there's nothing in my system

okay, not that anyone is asking for it but here is my take on the teenage love triangle...using they/them pronouns for james cuz i think they can be whatever gender you want although it definitely hits harder if its a gay love story. its not a cut and dry “betty and james were together and then they cheated on her and then tried to get back together” story. but heres the thing about betty and james....they were childhood best friends. “playing hide and seek and giving me your weekends” “i knew you” its the story of falling in love with your life long best friend when youre teenagers. but if james is bettys best friend, why do they think her other friends are stupid? why does james know betty will definitely be at the dance while james hates the crowds? because they grew apart in high school. betty is popular, james is not. james doesnt like bettys friends, knows betty hangs out with inez, who james doesnt like and thinks is a rumor monger. “you heard the rumors from inez/you cant believe a word she says/most times/but this time it was true.” that “you cant believe a word she says” is bitterness—james is frustrated that betty is even friends with inez, who is always lying. in high school, betty became a popular girl, and james stayed on the outskirts. but they still hung out by themselves just the two of them, went into the city together, getting drunk and having fun like always, and growing feelings for each other, and finally kissing in james’s car, and james thinks that maybe, there will be something, despite the way theyve grown apart in the rest of their lives. james is so hopeful that they even show up at a school function, something they’d never normally attend, hoping to finally publicly love betty. but they get there, and there’s betty on the other side of the gym, with all her popular friends, dancing with the guy james KNOWS is into her, and they decide maybe those drunken kisses were just that—maybe betty never really had feelings for them. and they run outside, and august (i know its not her name but i like it) pulls up in her car, one of the other people james is actually friends with in the uncool crowd, and whisks them away—and james throws themself into that relationship, hoping to forget about betty, not meaning to use august but unable to forget the importance of betty, that missing person that feels like a hole in their heart. and the more they dwell on it the more they rethink their assumptions that night of the dance—after all, they were supposed to meet betty there. she was expecting them. they were the one that ran off without ever even trying to make a move. and the school year starts again, and betty isnt speaking to them, and theyve broken things off with august but it broke her heart so now theyre not speaking either. and bettys silence, and switching homerooms, proves to james at last that betty DID feel the same way, that they WERE the one in the wrong, not her. and so they show up at her party...even though none of bettys other high school friends like them, even though betty hasnt been speaking to them, because they know that the friendship and the relationship between them is the most important thing in the world. but is it too late? will betty ever forgive them? its “the worst thing [james] ever did” because they might not just have ruined the blossoming love between the two of them, but a lifetime of being best friends. and whether betty takes them back...or accepts their friendship but closes off the possibility of romance...or says its too broken and everything is over...or maybe they become friends again when theyre both adults and thats when cardigan takes place....that part of the story is anybodys guess.

the folklore love triangle, told through instagram