Is it possible Ian was just making stuff up?

So far, we have only heard from one person, Sarah, that something was going on between Ian and Nikki. Could it be a lie all along? There are 3 possibilities:

1. Ian lies to Sarah, therefore encouraging Sarah to step in between Bear and Nikki to break them up. He knows Sarah would spill the beans.

2. Sarah was making up a story to plant some seeds in Bear's head, making him feel uncomfortable, and eventually stopped seeing Nikki.

3. It is the truth. For some reason, the best-looking girl in her social circle could not find a steady boyfriend and had to settle for an average-looking co-worker?

I think Ian was probably exaggerating his relationship with Nikki in front of Sarah. He is extremely jealous. Maybe because he never had Nikki, he wished he could, and at the same time, could not figure out how to stop Bear. He told Sarah the story to make himself feel better. A lot of guys do this and say things to others like "Yeah, so and so? We used to fxxx". I could see Ian being that type.