There’s nothing quite as exciting, or freeing, as going on a vacation to a faraway country.

And going with your best friends? What could be better than that.

Unfortunately for the woman in this story, it seems like going alone might’ve been a better option.

Read on to find out how one of her closest friends effectively ruined her birthday getaway.

AITA for cutting off my friend because she didn’t keep her word?

I am a 24-year-old woman, and recently I took a birthday trip to Jamaica with my two closest friends: my best friend Brit (24, female), who I’ve known since high school, and my other good friend Laila (25, female), who I met while we were both serving in the military.

Brit and I have been friends for over a decade, basically sisters. Laila and I got close while serving because we were neighbors and worked together.

We became even closer when Laila got pregnant – her boyfriend was stationed somewhere else, so I let her stay with me for most of her pregnancy.

I considered her a really good friend, almost like a sister.

Let’s see how their friendship has continued to build over time.

Last year, Laila invited me to New York for her birthday in January. I live about three hours away from New York so I said yes. We had a great time.

During her trip, she kept saying how we needed to plan more trips together, so I asked if she’d want to come to Jamaica for my birthday in May, and she was super excited about it.

When it came time to book, Brit paid for everything on her credit card because she was the one coordinating everything, and we thought it would be easier that way. The plan was that both Laila and I would pay her back right away.

Laila told Brit she’d pay when she came to visit our state (she lives down south), but she later said she’d pay either before or right after the trip.

Brit agreed, but mentioned she needed to be paid back before, August because she had a wedding she was going to go to in Brazil and needed to pay off her card before booking another trip with it.

Read on to find out how the birthday trip panned out.

The trip itself went okay at first, though Laila was kind of a buzzkill most of the time – she was always on her phone because if she didn’t answer her boyfriend would start arguing with her.

He was super insecure about her being on a girls trip, and she would always get on the phone super early in the morning and then she didn’t want to leave the room because she needed to charge her phone and so on.

It was super annoying, but we were trying to be understanding of her situation.

Before the trip, Brit and I set a budget for ourselves. Laila had more money than us and kept talking about wanting to “splurge,” so we assumed there wouldn’t be any issue with her paying Brit back later.

But that was not how things turned out.

When we got back, Laila said she couldn’t pay yet because something came up and she had to move out of her mom’s house, but she promised to pay by July 1st. Brit agreed.

But then November came around, and Laila still hadn’t paid a cent. We offered to let her pay in smaller amounts, but she kept saying she didn’t have it. And yet she kept posting stuff about going out, and whenever she went to get her hair done etc.

Eventually, Laila got tired of Brit asking for her money back and blocked her.

Then Laila blocked both of us for a while, because she felt like we were pressuring her to pay, only to unblock me later because I told her that I understood her situation but I couldn’t pick sides.

And this friend tried really hard to be understanding.

A few weeks ago, I reached out and asked if she could at least pay half of what she owed Brit, and I’d cover the rest to help my best friend out.

Laila’s response? That she had “too much going on” and it wasn’t her fault that Brit was “living off her credit card.”

That angered me. I told her it’s not Brit’s fault for trusting her to pay back money she promised to pay. She just kept making excuses, so I stopped talking to her altogether.

My best friend and I ended up suing her for the money, and have to appear in court in a few months. Now I’m wondering if I wrong for cutting her off, or if I should’ve just paid Brit myself to avoid the drama.

AITA?

It’s human nature – and a morally good thing to do – to trust people until you’re given reason not to.

And this woman had absolutely no reason not to trust Laila, someone she considered almost like a sister.

It’s not her fault that she refused to pay.

Let’s see what the Reddit community thought about this.

This person agreed that Laila was the one and only problem here.

While others felt sorry for Brit.

And this person thought the pair were absolutely right to take Laila to court.

There’s a good chance that Laila is being at least in part controlled by her boyfriend here, but she’s still wrong to have borrowed money from Brit knowing that she wouldn’t be able to pay it back.

Her friend has been there for her for a long time, and even offered to pay back some of the money on her behalf, and still she is acting like she’s not the one in the wrong.

Unfortunately these women have learned that Laila isn’t someone to trust, and for someone who considered her like a sister that must have been devastating.

It’s a tough lesson to learn.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check this one out about a man who created a points system for his inheritance, and a family friend ends up getting almost all of it.