly credit.
She was probably, what, like 20 when she wrote this?
15, I don't know. Like no that we.
Have changed. We looked it up.
Oh my God please tell me. I tried to do some research and

(10:32):
I could not find this. I think she was like maybe she
was like 20, early 20s because she's like 27 now, right?
She's only 27. She's this hour, I thought.
She was like 30. I think she's OK.
Maybe she was 27 when she wrote it.
Hold on now I have to like. Now we have to get our cuz she's
our enemies because I remember being very surprised at by her

(10:55):
age by the age published. In 2017, she's 32, OK, 32.
So then that's eight years ago. 20. 4 Yikes.
No, yeah. Well, here's the thing that I
this reads very much like when Iwas 13 writing fan fiction and
you're publishing a chapter at atime.

(11:16):
So is that how it worked on Wattpack?
Or did this all come out at once?
OK, chapter at a time, make sense?
Usually chapter at a time. Sometimes they would like batch
a bloat or like you know, get a couple chapters in, but normally
it was like. Which again, not to like even we
haven't even got to the fucking characters yet.
Probably just straight in. Just straight in.

(11:37):
But like, OK, like, why was thisbook 400 pages?
I guess when you do chapter by chapter, you, like, can't look
at it as a whole. Yeah.
And delete some. And I guess you want to like, I
guess like keep your audience coming back.
But I was like, holy shit, this could have been a 200 page book.
Yeah. Well, it got published, so there

(11:57):
was an editor who could have, you know, at some point.
Yeah. That's was there well, because I
ran into many things that I don't see how an editor would
have let slide. Not like spelling stuff, just
like stuff where it's like that is not how how oh, things work

(12:17):
in America. Yeah, that's not.
Oh my gosh, there was something that I wrote down.
Was it about homecoming? Because that was my for.
That was my big gripe. No, there was something that was
like so crazy. It was when the family said
goodbye at the airport. Gate at the game.
That's right. That pissed me off because it's
like, was this written in 2000? Yeah.

(12:41):
Was this? Pre 2000. 9/11 yeah, yeah.
Crazy. Also, my first big gripe that I
sent a really long, rambly voicenote to Shelby about was that at
one point they're like getting on the bus for the away game.
And they're like the teacher or somebody gets on there like,
hey, guys, just because you won't be in the at school when
this announcement happens, but homecoming's being delayed an

(13:03):
extra week or something, right? And then someone's like.
That's after the big the last. Game and I'm like what?
No, Homecoming is the beginning of football season, not the end
of Do you think football ends inOctober?
No. It's so bad an.
Easy Fact Check. An easy, easy Fact Check from an

(13:25):
editor that killed me or the author themselves.
Like, no fact checking here because we even start out where
Dallas, the main character, is describing herself as a curvy.
Girl, Oh my God. And then she talks about how
thin and tiny and frail. Her.
Her friend is. But The thing is, Dallas is a

(13:46):
flyer for the cheerleaders. You're not.
Either you're a flyer or you're curvy.
Yeah, you're the other. I just remember like when they
start hooking up, she would be like he's hugging me and I like
was like disappearing in his arms because I was so skinny.
I was like OK fuck OK girl like.Literally, I there were just so

(14:08):
many like the fact that they geta hotel room and they're both
under 18. Well like he might be 18, but
the likelihood that they wouldn't like ask for your ID
like no I didn't. Even I didn't even think of
that. Also this person has never been
to Los Angeles because they think that like they can just
take hour long Uber's places andthey think Panorama City is in

(14:31):
between Calarts and UCLA. Wild.
Yeah. Yeah, and they're just like,
let's whip over to Hollywood to go to the walk.
Of fame. It's just a quick dip down from
Santa Clarita or whatever, wherever it is, wherever
Calarts. Wild.
I love it. So crazy.
But the the cheer practice is happening obviously at the same

(14:55):
time as football practice and Dallas catches a rogue ball that
the football captain threw, which is obviously Drayden.
This is like the first time I'm saying that name aloud and it
is. Painful.
You know what? I like doing it with an extra
emphasis on the T. It makes it more ridiculous.
Drayton. I like to call him Drayton.

(15:18):
And they do. They call him Dre a lot in the
book, which is a name I've heard.
Yeah, that's better. That's a lot better.
And she throws it back and he's immediately impressed because
girls usually can't throw football.
Yeah, I've never met a girl who could throw a football so.
So he's shocked she doesn't knowwho he is, even though it sounds

(15:40):
like she's gone to this school the whole time.
Yeah, He's also like the captainof the football team, and
football is everything at the school.
So that didn't make sense. And then she's like, I'm taking
econ with this guy. And then they have zero scenes
or zero mention of economics ever again.
Yeah, because that was in the 1st chapter and Tay was like,

(16:03):
well, never. Went back, never went back to
it. Like verify what was going on.
Never. Because I just thought when she
mentioned that I was like, cute,we'll get like a cute tutoring
scene or like, like, yeah, he's their partners.
Yeah, they're partnered togetheror something like that.
No, absolutely nothing. Nothing.
No return to Chekovs and economics.

(16:25):
Economics. Yeah, yeah.
Exactly so after practice Dallasis shocked because someone has
hit her car and so she like drives home and she's worried
cuz she like it's just her and her brother they don't have a
lot of money to spare. And she's shocked to find
Drayden at her house and he admits that he hit her car and

(16:48):
he is paying her cash to go get it fixed.
Yes, and he stays for dinner. And in the movie you can see
that it's like, because in the book it's like it was hundreds.
And then you could see in the movie it was like 20s.
It's like, well, I guess it was his mirror, her mirror, the
right. Movie.
But also I just love how he breaks them in the movie.

(17:11):
He breaks the mirror on her car and then everyone acts like she
can't still drive it drive it. I know.
That was so funny. Josh was like, I'll drive you to
dance practice or whatever. I was like literally just.
Just get your cut. Like, yeah, you just have to
like, roll. You're getting duct tape, babe,
like. Yeah.

(17:32):
Exactly, my B school looked likethat for years.
Totally. Yeah, 100%.
So her brother in the book is like a football coach for a
different school. Yeah.
Which is funny because in the movie, they had to change so
much to make sure the charactersactually overlapped in a
reasonable way because it's not there in the book.

(17:55):
There's like no reason for Nathan and Drayton to interact
except for this. Totally.
And he is so cavalier of just like, oh, do you want to stay
for barbecue and beers, even though, again, they're in grade
12 and like. Wild.
He's like, Oh well, like I wouldoffer that to any of your

(18:16):
friends. He's a cool.
Guardian, I guess maybe if you have like a because he's
supposed Nathan's supposed to belike 25, right?
So maybe the 25 year old brotheris like, oh, she's 17.
She can drink a beer like. Yeah, I guess that's true.
But you still don't do that to her friends.
You don't give your friends beers.
That's not how it works, unless they're like.
Staying over, that was kind of my thing.

(18:39):
And in high school, like if I had friends who were staying
over, then yeah, they could havelike a drink because my parents
were cool. I drank before I was 21 so.
I did too, but not with my parents.
I think actually at my Grade 12 graduation, I think they it was
the first time that they bought me like a six pack of coolers.
For yeah. I love that happy graduation.

(19:02):
Yeah. And they kind of have like this
like enemies to love her or like, I don't know, Crow going
on where they're just like, she just like doesn't have the time
of day for him because he's, youknow, the loud jock.
And she is really focused on getting into Cal Arts.
I just want to bring up that she's really folk in the book.

(19:23):
It makes more sense in the movie.
In the book she talks about how,like you mentioned, she's a
cheerleader because the school doesn't have a dance team.
She never goes to a dance class.In the book, yeah.
She never, there's never a scenein which she's putting on her
warm up outfit to do nothing. Practicing.
No, that actually fucking killedme.

(19:44):
That was one of my wonder wise because I I get it.
Like if you needed an extracurricular at school, cheer
be like that. Very dance heavy.
Like I totally get that, but whyin addition to that, wouldn't
she be going to a local dance studio?
Exactly. So they solved that problem in
the movie, but it like, actuallytook me a minute where I was

(20:06):
like, has she ever even gone to it?
I was like pretty deep into the book and I was like, wait, she's
never gone to practice? Or you don't see her doing the
stuff outside of dance? Because I know, you know, I went
to school for theatre. So I'm friends with a lot of
people who are dancers and they would take like yoga classes or
like all these like additional like tangential.
Things. Exactly.

(20:29):
Never. Never a moment.
She's just a dancer and we're supposed to believe her.
That was. Insane to me.
And Drayden has a nickname for her which is Cheer.
What do you think? So creative.
Wow. But The thing is, that could
apply to literally any of the cheerleaders.

(20:49):
So why is he acting like this isa special nickname for her when
especially when he regularly interacts with all of the
cheerleaders? I know, I know, but he doesn't
call any of them. Cheer.
No, cuz why would he? This is honestly in romance
novels, this is kind of the makeor break.

(21:10):
And it's the nickname truly, because sometimes you're,
sometimes it's just like mid, right?
It's nothing to write home about.
You're like, OK, yeah, like it'sfine.
But sometimes they're really bad.
Like I've read so bad, really bad nicknames that make
absolutely no sense. But there's like 1 scene where
they try to make it make sense and you're just like you're

(21:30):
trying far too hard to get this nickname to.
Stick no like why did a book I read it was lamb.
Like. It.
Was lamb? Was he a lion?
Yeah. Is it kind of twilight?
Is it twilight? The lion fell in love with the.
Lamb and maybe it was Twilight Inspire, but I was like, that's

(21:52):
yeah, I I'm actually was like, Ishould do a episode on ranking.
Like nicknames or a nickname? Oh yeah, yeah, I read this would
be on the list. Yeah, I read one once where it
was literally she already had a nickname and it was like a
nickname on top of a nickname. And I was like, why are we doing
this? We only.

(22:13):
Need nickname? Inception.
Yeah. Because then there's always the
moment, right? Well, in maybe not YA like this
book, but there's always the moment in like romance novels
where the main character stops. Like when it's a serious moment.
Maybe it's like the first time they're like really intimate
with each other or something that they stop using the
nickname and they use their realname to show how important it is

(22:36):
so serious. But now I'm confused.
So it's like her first nickname,the vulnerable name, or like
then we're going to move to her real name, then the second
Isaac. There's too many names in play
here. We need to take one out.
Agreed. And in the movie, she calls him
quarterback, which I thought that was cute because I was
like, that makes sense. That's like a stand alone.
She made it make sense. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

(22:58):
Yeah, but cheer is just so, so fucking funny.
Yeah, he. Should have called her Hey
Flyer. But yeah, and also in the movie,
she's not a flyer. They don't have those at the at
their school because it's dangerous.
Like I don't think my in my highschool, the cheerleading team
didn't do flying tricks. No, that is like, really, really

(23:21):
intense. Yeah, they weren't.
Bring it on. No, it's more dance based.
So like they. Weren't the Toros?
And that's also the thing, if she's a dancer, why would she be
a flyer? There's no yeah.
I didn't even put that together,but you're a genius, Shelby.
Yeah, that makes sense. Additionally, no sense.

(23:44):
So she gets her car fixed and she approaches Drayden at the
next football practice to give him the remaining money.
And he like totally blows her off, makes a really rude comment
about how she's flexible, like in front of the guys.
And it's just, it's very grease like.
It's very like. Yeah.

(24:04):
He's like a Dick but not to me type of situation.
And he drains the kind of guy where he loves to be like, if if
someone says something like, oh,I'm, I'm so, you know, I so
sweaty or something, he'll be like, oh, I know how to make you

(24:25):
even wet or something like that.He'll always like, he's always
ready with like a sexual quip. He's ready with A and that's
what she said. Kind of, yeah, yeah, he's that
kind of guy. He's.
Yeah, Michael Scott, but like. In an insane way, I like did the
movie. There was like I think he did it
in the movie Noah Beck too. There was like one time where I

(24:47):
don't know, he caught something and he was like, I'm go with my
hands too or something like thator like, I don't know, something
like that. Like and I was like, OK, like
that seems like appropriate or like not appropriate for high
school. But like I get this whole entire
time I was like, am I like a virgin freak?
Yeah, like apparently we all andI maybe I was not fucking in

(25:12):
high school. Like, that's just not.
That's what. He did was that No, no, I get it
that people are having sex during high school again, wasn't
wasn't in my car. No, but like I feel like it's
not like this. No.
Well, that's what. I said to Shelby on the way to
brunch yesterday. I was like, listen, I understand

(25:33):
that teens are horny, but they are not horny the way this book
writes that they're horny. It's a very different, like
you're not telling a girl that like to be wet or something like
that in high school. No, you're also not swiping on
Tinder to hook up with people inhigh school.
That's what high school is for. You hook up with people in high

(25:53):
school I. Don't know.
I was like Tinder is for like like even I wouldn't even I
guess when I went to university it was pre apps, but it's like I
wouldn't have even used apps in no college because it's like you
just hook up with your classmates or your dorm mates or
like whatever and you don't needapps.
So it's like nowadays like post grad is when yeah apps I feel.

(26:17):
Like that's when I, well, yeah, when I was in school, I'd there
were no apps in existence. It didn't happen until, like, a
couple years after I graduated. But like, yeah, the whole point
of something like Tinder is because you're no longer in
situations in which there's a large group of your own peers
that you can date. Yeah, so you have to manufacture

(26:38):
it with technology, But I'm justlike, there's no what?
Like who is she matching with asa high school fucking senior?
17 years old creeps probably. She was like, yeah, I like go
out of town and like, like, look.
At these ranches, sugar baby. I don't, but then we we also

(26:59):
never see her doing that. Yeah, like before she gets with
Drayton. So it's weird.
It's super weird and this continues to get weirder because
they go her, her and her best friend Gabby go to an all ages
club opening called Illusion. And again, it just, it reminded

(27:19):
me so much like, yes, this is a Wattpad book because in high
school, this is all I wanted to be doing, going to a club,
hooking up with guy like and it just wasn't wasn't.
Happening for me, so an all agesclub is not something that
adults would go to. Yeah.

(27:41):
Because there are there. I remember when I was a kid,
they were like specific. There was like a teen club, but
it was specifically for ages, you know, 13 to 17.
There were not. It was not all ages.
Yeah, you're not going to have teenagers there.
And if you did, 21 year olds aren't going to go hang out
there. No.

(28:01):
The pedos will, yeah. Well, yeah, they.
Will, don't you want the children?
Sure. And that's not safe.
You're That's a liability. We're like drinking, right?
Or like, yeah, it's like. They made it seem like they
weren't. They were pregaming to not
because they wouldn't have access to alcohol at the club,
but then it seemed like they didhave access to liquor at the

(28:24):
club. So I was like, I don't
understand. And can we talk about the fact
that this club was an hour plus and a half away, yes, from their
house and they were just going to.
Uber. They were going to Uber.
That's not something you do. You don't take an Uber an hour
and a half. You really?
Don't and even if your house. Is.
Castle Rock, like or like this is when, because I did go to

(28:46):
parties like in high school thatwere a little bit of out of 10,
not an hour and a half, maybe like 30 minutes or something
like that. Yeah.
But someone would just suck it up and be the DD.
Like there's always someone thathad like church or sports or
like something the next day and yeah, like they like had to be
sober anyways and they would DD like, I don't know it just.

(29:09):
It makes no sense. I want to have a moment to talk
about poor Gabby who I think gets the the worst deal out of
this book starting. Clearly.
Starting immediately, because Tame Arley does this thing that
I hate where she'll like if people, if characters aren't

(29:30):
white, she's gonna describe their skin color so much and it
and it's so it's weird to me. It's off putting.
So she of course, is describing Gabby's skin constantly.
And then poor Gabby, also apparently this is in the book,
loves to do Dallas's homework somuch that Dallas does not even

(29:55):
feel bad giving Gabby her homework to do.
Yeah, what? Yeah, that was fucking weird.
She also, yeah, hooks up with like a rando that had a
girlfriend and gets punched in the.
Face. And then again, spoiler alert,
gets fucking pregnant and keeps the baby.
It's like. Wild.

(30:17):
Know who unfortunately this really reminded me of is Lane
Kim from Gilmore Girls. Oh, right, like they it's almost
like they don't know what to do with you aside from of that
character, aside from being likethe quirky non white best
friend. So you just kind of put them in
the worst possible circumstancesyou can to be like, look how

(30:40):
funny they still are even with all this going on.
She has a boyfriend that made out with her, like her best
friend. And then the best friends
boyfriend asks her boyfriend who's the better kisser.
Yeah, and the boyfriend can't even answer that it's his

(31:00):
current girlfriend. And and they make it seem like
that's a thing cuz like, yeah, this Josh is dating Gabby,
right? And he has made out with Dallas.
Why couldn't he just be like, mygirlfriend is the great better
kisser? Cuz Drake, he's like, if I say
that it's Gabby, then you're gonna then Dre, you'll be mad
that I said your girlfriend wasn't a good kisser.

(31:21):
That's not how it works, No. That was, that was.
Mind you, she was heavily be pregnant during this scene.
She was heavily pregnant, and hecouldn't even be like, yeah, the
woman who was about to deliver my child is the better kisser.
I just like, and again, I don't want to jump too for our head,
but it's like I just don't get what the point of that storyline

(31:44):
was because there was no payoff.There's no, I was like, oh,
maybe there's a sequel or something like that and it's
whatever the fuck, Gabby and Tim.
There is a sequel? What's it called?
No, it's I read it. There's a sequel with Gabby.
You want to guess who her love interest is?
Just wait. It's not.
I thought I saw a prequel. I didn't even see that there's a

(32:06):
sequel, no. This I think was on Wattpad, so
it was before it was published as a book.
So it so Gabby's name was different in the original thing.
It was like Spencer or something.
OK. You did the research that I, I,
I love you for this. So I I really need you to know
that in the sequel on Wattpad, Gabby gets with Nathan the

(32:26):
brother. With the child.
Though, Or she's got a daughter.Hey, Marley, I'm coming for you.
Oh. My God that's insane.
And this actually makes sense because that book, it is still
just on Wattpad. It never got like tough Tough

(32:48):
because when I was looking this up, there was no like official
sequel. And it's because you're right,
it's on Wattpad. That is absolutely insane.
Yeah, she told me that. And I was like, you're like, I
was by the end of this book, I was like, justice for Gabby.
Justice for Gabby because like also there's like that whole I,

(33:09):
I know we keep jumping, but there's that whole bit where
she's like, she doesn't want to tell Dallas that she's going to
Community College because everyone and then she's like,
you guys keep asking me where I'm going to school.
They've never would. Not once.
Never. Not a.
Single. Time.
And why would they care? Because they're leaving.

(33:29):
So why would they care that she's staying at home?
They're like, Oh my God, you're so smart.
You have to go to like of smart people college and she's like,
I'm staying local because I lovemy boyfriend and I didn't want
you to get mad at me for choosing people over my future.
Maybe a boyfriend. Yeah, sure, that's a little
crazy. But she also mentioned, like,
her fan, like she was like, I want to stay close to my family.

(33:50):
And I was like, that's actually like, right.
Like that's not unreasonable. Yeah.
It's just so funny that they make it seem like Dallas has
been badgering her about it. And I'm like where?
Where we did it, but that like happened in the movie too.
Yeah. Where she just was like non
existent in the in the last half.
Yeah. Justice for Gabby.

(34:12):
Justice for Gabby. Gabby in the movie was really
cool. I liked that actor a lot.
I think she was actually better than the lead, yeah.
Yeah, so Gabby leaves with Tim from this club and it has like
a, again, A1 night stand. I was like, this is crazy.
Like this just wouldn't wouldn'thave been me.

(34:33):
She's like, are you gonna be OK getting a ride home?
And then she's like, yeah, for sure.
She like calls an Uber. I think it like it takes too
long or it doesn't come or it cancels or whatever.
So she like starts walking and Drayden like fake.
Mugs her Oh my God, ridiculous and.
This I actually was, I don't know why I'm doing the book like

(34:53):
I was reading. I, I did listen via audiobook
and I was like, I literally was screaming at this because I was
like, and he was like, that was just to prove that like it's
really dangerous to walk home atnight.
And I was like, and you scared. Her like scared to death scared,
like scared she thought she was going to get assaulted or or

(35:16):
murdered or something. And he was like, see, like.
Yeah, but he, he, like, pulls her and, like, covers her mouth
and pulls her into an alley. And then he's like, just wait.
And then some creepy guy walks by as if, like, a creepy guy was
following her. And so Drayton pretends to mug
her so that she can feel like, see what could have, really.

(35:38):
Happened. No, it's like, why didn't you
just go hey, hey, there's my girlfriend or whatever, like
right. Glad I found you guy.
Yeah, to tell you to follow her.It's just, it's so crazy because
listen, I've been known in my day, I've been known to read a
bully romance or two, which are extremely.
Me too me. Too problematic to the highest

(35:59):
degree. So bad. 100% and even I read
this and it was like this is fucked.
Yeah, this is. So fucked up I don't understand.
At first I was like how the fuckis he going to rationalize this?
Like this is insane. Even his rationale is insane,
frankly. Dallas also is maybe the

(36:19):
stupidest person of all time. So which comes, but that comes
up later. We'll get there.
Yeah, yeah. But none of this is, like,
making any sense. Drayden's like, I'll give you a
ride home. She, like, finally accepts after
arguing for like, a million years.
And he takes her to his house because she's drunk and he wants

(36:43):
to look after her. And he lives in a huge house and
he takes her to her bedroom. And he's like, I'm not gonna
like, she's like, this is a ployto, like, get me in bed and
stuff like that. He's like, I'm not gonna have
sex with you. Like, I don't, like, have sex
with drunk girls. And then he immediately, like,
flips her over and pretends to kiss her just to show that he

(37:05):
could have done it. And I was like, this again is
just like low key horrific. It because it seems like the
idea is that they are into each other and he can tell she's into
him but she doesn't want to pursue it because she's like,
I'm busy, I only care about. I only, I only fuck guys on tin.

(37:28):
Right, I can't I can't know people.
I have to just have like a nameless hookup.
But but he's like, I can tell you're like sexually into me and
she is. And it's just like why, why, why
don't you just hook up? I mean, that's the whole story
of the book is like, right? Why don't you just hook?
Up. Why don't you just hook up?
No, no, that's a really good point.

(37:50):
Then why don't they just have casual sex then?
Yeah. Because she knows she'll fall
in. Love, fall in love with him.
Yeah, of course that's the the reason for everything.
But it's just like, it's also sofunny because I know like, I
think Tay Marley, she thought she ate with this, right?
She thought she was like, oh, it's 2017, I'm ahead of my time.

(38:11):
Like he's, he's waiting for consent.
He knows that because she's drunk she can't give consent,
blah blah blah. No, you did not eat with this
one. No, no.
Also they have sex when she is extremely drunk at his birthday.
Yeah. So again he like or like the
author went back on what her ownshe.

(38:33):
Forgot. And she never.
She forgot it was. In the early chapter, yeah, but.
I do like the way that they handled this in the movie more
than. I really liked that even though
he should have taken the the Chez Yeah, like and she should
have got the bed. But I did like he was like just
cuz I'm a jock doesn't mean I don't know what consent is.

(38:53):
And I was like our consent king.Yeah.
So the the book was called like the bad boy QB in me, right?
Yeah, he's not a bad boy in the movie at all, not one single
bit. And I think they.
Tried to smoke a single cigarette.
So the he rides a motorcycle. So I I'm so sorry I forgot about

(39:13):
that it. Was a program.
Necklace and a ring and a leather Jack like.
Right, of course. All the hallmarks of being a bad
boy. Oh God.
I know he's like the star athlete and like.
It's just that the idea that he's a bad boy mostly comes from
the fact that he has tattoos, which also how, how how does he

(39:38):
have them? That was another thing I was
like and like, there was always that one kid in high school, I
feel like that had a tattoo. But like, again, like he in the
book, she was describing like a full like sleeve.
Tattoo. Yeah, and I was just like that.
Is it once again insane? It's just not a thing that

(39:59):
happens to to teenagers. No no, but I I will say the
tattoo in the movie was way better than whatever the fuck
tame I really described in the book.
Yeah, cuz it. Was like a winding Rd. with like
children on it or something. Boy and girl holding holding.
Hands and walking into a sunset.Right.

(40:22):
And with like little, little things, she describes later,
there's like little things scattered along the road, which
are like little memory, like a. Football.
God forbid you can't. You can't forget the football.
Oh God. But I do think, like I said, I
think the movie handled this scene better and I do.
I did think like if it didn't feel as skeezy when he's like

(40:45):
leaning in to turn off the lightand it's.
Yes, yeah, you know that. Was very wrong, yes.
It's less about like it is stillproving a point, but not as like
rude as it is in the book. To the next stage, Rita drives
to her home and we find Gabby with the black eye and I feel
like people were way too cavalier about this but like and

(41:09):
moved on extremely quickly. Sam, if you came to me and told
me some bitch punched you in theeye, I would be like where?
Where is she? Where is she?
I'm I already Googling it finding her location.
But also, they establish that Gabby has an overbearing mother.

(41:33):
Yeah. And it's, again, she just comes
home with a black eye. I mean, we never see it,
obviously, but she just shows upone day with a black eye.
And her mom was just like, OK, yeah.
Yeah, just exception, the excusethat Dallas like accidentally
Dallas kicked her at cheer practice or like that is just

(41:53):
it's so weird. And then again, never never
heard about it again. Or like the trauma that would
come from getting hit by someone.
No, really, this just sets it upas like, we need to find someone
for Gabby basically, right? Like right what it turns into?
Right, cuz the next thing that happens, well actually Josh

(42:18):
hooks up like asks Dallas out, but then eventually Dallas will
tell Josh to ask Gabby out. Like, I know that that has
happened in real life where likeyou go on a date with a guy and
you're like, actually you're really.
You would be good for my friend.Yeah, 100%.
But it it's more so that the idea wasn't Dallas's, it was

(42:40):
Drayton's. Yeah, Drayton was like, you know
what? No, you're not going to date
Josh. Actually, maybe you should hook
him up with your best friend. Totally.
Drayton is so immediately upset over Josh showing attention to
Dallas. It's like, why didn't you guys
talk about this? Because Josh is basically his

(43:00):
brother. Like he lives with him.
That also pissed me off because they've interacted.
They've obviously interacted, and everyone can tell that
Drayden is upset. Like, they're both obsessed with
each other. Yeah.
So that also made no sense that he asked her out.
It also made no sense that he was living with him.
Like it was just like, OK, so you lived in Colorado and then

(43:24):
your mom got a job in Canada andthen he was like, I don't, I
don't want to move to Canada, soI'll just stay here.
Like again, I know that happens,but like.
It does make sense as far as like it's his senior year of
high school, right? So he's like, well, I'm just
going to live with Drayton's family for this year to finish
up high school here instead of transferring to Canada, Canada

(43:46):
school, but for a senior year. Tori, you bring up a great point
about. This book in general, Tay
Marley, overcomplicates everything I have.
I sent another long rambling voice note to Shelby just about
the fact that there is so much trauma between these two

(44:07):
characters. She had her parents die and then
her grandma who's looking after her.
She also died and now she only has her like tragic backstories
for all of them when they don't need them.
We don't neat like people can just die.
We later have like the whole thing with Drayton and his
grandpa who died in a fire. We.

(44:28):
Don't even remember that, right?Straight up don't.
Worry, it's literally about the whole like, oh he has to go to
Baylor University bullshit and it's like before his grandpa
died in a fire. Like in a fire.
Yeah, and he promised the dad. He could just be old.
Why couldn't it have been a promise on a deathbed for an old
guy who's dying? You know what I mean 100%?

(44:50):
So much trauma for no reason, but yeah she just
overcomplicates every SO. Much.
In Tame Marley's world, people don't die from like illness or
old age. It's only from murder and house
fires and horrific accidents. Totally.
I just you're right. She overcomplicates things.
It's like Josh could have just been a friend or maybe he was

(45:13):
like, I'm sure football teams have billets like in Canada.
If you are really good at hockey, you might live with
another family in another city, right?
Billeting. Oh, I didn't know that was a
thing to play. For that school.
Or he could have just been his brother.
Yeah, his brother or his friends, like he had no reason

(45:36):
to live. Like there was no point in him
living at that house. Like, it was just.
It was so weird. Yeah, but she takes him up on
it. This was also weird.
She's like, I won't date. But actually, you know what?
I will date you. I'll go to the after party with
you after the football game. And of course, they win every

(45:57):
single game in this book. Yeah.
There's no highs and lows of high school football.
It's just highs. And Jayden is obviously
immediately mad at her, not Josh, for going on a date
together. And Dallas does make it clear to
Josh. She's like, I don't do like date

(46:18):
stuff. It's just like casual.
And he's like, I'm cool with casual.
Yeah, I'm sure you are, like, Jesus Christ.
And they end up kissing. They go back to Drayden's house,
but they don't do anything more.And while Dallas is leaving to
walk home, Drayden arrives on his motorcycle.

(46:41):
And he's like, oh, he didn't, like, offer.
Like, you can't walk home alone.And we do figure out why he has
such a issue with girls walking home at night after parties in
particular. But yeah, it was again, you
could have cut like fucking all of this shit.
Like, this is the second time she needs to ride home from a

(47:04):
party. Like, just cut one of these
scenes. Like please, Tamar, please, I am
begging you. Please can't.
Because it comes out 1 chapter at a time.
Yeah, I think. You're right, but the editor
edit the editor this gosh, and I'm telling you, you guys, this
book wasn't as bad as I thought it was good to be like it's just

(47:29):
it's. So funny to me, too, that we
spend, because you're right, I think this book could have been
200 pages, like a tight 200, because there are so many times,
and I've expressed this to Shelby as well, so many times,
in which the descriptions of certain things is so unnecessary
and it takes up so much space. There's a part where she's

(47:50):
describing the hotel room they go to stay in.
Every single fucking she's like it has a.
Gym and a pool. Like what?
Are you doing and? It's not even artistic, it's not
even like the hotel atmosphere made me a glow with a feeling of

(48:11):
the warm yellow like whatever. But she literally described a
plate of nachos by being like itwas a there was sour cream and
tomato and of and of course a pile of chips and no descriptors
whatsoever, just straight up giving you the ingredients of a
nachos. No, when she does her cow art.

(48:34):
Interview she literally described she's like there was 2
twin beds with one bedside tablein between and two two other
chairs and I was like I wanna. Kill myself.
But then she also says. She also says that there's only
a little bit of space between the beds and like the whatever
like dresser thing, but then shesays later that she rehearses

(48:57):
her routine. Yeah, in that hotel room and.
I'm like with what space? I.
Think it makes sense? I think Tay, maybe she like
looked up like she Googled, like, you know, Hilton Garden or
whatever, Garden Inn and like just looked at a picture, yeah,
of a hotel room. And then was like, OK, there's

(49:19):
two chairs, there's two beds. Immediately put that in the book
she didn't even try to like. Right.
It's like. Yeah, we are gonna assume that
there's two beds when you're like staying with your brother,
like. Right.
Or when you go with Drayton and there's only one.
It's the one bed trope we gotta share.
Well, technically she's already done the one bed trope already
before they even go to Los Angeles.

(49:41):
Guys, we've been talking about this book for so long and we're
not even like. No, I know.
Through we're not amount of plotpoints, right?
Yes, let's like RIP through someof these.
But like, literally though, thisbook goes so slow.
This is the other thing. It was like so slow.
And then the last like 100 pages, like 100 things happen.
Yeah. And also she's really bad at

(50:03):
building tension because it would be like, like, a character
would say one thing and all of asudden they were fighting and I
was like, is there no, what? No, it's zero to 60.
And I'm just like, OK, there's abuild usually like, oh, he said
something that pissed you off and you do this and then there's
like, more going on. There, there, there was no like

(50:25):
climax of this book or anything like that.
Like at least they changed that in the movie.
But like, yeah, they didn't havelike a third act breakup or like
anything like that like that. It was just such a fizzle with
the all the football stuff. Like, I just, I was waiting for
the other shooter drop and just nothing ever came.
But he takes her home. Gabby accepts the lunch plans,

(50:48):
really hits it off with Josh. And a month passes and Gabby and
Josh are like fully obsessed with each other.
They're dating and they end up going to one of Drayden's away
games because obviously Dallas is on the foot.
The cheer team, right? They win the game.
There's an after party and she doesn't want to go but he

(51:11):
invites her to his room and she does take him up on that and
they end up walking around the town and they go to a club, a
real club. Yeah.
Because Drayden knows the bouncer and they have a sexy
dance and then they end up doingsomething super bad boy, of

(51:33):
course, skinny dipping in someone else's pool.
This is something I would have done in high school.
And they kiss for the first time, which is or they like have
that like. Almost kiss.
Yeah, I think it's an almost kiss.
Because the owner of the pool comes out and surprise,
surprise, it's actually his aunt.
And he just wanted Dallas to feel a thrill of being bad for

(51:58):
one night. So even in the book, the only
indication we have that he is some kind of bad boy is the
tattoos and he smokes cigarettes.
Yeah, yeah. And the.
Motorcycle. Can't forget the.
Sorry, sorry. The motorcycle.
Yeah. But then even throughout the
book, like as he starts dating Dallas, he stops smoking
cigarettes. Yeah.

(52:19):
She's changing him, Shelby. He wants to be a a good boy.
He's a good boy QB. There's literally yes he is
because there's literally nothing else he does.
He doesn't drink and drive. He's like, really respectful to
women, drives her home like. Loves his mom like.
Loves his mom like. It really like, yeah, there is

(52:42):
nothing bad about this guy, eventhis like he ends up taking her
to a outdoor movie, which was crazy because it was like way
past midnight. Yeah.
And they fall asleep together and they wake up in the park and
then obviously get in trouble because they're not in their
hotel rooms and they get suspended.

(53:02):
Actually, this is a bad boy move.
I will give him this one thing. They get suspended and he
immediately goes, let's go to California.
Yeah. Babe, how are you buying the
plane tickets? How are you buying the hotel?
He's rich, he's rich, his parents have money.
His mom owns a skin care line. An organic skin.

(53:22):
Care line and his dad needs to be an NFL player.
That's right. And his dad, by the way, is
named Leroy and I so I was reading this and again, I think
Tay's got a weird thing about race.
She definitely doesn't understand racial dynamics in
the US because there's some language in here that she uses

(53:44):
that would not. It would not.
It comes off as racist. Yeah.
Yes. So I just Drayton and Leroy.
I'm just, I don't what are you doing?
I I get the idea that Tay Marleythinks like being a bad boy is
like having darker skin because she does constantly describe his

(54:10):
olive skin to the point where I'm like, in my head, I was like
draining his biracial, his dad'sblack.
Like I was like, that was how I found in my wish.
And then they. Cast in Noah Beck.
So you're like, Nope, guess Noah.
Right. And James van der.
Meek. It's why it's wild to me.

(54:30):
I don't know. I don't know what, I don't know
what her game plan was with. This, I think she just doesn't.
She didn't think about a lot of stuff.
She didn't know a lot of things and was like, this doesn't
matter, you know, and didn't even, it didn't even register
for her to question it, you know.
Yeah, yeah. Probably not.
Definitely not. They end up going to California
and she doesn't tell her guardian older brother Nathan,

(54:54):
which again is crazy crossing state lines.
She leaves a note. She leaves a note for him and
she just avoids all of his calls, which is like honestly
rude. It's like, pick up the fucking
phone. What is he going to do?
He's not going to like at this point, what is he going to?
Do right? But it's raining in LA, of
course, so they stay. In the hotel room.

(55:15):
Classic. Classic.
Oh, it's raining. Yeah.
To be fair, I have gone to LA three times and all three times
it's been raining. OK, next time you book a ticket
to LA, when you're thinking of acertain date, don't pick that
date right because. I I clearly have to pick
something. You have to be like, you have to

(55:36):
trick yourself being like, yeah,I'm definitely going February
17th and then go the week after.Like that is weird but it is
like poured every single time I'm gone, which is really sad.
So I, my boyfriend went to Cal Arts.
So every time Cal Arts was mentioned, I was I'm like, I'm

(55:57):
like what did this happen at CalArts?
And he's like no. And I was like, was Cal Arts
like this? And he's like, no.
Because there's this. Whole thing about while they're
there touring Cal Arts, they're like, oh, they have these
parties where they see, they have this thing where they see
who can drink the most. The talent competition.
The talent competition to see you can drink the most.
And I was like, babe, did that really happen?

(56:19):
And he's like, no, that's not real in any.
Way also that was fucking crazy that they go to the campus and
then this tour guides just like hanging out.
I was like, oh, you look like a fellow like student.
Like, are you a prospective student?
I'm not doing anything right now.
Like, do you need a little tour around campus?

(56:41):
Like just that would never happen.
Well, it literally happens in Wicked when Glinda sees that
Fiero has come to school and shepurposely is like, I can show
you around. So that's immediately why I'm
like, Cooper is a creep guy. He has.

(57:01):
He has like the whole homecomingthing is insane.
Literally. What's more, the most insane
thing about the homecoming thingis that it doesn't turn out to
be a threat. Yeah.
Fine, it's. Like Shelby said it perfectly.

(57:22):
She said. She was like, he shows up there
and Dallas is like, oh, I think he's just a really good guy.
And then turns out he's actuallyjust.
He's just a good guy. He's just a.
Good guy. He's not that couldn't date.
This was also weird. I was like the the the ranged
marriage of it all like that he the racial undertones, the whole

(57:42):
back story of the ex-girlfriend again.
We didn't need that. You just needed to say bye
Cooper, and we would never see him again.
Cooper should have never shown up.
It's so weird. You're right, because like what
happens is like, she goes to Calarts to audition in person,
right? That's the whole thing is like
she needs to get this audition person audition or whatever, or

(58:05):
to see Calarts or whatever. She bumps into this guy and then
like, they have to go home because Drayton's mom calls and
he's like, you have to come home.
Thank God there's some adult doing, some adult.
And because no one else, no other adults gives a fuck, they

(58:26):
say, they say blatant sex jokes in front of their, like insane
ones. Like insane ones.
They're like hook up in front oftheir Yeah.
Dude, Drayton's dad sees later on fucking sees Dallas's
probably her, all her boobs, herwhole boobs, her entire boobs,

(58:46):
her whole boobs. And it's just like Drayton
breakfast and like, why? Like what are we doing?
After like that whole trip to California, she meets this guy
once. She hangs out with this guy
Cooper for just like a tour of the campus and then he shows up
at. Her door because they've been
texting. Like that's the.
Colorado a broke college studentjust like getting tickets.

(59:10):
Like aren't you in classes rightnow?
How does he have her address? He called the diner, the diner
and the diner just gave it. I was like, that is an HR
violation if I've ever seen. One yeah Oh yeah, cuz he
explains it. He's like, I called the diner
and said that like I had to sendyou something or whatever.

(59:33):
And I'm like, that's so creepy. So creepy.
So he shows up and both Drayton and Nathan, Right?
Or like, this is so creepy. Yeah.
Yeah. And Dallas is the one who's
like, no, it's fun. No, it's OK.
I oh guy. Also it's like you're in
college. Get away from high school high.
Schooler. Literally that was so weird and

(59:56):
she has that such like a bone topick with Emily for fucking
Lincoln. Which which is?
Obviously extremely inappropriate, but I'm like,
what did you think Cooper was doing?
It's like the same thing. He's taking advantage of you.
Yeah, yeah. It's so weird that they have the
like Drayton jealous of her and Josh thing and then Drayton

(01:00:17):
jealous of her and Cooper thing.It's like you're so weird.
We could have cut. She just kept.
Hitting. Yeah, she just kept hitting the
tropes, but I think she was liketesting it out.
She was like, OK, which one works better answer.
None of them. None of them.
It could have just been, could have just been one of them.
So yes, they they get back to Colorado.
A month passes. She says to him We can't talk

(01:00:40):
because they have like a few, like they kiss.
They like kiss after playing some truth or dare and.
Yeah, and she's like this, Really.
Hot and. Cold, yeah, but too hot, too
cold. And she was like, I actually
just, like, need to focus on school.
This is exactly what I was like,afraid of happening.
Yeah, because I'm obsessed with you and that hasn't changed.

(01:01:02):
And that has doesn't change. So a month passes and then all
of this like Cooper bullshit happens.
Yeah, and this also didn't OK, cuz like we don't have
homecoming. We like barely have football.
I feel like in Canada. So you guys will have to explain
this to me. But like, it's homecoming, but
it's also Halloween. So that's not usually what

(01:01:22):
happens. This is what Sam was upset
about, because it's Halloween weekend, right?
So normally what you would have is like the homecoming game
would be on a Friday and the homecoming dance would be the
day after on the Saturday night.So the way they arranged it here
is that that's all happening on Halloween weekend.

(01:01:43):
OK, so it's like the weekend before Halloween.
So I don't know how they're having a party and a dance, but
maybe it's the game and then that night is the party and
then. The yeah, I do know that there
are some places that do the dance and the game on the same
day, like it's the homecoming dances after, but not in

(01:02:04):
Florida, but I have heard of it outside of Florida.
No, because in Florida it's like, then you're going to ruin
the attendance for the homecoming game.
No one's going to come. Because all the girls.
Are going to be getting ready and like, guys who aren't on the
football team are going to be pre gaming somewhere and pre
drinking. Yeah.
So it's like, it's not usually how it happens.
But like, homecoming is a less formal dance.

(01:02:26):
Also, like, it's not prom, right?
You're usually wearing cocktail dresses because it's like a
little more chill, low budget ifyou will.
But yeah, it just it this whole series of events, the.
Timeline was so confusing to me because she ends up going to
this Halloween party dressed in Drayden's number and his

(01:02:48):
favorite NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys.
Her name is Dallas. Like we don't have to.
Don't acknowledge it. Which is also crazy that at what
he never at one point says when he they get introduced like your
name's Dallas, like my favorite no football team that doesn't

(01:03:10):
happen. But he also, like she, has no
idea who he is. But apparently he knows who she
like. He's been watching her.
What are you? What are you talking about?
Like, and also if you're on the cheer squad, you know every
football player and vice versa because you are going to home or
away games and you're at their home games.

(01:03:31):
There's like, all of those. You guys are basically
teammates. Yes, yes, like none of that made
sense. I was glad that they switched it
in the movie where she like transfers.
Yes. Right.
She's new. Yeah.
But she like, also is like kind of like weirdly entertaining
this Cooper idea. Yeah, but also being like, why
I'm wearing his jersey so I can like get back together with him

(01:03:51):
or whatever. Like that was weird.
Yeah, if anyone's hot and. Cold.
It's down right I feel like. Drake was pretty clear from day
one. Actually, thank you.
Thank you for saying that. He's been like, I like you.
And she's like, yeah, I'm not sure.
Yeah, can neither confirm nor deny.

(01:04:12):
Hurts like weird intentions of going there to like, get Drayton
back. But then Cooper is also there
dressed as Johnny. What's his name?
Jack Sparrow and like for what reason?
Also a Dallas Cowboys jersey as your costume is really fucking
lame. Dallas like that?
Yes. At the very least, you could

(01:04:33):
have dressed as a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader.
Cheerleader A. That's an actual costume, right?
Or you could have dressed as like a football player, like put
in some cute little baby shoulder pads and some lines on
your face and yeah, your football player hold so the.
Helmet under your arm. Oh, grab a football.
A helmet. And this is so fucking weird cuz

(01:04:56):
Drayden plans to ask her to homecoming even though they
haven't talked for a month. Decides like and also the
homecoming's the next day. So how would that?
Work. But then he doesn't because he
finds out that Cooper's taking her out there coming, and it's
like. What?
It makes no sense, but they end up going to homecoming.

(01:05:17):
The fucking creepy ass college student in Dallas and Dre tells
Cooper what corsage to buy her because he noticed that her
favorite flowers are lilies because she draws them on her
notebook and he's. Like he sees me like.

(01:05:38):
He also remembers like, the colors of her clothing, but to
the extent that, like Drayton remembers when she wears
champagne and. Rose.
No he doesn't. Nobody.
Does. No, but not even no. 17 year old
boys, Nobody. Nobody that way.

(01:05:59):
Like I love that rose gold chessyou were.
Wearing that is so fucking painful.
To me that was. So painful to me, but they he
like follows her outside at one point and they like end up
kissing and then she goes like this is so like I don't know how
many times I can say that this is horrific writing at drink.

(01:06:21):
Every time I say horrific, but they end up reconnecting, making
out and then she's like, sorry, I can't do this.
I'm with Cooper right now. Girl, this is everything that
you've wanted for the last month.
You wore his jersey or whatever.This fucking.
Party and you keep insinuate or like you keep saying that you
and Cooper are only friends. It's so annoying.

(01:06:42):
So Cooper sees them kissing, finally leaves against the
fucking. And he's so chill about it
because he's like, yeah, I was using you to get over a girl who
got arranged. Arranged married.
Yeah, liked me so bad, but Dallas and Drayden do end up
talking and she admits that she likes him.

(01:07:06):
He's like, yeah, I like you too and I actually want to date you.
But also this other things happening where Emily kind of my
ex fling who is the head cheer captain where her mom is also
the coach that her. Mom never shows up to anything
so. She mom is straight up.
Not in this book. He's like low key she's like

(01:07:30):
blackmailing us like because she's jealous and wants to date
me so her mom will like ruin ourcollege chances if we continue
and so they end up deciding to date in secret.
Yeah, why not? And Jayden is, he defends Emily.
This girl, he's like her home life is hard and just like.

(01:07:55):
But then again, we do not see that.
At all. No, and also it's like why?
And also like. We don't.
Care and also like who you know who you're talking to.
Like Dallas literally doesn't have parents.
You literally. And yet she's not horrible to
every single. Person she interacts literally.
Oh God. OK, this is an exact example of

(01:08:19):
what we've been talking about this whole time.
Dallas walks home from something, again in the cold and
dark, and Jayden sees her work and Jayden sees her and goes and
picks her up and then he's pissed.
So this is the third time that she's been walking home from
somewhere. There's no buses.
Buses don't. Don't.
Exist No. Not cast, No.

(01:08:40):
Taxis no like. Just Uber.
Uber and walking and walking. Or Drayton's motorcycle.
Or Drayton's motorcycle. Dallas does in fact have a car
though, but her and her brother split a share with.
It Yeah. But you would think, hey, I'm
your older brother and you're working tonight at a diner.

(01:09:01):
And I'm just hooking up with a girl at her house.
And this whole time I was like, are we going to find out that,
like, Nathan's actually doing something else, something more
important or like things are more serious?
No, no. He's just, he's not in a slut.
Nope. Yeah, he's just a little slut
the whole time. In the movie they made him gay.

(01:09:22):
They. Did, which I love.
I was like fuck yeah, let's do it.
Yeah, Fun fact, the actor that plays Nathan in the movie is
also the lead male character in another Wattpad adapted movie
called like the Boot Boot Camp. I really wanna watch boot.
Camp, it actually was way betterthan this fucking.

(01:09:43):
It was not good, but it was way fucking better than all this
shit. But he plays the love interest
in that, which I was like, hey, that's the same guy.
He's just racking up these Wattpad.
Do it. But the difference between this
time with her walking home and Drayton finding her and the
other two times that it happens is now this time he goes and

(01:10:05):
yells at Dallas's brother and gets in his fucking face about
it. It's like.
Like you people not make a little like a little mistake,
like dude, he was literally. Running out of the house to
like, 'cause he forgot and he just remembered she was going to
go pick her up. It would have been all of 10
minutes late probably. But it's also wild because later

(01:10:27):
on, Dallas and Nathan have that argument where she's like, well,
you're never fucking here. Never see that.
Never. There's never a moment where
there's never a moment where Dallas is like home by herself
and is like, damn, I really wishmy brother was here.
Not a single second. She's off with her fucking
boyfriend. She's off with Drayton 99% of

(01:10:47):
the time. How would she even know that
Nathan's not there? That makes no sense.
Insane. And then, like, third time's the
charm because finally Drayton has to, like, admit he opens up
to her a little bit. And it's like, here's why this
is happening. Because I had a twin sister who

(01:11:08):
got abducted and murdered when she was walking home from a
party because I didn't wake up to walk home with her.
And and because we were going toa party at 11 years old that was
also and also like your parents let you go to a party and then
walk home alone at 11 years old.OK, this is shows you how bad

(01:11:28):
the writing was is that I didn'tcare I.
Literally OK. Like a child got murdered and I
like didn't even blink It's. Really horrific too because she
even describes like what happened to this kid, like how
they found her body. And I, I'm so glad they changed
it in the movie because they're like, we don't need to go into
that detail in the movie. They're just like she wandered

(01:11:49):
away and no one ever saw her again.
I do not. I don't not did, not even.
That's like he's, he's like, yeah, she, she wanted her away.
And then like, we, we never saw her again.
That was the last time I saw her, you know, And so it's like
she disappeared. They don't go into details about
it, but. The thing is, is that because
like to your point Tori, I also didn't give a shit that he had a

(01:12:11):
dead sister because I was like, there are so many plot points
that I'm already having to keep track of, so many names that I'm
having to remember and like how they're connected to any part of
this fucking story that I'm like, OK, dead sister.
Cool. Throw it in the fucking pile of
plot points that are never actually gonna come up again.
Cuz like, like Shelby said, third time's the charm.

(01:12:32):
We finally understand why he's so weird about her walking home
at night. And then it's like, OK, yeah, I
have a dead sister. Cool.
I'm not going to be an asshole anymore, I guess.
Totally. And it's like weird that they
like moved from Texas to this town and then just like hid the
fact that like they don't wanna.Die.

(01:12:53):
Yeah, yeah, like that is weird. That seems like the start of
like a horror movie where the parents are like the murderers
or. Something it's giving Jon Benet
Ramsey. Very much that, yes.
But she's like, I love that you're opening up to me.
She's like, I love this guy. And they have sex for the first

(01:13:14):
time and everything's going really well because, you know,
she kills her. Cal Arts audition time passes
and they go back to school in January.
There's a point where Dallas is at school and it needs to grab
something from the gym. She goes into the gym and she

(01:13:36):
sees Emily having sex with Lincoln, who is one of the
assistant coaches, who's 25. She is 17.
Instead of fucking, screaming and being like, girl, do you
need help? Like, what's going on here?
She takes pictures of them. She takes pictures.
That's child pornography, baby. That is child pornography.

(01:13:57):
Child pornography and like she is threatening revenge porn.
Yeah, two counts against Dallas.This was your like so
irresponsible, so like unforgivable to be honest, and
so she threat she goes if you fucking give Drayden and IA hard
time. I'm releasing these photos.

(01:14:18):
She's not like, hey girl, like I'm kind of concerned that
you're having like non consensual sex because this
guy's sleeping with. Minor, right?
Yeah, she tells that in at the end, she's like, hey, I'm gonna
blackmail you with revenge porn,but also maybe you shouldn't be
hooking up with an. And I will say different states

(01:14:41):
have different age of ages of content.
Tori, the US is not doing well. Yeah, but but, but no matter
what, if you're working at a school, you cannot have sex with
students. That's thank you.
That's another point. There's there's there's the
power dynamics of the school position.

(01:15:04):
Like yeah, it was so out of leftfield.
All the entire story plot with Emily could have honestly been
taken out because nothing ends up happening.
Yeah. It's like for one blip of a
second, it's what keeps them from like, being public about
their relationship, but it doesn't even really affect them,
no. No, because they both agree to

(01:15:25):
be secret. It's not like I'm keeping you
secret because I'm embarrassed by you or whatever.
It was like mutually agreed upon.
Drain's birthday. This is so sad.
It's like, it's like our son's twin sister died.
So we can never celebrate his birthday again.
We're gonna leave him on his birthday every year so he can

(01:15:48):
get RIP roaringly drunk and be by himself.
What the hell It's it's wild. His parents go away for his
birthday every year because theycan't stand that it was also his
sister's birthday. You had.
You had. More kids.
It's so crazy and she like doesn't know that she gets

(01:16:10):
invited to his birthday dinner, but she has this bad interaction
with the dad because he's again,so stressed out.
He needs to go to Baylor University.
But then on his like actual birthday, 'cause he has like 3
birthdays, he has a birthday to his family, he has his real
birthday and then he has his birthday party.
She bought Dallas buys him a star in Abbey's name, as well as

(01:16:34):
a telescope to see the star and a Lantern to like, set free that
like it was just. So many parts.
There were so many. I just, I didn't.
Care. And that's really bad when this
is the emotional part of the book.
And I just was like, OK, let's get to the party.

(01:16:54):
Yeah, what else is going to happen?
Because there are still so many things left to happen.
Yeah, and high schoolers are having a party.
It's someone's birthday, so it makes sense that they would get
a stripper, right? Yeah, of course.
I love that Dallas does a keg stand and she's like, people are
trying to lift her up. She's like, no, I'm a

(01:17:15):
cheerleader. I got that.
She does a full handstand on thekeg, which is just like the most
ridiculous thing to put in a book.
Like what do you? But I also don't get this the
relevance of the scene other than the fact that they needed
to like get her drunk so that she could do like the other
things at the rest of the party.But like, before she does the
keg stand, she asks the guy she's like, OK, what's the
record? And they say it's like a minute

(01:17:37):
23 or something like that. And so she does it, and she only
does it for 40. Seven, she doesn't even beat the
record. But they act like she did.
They act like she won. Again, why did they have any of
this? Like none of this was relevant.
It was. They did kind of say earlier
where Dallas has a personality trait that she has told us she

(01:17:58):
has, where if she's drunk, she gets very belligerent.
Like she'll like, you know, she doesn't She she'll fight.
Yeah. So she is now very drunk right
when this stripper shows up and is dancing on.
Jayden, who clearly like she describes for six pages how he

(01:18:20):
doesn't give a fuck that this girl is dancing on him like the
good boy that he is, but someoneconvinces her to push.
Her off yes. So it's it's because this is
this is where I am like Tay Marley's kind of racist because
first of all, Dallas has a friend named Melissa who's black
and every time Melissa speaks it's in dialect.

(01:18:42):
Tay writes it in like over the top dialect doesn't do that for
anybody else. And then also when the stripper
is there, Dallas says to herself.
She says that I was about to pull someone's fucking weave
off. Oh my God.
This is at the point, This is the point where I sent Sam a
voice note. Thanks for bringing that up.

(01:19:04):
So I was listening to the audio version and I had to rewind
because I was like, did I miss that?
Did I hear that correctly? I heard that you.
Did yeah and I was like okay maybe Tay Marley is a lot
younger than me maybe people wore extensions a lot more in
high school when she went to high school maybe they referred

(01:19:26):
to it as weave because in my. Experience Laguna Beach days I
guess. But in my experience, only
really black women called it weave.
It was we, if you were, you know, it was it's extension,
right? So for her to say I was gonna
pull someone's fucking weave outis very much a racial comment.
And it's just wild that no one picked up on that was like,

(01:19:47):
let's take that line out. She literally could have said
I'm about to RIP somebody's hairout.
Like totally literally could have just said hair.
Insane and she ends up pushing her to the.
Floor pushing the stripper to the floor.
This poor woman just trying to do her goddamn job.
Yes, and then she gives him a lap dance and strips and then he

(01:20:08):
Yanks her out of the room and was like, I don't want anyone
looking at my girlfriend. And she's like, I'm your
girlfriend. Why she was like and he was like
I would have asked for it in a better.
Way. But, but you're drunk and this
is the circumstances. Yeah.
And then they have sex. He does a big proposal.

(01:20:29):
For her very silly she. Gets accepted into Cal Arts and
he admits that he hasn't sent inhis letter of intent to Baylor
because he's considering going to UCLA.
And I guess that this is supposed to be the third act
breakup and she's like, you shouldn't change your plans just
for me. She's right.

(01:20:50):
And he's like, I will anyways. And then they have a fight.
But then they like immediately break up when Nathan's like, I
feel like me like hooking up with randos and like not
prioritizing. Like, I guess like relationship
has rubbed off on you and they make out, they say I love you

(01:21:13):
for the first time. They go to prom.
And unfortunately, this is wherewe find out that Gabby is
pregnant. This is so wild because Dallas
looks at Gabby, sees that Gabby has gained a little weight so
her dress is tighter than it waswhen she bought it, and then
noticed that Gabby was mildly nauseated at some point.

(01:21:34):
And then immediately Dallas is like, Oh my God, Gabby is
pregnant. Literally a minute.
That happened. I wrote pregnant and I was like,
I was like. Oh.
Please don't do this to me. Pardon, Gabby.
Listen, I will say at my reader preference, I fucking hate when
characters end up pregnant. It's like my least favorite

(01:21:55):
thing if it happens. Yeah, if I'm reading a book and
it happens, I'm immediately turned off by the book.
Same. Unless it like makes sense.
Even then, 99%, yeah. This even though the dozens I'm
like this. Is not a story for me.
Because that's fair. Oh, my God, they go to get a
pregnancy test. Gabby can't even read the

(01:22:17):
pregnancy test right. The apparent like the genius,
the girl who does Dallas's homework for her.
What are you talking? And she's the one who has no
idea that this could be happening.
It's just the the wildest pregnancy reveal.
Yes, that pissed me off too cause yeah, she's like, she
mistakes the one line for two lines or whatever, but you're

(01:22:38):
right, 'cause like Dallas is like, well, when you have sex
you like are using condoms, right?
Or on the pill or like whatever.And she's like, not every time,
huh? Like but also do you want to get
pregnant? But also, I think the most like
insane part of this whole section with the pregnancy is

(01:22:59):
that when Gabby misreads the pregnancy test and then she
thinks it's negative, she's disappointed.
Yeah. What fucking 1718 year old is
disappointed by an like, that's what I'm saying.
This was written with like adults in mind because I can
totally see that If it's like ifwe age these characters up to be

(01:23:20):
like, you know, late, no, not late 20s, early 30s, mid, you
know, like 30s. And they think they might be
pregnant with their the man thatthey're in love with and they
find out they're not. Like, that makes sense.
Yeah. Like, you're to be disappointed
100%. But like teens, teens.
Also, it's like they got together around October.
This is this is before graduations.

(01:23:42):
This is prom. So like April?
April so it's like you guys havebeen dating for like 6 months
like. Yeah, and clearly she ends up
with Nathan anyway, so. Right.
And it's like. I need to read on like I.
Need to. Read that you need to read and
give. Us the T Yeah, please.
Do I will cause it's like what happened, like what happened in

(01:24:03):
between all of us. Yeah, What did Josh do?
Did he? Is he in Canada?
Is he? Did he leave?
Yeah. Did he die in a fire?
He did in a fire. A girl can hope that he died in
a fire. For graduation they they decide
to keep the baby and they casualI guess.
But yeah. We like basically never hear

(01:24:24):
about it again. But Drayden, they graduate.
Drayden gets Dallas a motorcycle.
Which again. Yeah, it's like you're. 18 she
goes to college, she goes off tocollege.
They have their tearful like I guess they say goodbye, but he's
supposed to see her off at the airport He and he doesn't.

(01:24:44):
Show up at there. He doesn't show up.
Because, surprise, surprise, he's on the plane and he
actually is going to UCLA. Which how did she miss him
getting on the? Plane.
She was too busy with her familymembers.
At who were at the gate yet at the gate?
And like, again, it was just like, why it didn't you just

(01:25:05):
tell her? Like I don't.
Yeah. What kind of horrible prank is
that? Yeah, it's like.
I made you miserable for the entire summer because you
thought we were going to be apart and we're just not.
Yeah, really silly. OK.
And then there was like an epilogue kind of thing.
Which is one of the funniest things in the book because we

(01:25:25):
talked about just how living in LA, the epilogue thing is like,
oh, it's their senior year. Things are great and he admits
that he crashed into her car on purpose in the.
Beginning of the Yeah. Which I'm surprised, Tay, I'm
surprised you remember that far back that that happened.
But then he he takes her to an apartment and he's like, this is

(01:25:48):
our apartment now. It's halfway between Calarts and
UCLA. It's well, he says.
It's 15 minutes from Calarts and20 from UCLA.
It's not. Spoiler it's definitely not.
It is prohibitive too far from both of those places.
No, that was so weird. And then he's like, I like, I

(01:26:11):
want to get this apartment. And she's like, yeah.
And he's like, well, you haven'teven seen it.
And she's like, well, I trust you guys.
It's been 2. Years.
So maybe like, you know, he's grown, he's matured, he's shown
himself. No, absolutely not.
It's ridiculous from start to finish.

(01:26:31):
This book is absolutely ridiculous.
No, I know. Let's just talk about some of
the movie thing like if there was any again, highlights and
low lights and then we can do a round table discussion of them
both together. But the movie they changed,
Shelby, you mentioned this. They changed the name to
sidelined the QB and me. Why do you think that they like

(01:26:53):
changed it just because the the book title is bad like.
Yes, I think, well, when I like,I think that there's so much in
the novel that doesn't work as alegitimate story that they had
to change a lot to make it to make it work as a movie.

(01:27:13):
Otherwise you just kind of have a series of scenes that don't
really make any sense. It is truly a completely
different yes entity. Yeah, it's it.
Has the. Essence like there are there are
the moments that they try to tieback to the original novel, but
like it's it's a pretty standardlike teen ROM com.

(01:27:34):
You know, Jock meets new cheerleader and he Badgers her
for a little bit and then she realizes he's not like other
boys and then they fall in love.Yeah, they took out like all the
sex and they do it like again inthe very classic like high
school, like Are you sure about that, like type of thing?
Yeah. And yeah.

(01:27:55):
So they take out like they take out the pregnancy stuff.
They take out so much but to almost where to me and we were
talking about this before we started recording.
But like to me the one thing I will give Miss Tay Marley is I
felt like the characters at least had good banter and like
at least we knew stuff about them.

(01:28:18):
I did not know one thing about these characters.
Like there was no character develop.
Like there was just nothing about these characters that I
like. If I was just watching this
movie without the book, I would have like you just don't have
any personal connection to any of the characters.
Like it was so fucking bad. And I think that goes more to, I

(01:28:42):
think it shows more the like howwe view books differently from
movies, right? Cuz when you're reading, you get
to put so much into it in when you're watching a movie, like
someone did the set design, someone did the costuming,
someone cast these people. Whereas when you're reading a
book, you, the reader are addingso much to that story and that

(01:29:05):
experience. Yeah.
And that's why I think a lot of people connect to this as a book
because they're putting their own feelings and everything in
there. You're like I'm connecting to
these characters because I can see things that I line up with
and then and reading is a much more like personal internal
experience. Yeah.
So I would give the credit to you Tori, and not to Tamarly my

(01:29:27):
enemy to. Shelby's enemy.
I will say though, I watched so like really showing myself here.
I actually watched the movie when it came.
Out. No, I know because I know you
texted. Me, we talked about it.
I was like girl, like is it likeit's bad?
So bad it's good. You're like, no, it was.
Just bad. It was just bad.
But I will say I think it allowed me to really see how bad

(01:29:55):
the book was. I think it's harder when you go
book to movie than movie to book.
I always prefer, like when I wasa teen, I wanted to read the
books first before I ever saw any movie adaptations.
And then I realized what a disservice I was giving myself.
Because if you do it the other way around and watch the piece
of media before reading it, you actually just make the movie

(01:30:16):
better. Like completely agree.
Yeah. Because it gives it more
context. You're like, Oh my God, in that
scene when they did, Unless it'scompletely different.
Like I could talk for 8,000,000 years about how the movie
version of the Duff is way worsethan the actual book.
But I also love the movie. They're very different,
completely different. But yeah, I think it just
enhances it. So like when I was, when I

(01:30:37):
watched it and I watched it a while ago before I started
reading the book, I was like, isthis what the movie was like?
There were so many extra plot points and I was like, was this
what the movie was about? I don't remember any of this and
like. For a girl that has no
imagination, sometimes it helps to watch the movie first, then
you can like picture like you just picture know about the cast

(01:30:58):
or whatever. Yeah.
Noah back, which like you guys, like I know that this is so sad
and we just talked about like people dating minor or like
sleeping with minors and, and this feels like that situation
'cause he's 23 and I am 32, but for some reason he's so hot.
That is so interesting. I saw him and I was like, this

(01:31:21):
is the guy that everyone. 'S I wanna say so the the the
movie is on Tubi so you can everyone can watch it for free.
Love Tubi. Love it.
No notes. Love Tubi.
It came out November 29th, 2024.It stars Noah Beck, Sienna
Agudong and James Van Der Beek. And Noah Beck is probably other

(01:31:44):
than James Van Der Beek obviously would be.
I feel like the, you know, Gen. Z star of this and he was a Tik
Toker that famously dated, was in like, you know, one of the
TikTok houses and then dated Dixie Demilio.
So I watched him a little bit onon the Trelli and Dixie Demilio
show. Yeah, the Demilios, I think,

(01:32:05):
yeah. And then because on Hulu and I
really liked him, I I actually think he's like, he seems like
actually. And I would never give a man an
ounce of credit. Like.
Truly. Would never be me, yeah.
Would never. Give the a man the benefit of
the doubt or whatever. He actually seems like a kind of

(01:32:28):
a sweet guy, like he seems with Dixie and stuff like that.
He actually seemed like a decentguy and he's really candid.
He's about his fame. He's always like, I don't know
why I'm famous. I just like, did some dances on
TikTok and like, I'm just kind of rolling with it.
He also like really like was trying hard to be an actor.

(01:32:48):
Like he was like always posting clips, going to classes like and
I, I don't know, I like, respect, bad hustle.
I think in this movie he's actually really charming and
that's why I say I like the movie more than I like the book
because I don't think Drayton Leahy book version is.
He's just to me seems just very.Crass.
And so annoying and I like like some like dirty banter and

(01:33:12):
banter. But time and place, babe, Like
he does not Time and place. Not in front of your own mother.
Not in front of your own mother,but also like, the whole thing
with like, asking Josh who's thebetter kisser.
Like, he just wanted them to leave.
So instead of just being like, hey, me and my girl want some
alone time, he was like, let me make my friend and his pregnant
girlfriend really fucking uncomfortable so that they'll

(01:33:34):
just leave. Like, it just doesn't make any
sense. And I think at least in the
movie, Noah Beck adds a little bit of charm.
Like he has this little smirk inhis little wink and like some of
the lines do come off really cringe, but like you can tell
that that he's a little more he's.
Charming, like I actually think he's charming in real life and I
think like when he had charming lines, I think he actually

(01:33:58):
seemed like a good actor. I think the rest of the acting
was like. Oh yeah.
Was bad. It was Disney.
Channel. It was like Disney Channel
acting. I like Gabby.
I thought Gabby had the the acting down the the lead.
I kind of she seemed like maybe she was more dancer than actor
and that's why they cast her even though they didn't end up

(01:34:20):
giving her very much dancing to do except for some like some
weird hand things that you see her doing during audition like.
OK, wicked slash save the last dance, Yes.
Yes, yeah. And she, her voice was very, she
didn't like enunciate like, enunciate like or project the

(01:34:40):
way you would expect an actor to.
Yeah, she kind of reminded me ofDid.
Did either of you ever watch that Disney Channel movie
Starstruck? No.
Oh yeah, yes, yes, with the. Guy from he was on.
Oh God, what was that show Sunnywith a chance.
Guy, yes. That guy, the girl in that movie
is who this girl reminds me of. And the whole time I was like,

(01:35:03):
did she just never age? Is she like a vampire?
Cuz that movie was like 10 years, 10, I don't even know,
probably longer. 1015 years ago when that movie came out, I was
like, did she just like come back into acting, Pretend she
was a different person? But yeah, she was really
garbled. I know she also was like, I
think flat, like she just was really go girl, give us nothing.

(01:35:27):
Like. Truly.
But the whole reason that I wanted to cover this with you
guys is because this movie filmed in the city that I live
in. Victoria, BC?
No way. And like, so I live on Vancouver
Island in British Columbia in Canada and it is, it's like

(01:35:48):
300,000 people. And since it's on Vancouver
Island, like it's kind of random, like.
And so just like having a movie and there there's actually, they
actually film a lot of Hallmark stuff here.
They did a lot of Twilight stuff, but just to have such a
big production here. So that's how I found out about

(01:36:09):
this because Noah Beck, he made a TikTok.
It would like randomly came up on my TikTok page probably
because of the he was staying ata hotel like a 5 minute walk no.
So maybe it was like you could have had.
Your Noah Beck moment without the creepy, no.
Trust me. Yeah, me and some of my
girlfriends, we were like going.He would like post like crust

(01:36:31):
bakery, like places that I go. He would go to Habit Coffee,
like he would go to places I frequent and I never bumped into
him. But he posted a TikTok of him
unloading groceries in his hotelroom.
And it was, it's this grocery store chain that's from here
specifically. And I was like, what is Noah
Beck doing in Victoria, BC? And then I found out he was

(01:36:54):
doing this Wattpad movie. And it was just so fun.
Like the exterior of the school was this like Community Center,
pool, library kind of building that I know and just like seeing
all the shots like the football field, just like a a field I

(01:37:14):
drive by like. Once a week.
Like it's just the the house that I'm actually gonna go try
to find it this weekend. That house is, I swear to God,
really close to where I work. So I'm gonna just like, walk
back around around and. See if I can find it not weird.
Not creepy at. All but like.
The house that Dallas lives in, Yeah.

(01:37:37):
But it was just so fun to see like, just like the little
things, like it's in this neighborhood where they paint
all of their telephone poles halfway up.
It's just unique to this neighborhood.
They paint all of them like, yeah, different artists or

(01:37:58):
families or like whatever all over this little neighborhood.
And so when I saw that, I was like, oh, that's so interesting.
Like it's just, it was just the.I love that, honestly.
Like I'm when I find out that things have been filmed in
places that I know, I get reallynerdy and excited about it.
I know that the movie Sydney White with Amanda Bynes was shot

(01:38:22):
a lot at my college. And so like, there's that scene
at the very end where there's like the marching band and
they're like, they're playing like a fight song or whatever
they're out in front of. They're literally on my lawn,
like my college lawn. And it's so funny too, because
the fight song they're playing is actually.
So I went to Rollins College in Winter Park, FL.

(01:38:43):
The fight song that they're playing is the University of
Central Florida fight song, which is a school that I went to
for my first two years of college.
So like, I remember watching it and being like, Oh my God, I
know this song. I know where they are.
And it just, I don't know. You feel like it's so exciting.
Yeah. Even with LA, when like movies
film here I try to be like, wait, I know, I know that

(01:39:04):
bridge. I know that bridge.
Yes, I've been by that bridge, Yes.
Yes, yes, it's the same and likecuz the X-Men like X-Men, like
the exteriors were filmed to youlike there's there is some like
pretty popular movies that have filmed here, but this one in
particular cuz it was a romance with Noah Beck here.

(01:39:25):
I just, I loved it. Yeah.
It was just fun to, like, followhim.
And Tam Marley came here, shouldhave haunted her down.
She was really involved by her for Shelby.
Yeah. But just like seeing that like,
I don't know, was just really fun for.
Me. Yeah, I love that.
So OK, let's do our round table discussion and then we can wrap

(01:39:48):
up. So sick our Internet
investigation. This is our cursory proves of
the Internet of Things you need to know.
Honestly you girls I feel like did all of.
The. Research for me, but I will say
that. This book, because it was so
popular, it was read like 28,000,000 times or whatever.

(01:40:10):
But when Wattpad, cuz as we've discussed, it is like for
amateur authors to just publish their work on the Internet
chapter by chapter and get comments on it.
They decided to have like an actual publishing house where
they would like traditionally publish the books.
And this was the first book thatthey chose to do so.

(01:40:33):
That is like like out of everything on Wattpad.
Yeah. That is nuts like that just
shows you how popular this book.Was it was really popular,
people really liked it. Really liked it so they like re
released it as a like proper book on August 13th 2019 and

(01:40:55):
they decided to edit out Not a Nothing.
Not a damn. Thing not a damn.
Thing they were like no, perfectas is.
We love it. That's it's insane because I
know that the Wattpad like production company is fairly
new, but they actually have a lot of movies that they've made.
So many boot camp obviously the whole after series the Tearsmith

(01:41:19):
float like Yep they are. Like there's also that one with
like the boxer chick. Oh God.
What is it called? Yes, it.
Took the guy from 13 Reasons Whythat whose name was totally
escaping me right now. But like I've watched that which
that one is also awful, so if anyone wants to watch it and
talk about it with me, I would. Love to.

(01:41:41):
It just makes sense though. It makes sense.
Why wouldn't they be capitalizing off this?
No, yeah, of course. I interviewed with them a while
back for a job and they did not hire me, but they were really
fucking, they were really fucking weird.
I'm just going to put that out there.
I was told in one interview, like I had a great chemistry
with one of the interviewers andwe were going back and forth and

(01:42:04):
talking about all this stuff. And then she told me some
certain things about like it being remote and all this kind
of stuff. And then I met with like her
superior who like completely contradicted every single thing
the person before her told me and then like made it seem like
I didn't know what I was talkingabout.
I was like, girl, I was on Wattpad at like 14 years old.
Do you think I don't know what I'm talking?

(01:42:26):
About no my shit. Hello.
And that romance was Tay Marley.She took her mask off and
sucking Tay Marley and she knew that one day I would get on a
podcast about her book and I would fucking trash it the whole
time. That's.
So funny. OK, these are our wonder wiser

(01:42:50):
unanswered questions for the listeners.
We've talked a lot about these like why doesn't she take dance
classes at a studio outside of her school?
Why are all the adults OK that their kids are fucking in their
house? Like like.
That's just how it is in 2017 or2019 or whatever this like.

(01:43:12):
And like Drayden I think in the buck makes a like comment
literally about going to go havesex with Dallas and his mom was
just like come on Drayden. Like not at the dinner table.
He's so weird. Yeah.
I also thought as much as I was obsessed with Noah Beck, I would

(01:43:35):
say in the movie, why did he look so sweaty all the time?
Is that what bad boy cubies do? But.
There there was a point where heis like doing push ups or
something and his dad comes in to talk to him so.
Maybe. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, maybe he's just always doing push ups just off screen
just before the scene starts. Also, why was James Van Der Beek

(01:43:59):
in this film? Literally the point of that the
dad is basically a non factor. He comes in to be like you
should go to that school. But they made him a real
character who interacted with other people and I was like OK
weird but OK why not? We never see what's happening,

(01:44:19):
we just see. Them your career is not doing
well if you're gonna go film a tubby original in Victoria, BC,
I would say. Maybe it's a passion project.
Maybe he really loves Wattpad. He loves the QB, me.
But. Honestly if you really think
about it, going back to like another Wattpad book that got

(01:44:41):
turned into a movie, the after series.
They pulled some heavy fucking hitters for the adults in those
movies. Selma Blair, Peter Gallagher,
Like. Even the the spro, The spro
twin. Yeah.
OK but also that movie was set like 7.
There was seven in the series, so maybe he was like QB and me

(01:45:04):
could be another 77 movies. Deal please ease the future of
sidelines the QB and me help. I do love that Speaking of the
fact that there are so many books in that after series, the
dad changes in every single film.
Like they couldn't go, yes, get these heavy hitters and then

(01:45:26):
they couldn't keep them for likethe rest of it also.
The stepbrother, whatever. Oh, Oh, yes, yes, yes, Landon.
Yes, yes, he changes too, I think twice.
It's insane. It makes so funny.
No sense but I love it. I love talking about the dumbest
shit ever made and consumed by me.

(01:45:48):
It's my favorite thing. Truly.
Truly OK, our grapes and grumbles.
These are nitpicky problems we had with the book and the movie
at the This was really nitpicky.They go to that bar and he
orders a drink for her and it's a passion fruit martini again.
It was just like. That's why I.
Thought it was written by a 16 year old because it just seems
like what I would have thought was like hot and like adult.

(01:46:13):
Yeah, like. Yeah, like, but Dallas doesn't
even. She's like, I don't want a
fruity drink like that. She drinks the beer cuz she's
not like other girls. She was so pick me like the
cake, the cake stand and like and like throwing the ball and
stuff like that. I was like cake girl, like

(01:46:33):
fucking chill. Yeah.
Dude just insane and I think like everything that had to do
with the brother made no sense to me.
They shared a car, yes, and she got it to go to school and he
carpooled, but then he got it onthe weekends.
But she worked late nights on the weekends.
So what? That is a level of detail in a

(01:46:55):
side character that I do not give.
We don't need we. Don't need.
Just like we don't need the entire hotel room described of
not even hotel room, hotel in general, of every single time
they stay in a hotel. OK, I don't think we've actually
talked about this because he hadthe tattoo that I think we only

(01:47:17):
saw once, like the bird tattoo. Yeah, but the other ones on his
arms were some of the worst faketattoos.
I. Also did he have a Hickey or was
that like supposed to be a birthmark or something?
No, no, he was supposed to have a Hickey because it looks like a
bad boy. It looks like a kiss tattoo.

(01:47:38):
Like he got a kiss with like. Like red ink or something to
make it look like a scar. And I was like, is he just
unbathed? Is that?
Dirt. He needs a sweat wipe I think.
He needs a wet wipe. It's so, so, so bad.
Yeah. I also hated when he put her air
pod in his ear. Gross.

(01:47:59):
In the I was like vomiting. Please no one put my Earpods in
your ears. I was like, that is so out of
pocket. And then like there was no
payoff. There was no like need for that.
It was so weird. Yeah, I also what I really going
back to the Gabby of it all. Our poor girl.

(01:48:21):
Justice for Gabby but like the fact that her mom was OK with
her being a teen teen pregnant person but again, like we she's
not allowed to go out she's to lie to her mom about going to
that club and like she's spending the night at Dallas
house all this stuff to then just have her pregnant and her
mom be like okay that's. Cool.
And also like, can we just, I just, and I know I'm asking way

(01:48:43):
too much, but could we just liketalk about the option of
abortion? Yeah, right.
Like like they didn't even like have a A1 off comment of like,
do you want to talk about your options?
Like it was just like, I'm having this baby.
Like I think maybe Tay Marley didn't think abortions happened.
She didn't want to go that way. But she wanted to go with the

(01:49:06):
child's abduction and. Murder and sexual assault.
Yeah, so much tamer, that Tay Marley assistant.
Coach having sex with an underage person but she won't
talk about abortion Wild like it's.
It really is like she looked at every single trope in existence
for ROM coms and she was like how many of these can I stuff

(01:49:31):
into this plot multiple times under page?
Book. Yes, literally when when you
suggested this this to for us toread, I was like, oh, OK, it's
probably like a short. It can't be that.
Long right, I was going to say this at the top of the episode,
but I just want to thank both ofyou for not only watching the
movie, which was, you know, and I think like 98 minutes reading

(01:49:54):
a 400 page book and then talkingto me all night.
Like I so appreciate it. Like because I I was asking you
to read and watch hot garbage. And when I'm on user podcast
next week, I get to watch my favorite movie.
It's not fair. No, this is a blast.

(01:50:16):
I honestly, I never would have read this book otherwise, so
thank you for that. And I read it.
I was like, I can do this 100 pages at a time and I laughed my
way through. Every time Drayton's name was on
a page I was laughing. So I had a good time.
I'm so glad. Honestly, I love and you know,

(01:50:36):
people always ask me why I like consuming bad media and I think
it's because then it makes you appreciate good media.
So like reading a really shitty romance book where I'm like, EW,
this was and I also beta read like I'm a romance beta reader
also. And so like, I'm constantly like
the whole I Oh my God, the urge to be like, no, take this out or

(01:50:58):
like, this doesn't make sense. Or like, what about this plot
thing that you talked? About earlier so like we could
have made this book good. Yeah, yeah, cuz like the.
The actual story, like the brasstacks of the story, is a fine
story. Yeah, it's fine.
It's nothing revolutionary like it could have been.
Just everything else, yeah, nothing.
Revolutionary. It's all the details she put in

(01:51:21):
that. Makes it awful.
It was all the choices Tay Marley made.
Fuck that bitch. OK, let's wrap up because I want
to. This is one last like huge
question mark that I have, whichis the sequel scoop.
This is the TM. Any upcoming sequel seasons and

(01:51:41):
the general reception. We talked that it was super
successful enough to get a movieadaptation and there is a
Wattpad sequel that you can readon Gabby, but there is a
published prequel that you can read and guess who it's about.
Drayton's parents What? Why they weren't even main?

(01:52:08):
Characters. It's called the summer of 98,
and I think it's because it's another sports romance.
So it's when they met, when he was, I guess, playing football,
but for Baylor, for Baylor. Like.
There was not one fucking minutein this book that I thought, oh,
I want to know more. About them or like.

(01:52:30):
Or even like, oh, I like them. We're like.
No, not, not a single solitary moment.
And like I take a lot of pride in when I read books that I can,
if I, if I know that like this is an author who likes to do
series, I like to be able to predict which one.
Like they're really fucking obvious.
Like I'm not doing. Anything, especially in romance.

(01:52:51):
No, I love that. Like when it's like, oh, it's
going to be the the brother. Yeah, this character, but you
coming and telling me that the prequel was his parents could
not. Have guessed that.
In a million years, no. Oh God, what a time.
What a goddamn time. Any final thoughts on this

(01:53:12):
riveting book? I think we got it all out you.
Know I will say I had a lot of like pent up, like I had pent up
energy and I did feel like I like exercise a deed.
Yeah, absolutely. Like it actually feels like a

(01:53:33):
relief that I like got it all out this into existence.
Yeah, I appreciate that for you.I will never think of this movie
again. This is like this is the test
and you can forget. Yeah, exactly.
Forget it all, forget every plotpoint.
I'm done. But I will say Wattpad keep

(01:53:54):
making shit because I'm having agreat time.
This is awful. Fucking movies, yes.
With all of that being said, I would watch anything Wattpad.
Like seriously, give me 10 more of them.
Like, dude, they know their fucking market.
They know exactly what they're doing, even if it's awful.
They know. They know what they're doing.

(01:54:15):
Yeah, that we're all locked in. Locked.
In man OK this was so much fun amazing I had a blast.
Shelby and Sam key to the listeners where they can find
you and anything else you want to plug.
Yeah, you can head on over to our website theromcomplex.com
and from there you can get linksto all of our episodes and all

(01:54:38):
of our social media and also ourpatreonpatreon.com/the ROM
Complex. Hell yeah.
We have some really great stuff on there.
We've got many episodes. We've got watch alongs every
month. If you guys wanna hear this
banter live live, we're currently working.
We're working our way through the Magic Mike series right now,

(01:55:00):
but we have some old ones on different step UPS, so you can
check that out on our Patreon aswell and it's really fun.
Love it. OK.
Thank you so much for coming on.Yeah.
Thank you for thank you. And that's the story of the QB
bad boy and me. Thank you so much for listening
and thank you to Sam and Shelby for joining me on today's show.

(01:55:22):
If you can believe it, because Itruly cannot.
It has been one year of ready tobe romanced.
The date really snuck up on me like I didn't even remember
until, you know, when those likeiPhone memories pop up.
And usually it's like the worst moments of your life that are
now a slide show. But this was a good memory and

(01:55:45):
it was recording the first episode of RTBR.
And I just want to say thank youso much.
This podcast is truly nothing without the listeners.
Thank you for sending me memes and your opinions, submitting
questions, telling me which books to read, and just being a
fun little community. I feel like that has been truly

(01:56:08):
the best part. There's been so much that I'm
grateful for that I got back into reading that I started
reading romance in 2020 or 2019 or whenever it was.
I've benefited so much, like in numerous ways.
Maybe I'll do a bonus pod on that.
But definitely I think one of the things that will have like

(01:56:30):
profound lasting impacts on me is just the people I've met and
like the community that I have online.
Like it's so fun and in real life like it's so fun to talk to
my best friends about books they're reading or what we like
to about than what we did in andgetting new suggestions from
people and just hearing other people's opinions, the hilarious
tik toks and memes. I just feel so lucky.

(01:56:53):
So thank you so much for being here.
If this is your first episode orif you've been here for all 42,
I so so appreciate you. I also have been seeing a lot of
people reading Onyx Storm. I hope you are having a great
time. Mason and I just started it.
He is on Chapter 9, I'm on chapter 3.

(01:57:15):
We'll definitely be covering it maybe the end of Feb or early
March. So we'll have a little bit of
time to simmer with all of our thoughts.
And I really cannot wait to talkabout it.
He's already messaged me and he was like, I already have a list
of gripes and grumbles and I waslike parfait cannot wait to hear
all of them. And if you have some you can

(01:57:36):
send them to me. Just put a little spoiler to egg
for which chapter you're talkingabout.
OK friends, as usual, you can follow me on socials at Ready to
Be From Romance. And if you haven't already,
subscribing to the podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts and
leaving a rating and review is really helpful for the podcast
to find new listeners. And I said this a few weeks ago,
but I'm trying to hit 100 reviews in 2025 S help me reach

(01:58:00):
my goal. You can also suggest a book or
leave a voicemail with a question for a future episode
via the links in the episode show notes.
Our next episode is Funny Story.Until then, happy reading for
Ready to be romance, I'm Tori. Goodbye.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Joe Rogan Experience

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The QB Bad Boy and Me by Tay Marley (and Movie Adaptation Review)

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

.css-r6mb8g{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:1;overflow:hidden;}Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

The Joe Rogan Experience

All Episodes

The QB Bad Boy and Me by Tay Marley (and Movie Adaptation Review)

Stuff You Should Know