“Still Falling for You,” written by Ellie Goulding, has taken on a whole new meaning after September 21, 2021. A viral tiktok, posted by @laurenzarras, swept over all sides of TikTok in a video of her surprising her boyfriend, Robbie, while he is in college. The caption reads, “Robbie had no idea,” and, indeed, he did not. Instead of the traditional reaction to the trend, with the boy jumping up and swooping her into a hug, Lauren walks in to find Robbie seated on a couch, surrounded by three other girls. Two guys are standing a few feet away from Robbie, watching him interact with the girls. The post, which has reached 5.1 million likes and 62.5 million views, drew attention in a different way intended by Zarras. “I’ve never seen someone look so unhappy to see their girlfriend,” one comment says. Another reads, “girls know the vibes of other girls… WE ALL GOT THE SAME FEELING, sorry you don’t want to see it”. TikTokers have taken it upon themselves to do some investigative reporting, departing from true crime and instead focusing on the loyalty of Robbie, universally nicknamed “Couch Guy”. It is only right for the Cresskill Communique to do the same, and observe whether or not couch guy is truly guilty.

First lies the obvious red flag, that couch guy is surrounded by other girls. They are all crammed onto a pretty small couch, and there is no reason that Robbie should be sitting with them instead of standing the two other boys who are in his room as well. Yet, just when that should be enough to have a girlfriend skeptical, the most suspicious part of the video to most viewers is the subtle phone pass. The girl next to him seems to go behind his back and place his phone on his lap. “Her sliding it back to him seemed suspicious,” claims Sonali Shah, Senior at Cresskill High School. “It’s almost like she didn’t want to be caught with his phone while his girlfriend was there”. To counter these arguments, Zarras later posted a slowed down video of the encounter. She loops the video of Robbie taking his phone out, saying “you can see the phone is in his lap, and he pulls out his phone”. However, this video fails to include the part a second before where he is handed the phone, which is what the audience really wanted a slo-mo of. Furthermore, Zarras claims that she is friends with the girls he was sitting with, saying they are all “so nice” and would never cheat. However, a video posted by TikTok creator Gabbi Kraus mocks this claim. She posts a satirical video to the tune of that same “Still Falling for You” sound, portraying her boyfriend giving her an awkward hug outside his door, while pushing away the girl that was in the room. This is one of many remakes of the video, exaggerating the awkwardness of the entire video.

If the phone pass is too subtle, the tension in the room is hard to miss. CHS Senior Amanda Park says, “the vibe of the room was so awkward. If those girls were excited for her they would have pushed him forward”. The lack of excitement from Robbie starts when he does not even get up from the couch when she comes in. Instead, Robbie stares for a moment, while his friends laugh. Allie Nusspickel, senior at Cresskill, claims “they were laughing because they KNEW he was cheating and got caught.” When couch guy finally does stand up, he “hugged her like she was his aunt at Christmas dinner,” a commenter writes. All satirical remakes of the video include this awkward hug with arms wrapped loosely around their girlfriends’ neck and their eyes looking around nervously.

Okay, so the bigger red flags have been addressed. However, the deeper TikTok has dug into this video, the more that has been discovered. One such discovery is the hair tie on Robbie’s wrist. Robbie’s hair is short, way too long to be put in any style that can be held by a ponytail holder. Park says, “I’m sorry but no boy has a hair tie on their wrist unless they are holding it for a girl and they would not do that for any girl other than girls they are interested in”. For a boy who had been in a long distance relationship with his supposed girlfriend, there would be no reason for him to need to hold a hair tie for anyone. Another TikTok user draws attention to the reflection in the door during the video. She posts a reaction video, which includes a close up of the door from the first second of the original Couch Guy video. While this is fuzzy, this reflection indicates that the girl next to Robbie is laying on him shoulder, and sits straight up when Lauren enters.

One thing is clear: the internet has never so universally agreed on one topic. In fact, the claim that Robbie is a cheater has become an opinion so popular it was difficult to find many people who disagree. The exception, of course, is Robbie and Lauren. Addressing the “hate,” Robbie posts a video attempting to debunk accusations with the caption, “I love @laurenzarres, she’s the best”. While we cannot determine Lauren’s mental state at the time, she seems adamant that she believes her boyfriend. Her infamous comment pinned to the top of the couch guy video reads, “breaks my heart that people can watch a special moment and bring so much negativity, Please think before you assume anything about my relationship”.

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