Nate Jacobs and Jules Vaughn

Nate Jacobs and Jules Vaughn
Information
Characters	Nate Jacobs Jules Vaughn
Type	Antagonistic Romantic Complicated
Status	Ended due to intention to blackmail, still have feelings for each other
Began	"Stuntin' Like My Daddy" (chatting)
Ended	"Shook Ones Pt. II "

“	You know what I like about her? She has these very real dreams. And I seriously think that she's going to achieve them. If you look at everyone inside, most of them are going to go on to live these lives that aren't even fucking worth mentioning. Not Jules.	”
	— Nate talking about Jules[src]

History

Season 1

“	You're kind. You're smart. You're generous. You got a big heart. You deserve whatever the fսck it is in this world that you want. So keep your head down. Keep your mouth shut. Don't try to ruin my life, and I won't have to ruin yours.	”
	— Nate to Jules[src]

Jules and Nate first meet in passing on the street in their Californian suburban town in the pilot episode. Jules, who has recently moved to East Highland, is riding her bike when Nate and Mckay drives by in Nate's truck. Nate spots her immediately from far away and says, "This is exactly what I'm talking about." instantly making his attraction to her clear. He proceeds to cat call her and causes her to fall off her bike when she retaliates by flipping him off.

Later in the episode Jules gets invited, by Kat Hernandez, to Mckay (Nate's friend's) party shortly before the start of the term. However, she decides to go meet with the mysterious "DominantDaddy" instead.

In a motel, the two engage in intercourse, before Jules leaves and heads to the party, wandering inside.

Roughly at the same time, Maddy Perez, Nate's girlfriend, makes out with a boy in the pool, enraging him. Nate ends up in the kitchen, where Jules is taking shots and scares everyone out, except for Jules, who is in the corner. Backed up, Nate verbally berates her, before Jules, reacting, holds him at knife point. She cuts her wrist and smears her blood on him, impressing Rue Bennett nearby.

At some point, Nate watches his father's porn collection and comes to realize that Jules, without her realizing, has slept with his father. He creates an online persona, ShyGuy118 or "Tyler" and romantically pursues Jules, making her fall in love with him. Over a series of days, the two trade dreams and fears, become more intimate and even sexting.

"Tyler" and Jules finally meet, shortly after Jules realizes DominantDaddy is Cal Jacobs. Jules is apprehensive and terrified of Nate, but the two share a kiss, before Nate becomes too rough with Jules. Mocking her, Nate explains his plan: any action that would endanger his family's social status and a dossier of Jules's photos would be sent to the police, ruining her life as she would be branded a sex offender. Jules sees through his intimidation and stands her ground against him. Nate departs with one last warning.

Rue and Jules enter an unestablished relationship shortly after, although the subject of Nate is a sore subject. After Maddy's throat bruises are exposed, Nate is suspended from school and his family become local pariahs. Notably, not being able to go to school, he spends a lot of time secretly checking on both Maddy and Jules, until he finally approaches the latter with a plan.

The real Tyler, from the party, on the threat of more violence and a rape charge, "confesses" to hurting Maddy, who identifies him in a line up. Jules confirms his story, acting as a false witness. Free, the two see each other during Halloween, as Jules turns to alcohol to cope with her situation with Nate.

Worried and suffering from mania, Rue pieces together most of the mystery behind Jules and Nate on her own. During this time, Jules copes by leaving town, returning to her city and friends for comfort. However, after taking some drugs and going dancing, she ends up hallucinating an alternate version of Nate that apologizes to her and submits to her sexual desires. In truth however, she is with Anna.

Jules returns just as Rue recovers from a kidney infection and finally explains what has been happening between her and Nate, to Rue's anger. Regardless, the two go to winter formal, where they see Nate dancing with another girl. Both girls dance to the music while flipping him off.

Rue later takes advantage of Nate's discomfort at Maddy dancing with another man to talk to him. After a tense conversation between them, during which Nate compliments Jules while degrading Rue, Rue rejoins Jules. Scared of the future and her relationship with Jules, Rue proposes leaving the town for good. Jules agrees and the two leave early, attempting to leave.

At the station, Rue backs out of leaving at the last moment, but Jules ultimately leaves.

Special episodes

“	I can’t tell you how many times we’d just be, like, texting and texting. And the next thing I know, it would be, like, four in the morning, and I hadn’t slept, and I didn’t want to. Like, I’d never tell her this, but… I feel like I got to know him better than I knew Rue. We used to sext forever. Like, about anything and everything. I know it might, like, sound a little weird, but… It was, like, genuinely the best sex I’ve ever had.	”
	— Jules about her online relationship with Nate

A few days afterwards, Jules, in a therapy sessions, explains her predicament with Nate: struggling with Rue's addiction, which remind her of her mother's, she turned to comfort through Tyler/Nate. Jules confesses her tendency to fall in love easy and how Nate took full advantage of it: while logically, Jules understands the lies, emotionally, she still has not recovered from the betrayal.

Season 2

“	For what it's worth... everything I ever said was true.	”
	— Nate being honest with Jules[src]

Jules and Nate see each other during Virgil's New Year's Eve party as Nate waits for Cassie to leave the bathroom. However, they don't speak to each other. Nate looks very apologetic and almost childlike while Jules looks extremely hurt and angry and is clearly still in pain after everything he put her through. Jules later makes up with Rue with a kiss during the party and witnesses Fez beat Nate down, to utter shock.

While Nate is in the hospital after being punched by Fez, he dreams about his ideal future with Cassie describing and imagining Jules in the process but never saying it out loud. He also imagines his father hitting on and showing interest in Cassie like he did Jules clearly not able to escape his complicated feelings towards her. The coma ends with him panicking about the tape of Cal and Jules that Maddy stole from his room in the final episode of Season 1.

Later in the episode Nate confronts his father about his short affair with Jules and calls him out for filming her without her consent. Cal offers an apology and clarifies he had no idea how young she was but Nate is too hurt and angry to accept it. Nate ends up lying to Cal about the whereabouts of the tape of him and Jules and ultimately sets him up to get beaten up by Fez and Ashtray most likely for revenge for sleeping with Jules.

In the following episode Fez and Ashtray are holding Cal at gunpoint when they inform him that they never blackmailed Nate about his tapes with Jules, and that Nate set him up because he's in love with her. Fez makes him swear Nate won't come closer to Jules, Rue or himself ever again before letting him go.

After getting the tape of Jules and his dad from Maddy by force, Nate drives to Jules house and texts her to meet him outside. "You're All I Need To Get By" by Method Man featuring Mary J. Blige plays in the scene where he calls Jules in his car. He convinces her to come out and she reluctantly obeys with a box cutter in her sleeve. He apologizes after offering her a beer which she declines and tells her that he's sorry for everything he's ever done to her. He then gives her the tape. She asks questions regarding the tape and thanks him. She's the only person he ends up being honest to about watching his father's tapes since he was a child. She tells him she had to bring a weapon just to talk to him, that's how little she trusts him after everything he's done. She finally asks why he decided to help her, and he says the answer is too stupid and simple to share, so it's better for him to keep it as a "mystery." Most people concluding it to be his way of admitting he loves her. Before she can exit his car, he holds her hand telling her everything he said over texts when he was Tyler was true, before leaving she does the same thing herself. She stands in the rain and looks back at him in the car for a moment before going back inside the house and he only drives away after she's gone.

In the next episode Nate has a nightmare. He pictures Jules wearing the same outfit of their first meeting going near him and hugging him in his father's motel room. In the dream Jules in the only one who can see both sides of him, the Nate in front of her and the Nate in the mirror. During the episode, it seems he's been dressing Cassie like a combination of Maddy and Jules (Which was later confirmed by Euphoria head makeup artist Donni Davy) Then it was shown that he dressed Cassie exactly like Jules to have sex with her exactly like his father did during the pilot even the sheets and fishnet stockings being the exact same from Cal and Jules motel encounter. He ends up being in Jules place with his father hovering above him.

In the final episode of Season 2, in a final act of revenge, Nate decides to call the cops on Cal. Jacob Elordi has stated that he thinks Nate was being genuine to Jules in the car scene and that he doesn't think Nate put the tape of her on the USB drive that implicated Cal. But beyond that we don't know what was on the USB. Jacob also states that there were hundreds of other videos to choose from.

Trivia

• As Jules strives to conquer femininity and embodies many qualities associated with it, she also embodies the typical girl Nate would hook up with.
• According to show creators, Jules’ ability to be her most authentic self makes Nate extremely jealous of her and feeds into his own self hatred.
• After their first kiss, Nate shoved his fingers into Jules’ mouth, just as his father did to her before.
• Nate had Jules file a fake police report through blackmail, which can be charged with a misdemeanor or felony, which are either less than a year or more than a year in jail, respectively.
• During her escape to the city, Jules has a hallucination of Nate in glitter, pleading for forgiveness and being sexually submissive to her, implying that despite knowing Tyler (ShyGuy118) is Nate, she still holds some romantic feelings towards him. Later on, in therapy, she alludes to her complicated feelings towards him.

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