James stood on the front porch like a ghost, shaking from the rain. At least, he was shaking partly from the rain. The other part was from feeling unbelievably nervous. It was sinking in that this was the last time he could dream about what happens when Betty sees his face again. 

Before he could talk himself out of it, he knocked briskly on the door and waited with bated breath. It was only seconds—although it felt like years—before Betty opened the door. He was glad that she had answered and not someone else. It was a party after all, so any number of people could have answered and then it would have been an awkward interaction, what with him having to ask one of her friends if Betty would come speak to him. Still, seeing her face in that moment was like a punch to the gut. He couldn’t lose her; she meant everything to him.

“Are you insane?” she said, after a moment of disbelief. 

“Betty—I—I… I’m here to say I’m sorry. I’m so sorry for how everything happened between us. It was all my fault, I know that.”

She stared at him, arms crossed over her chest. He didn’t know whether to continue, or wait for her to say something. 

“Well, go on then,” she told him. “Explain yourself.”

James took a deep breath and ran a hand through his wavy blonde hair. 

“It’s been a long six months,” he began. “From the time we started going out until now, so much has happened. I really loved you, Betty. Right away, you stole my heart. I just… I guess I was afraid to tell you what I wanted. Because we’re so young, and how could I tell you that I want you forever?” He noticed her expression soften, just slightly. She was still glaring at him, but the daggers in her eyes seemed at least a bit less sharp now. 

“But it’s true. I do want you forever—for worse or for better. And I would wait forever and ever if I had to, if that’s what it took to get you back. I know I broke your heart. I only hope that you’ll let me put it back together.” 

Betty looked thoughtful for a few moments before answering him.

“Alright. You have my attention. But I need to understand what happened, James, because I am very confused about that. You just disappeared after prom, and then I heard nothing from you all summer! Who does that?” She was getting angrier again, clearly remembering the pain he had put her through.

“I wish I could make it make sense,” he said. “The truth is, I must have lost my mind leaving you all alone like that and never telling you why. That’s the only explanation I have, and I know it’s a terrible one, but… I’m only seventeen, I don’t know anything about girls or love.” He looked away, shame clear on his face. 

“Well, clearly.” Her expression was unreadable. 

“I do know that I miss you,” he added earnestly. He searched her face for signs that she had missed him too, but her expression remained carefully blank. Finally, he continued.

“At the time, I guess I was confused about us, because of that fight we had earlier that day. Then at the dance I was sort of hiding out away from the crowd… you know how I feel about crowds.”

“You certainly were nowhere to be found,” Betty replied tonelessly.

“Plus, I saw you dance with him. That guy from your home economics class.”

Betty rolled her eyes. “Seriously? He’s just a friend. We were both standing there awkward and alone, and my favorite song was playing, and he asked me if I wanted to dance, so I did. It was kind of him, but there was nothing romantic about it.” 

James sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. But at the time I guess I was feeling really insecure. It was dumb,” he admitted.

“Really, really dumb,” Betty agreed. Then, “But that isn’t the dumbest thing you did between then and now, is it?” 

James bit his lip and hung his head. He knew that the harder part of this conversation was about to begin. 

“Tell me about what happened with Augustina. I heard the rumors from Inez, and normally you can’t believe a word she says but this time… well, I get the feeling that what she told me was true.”

James was sweating now, despite the cold and rainy weather. He knew he had to tell her everything. “I don’t know how it happened, but somehow we ended up together that night. I was walking home from the dance, and she pulled up in her car. It was like she was a figment of my worst intentions. My insecurity got the best of me, and when she rolled down her window and told me to get in, I don’t know… I just did it.” 

“Did you sleep with her?” Betty asked, getting right to the point.

“Not that night…” James hedged.

“Where did you go?” She wasn’t interested in beating around the bush. She wanted to know what happened that summer. 

“Her parents’ beach house. Apparently, they let her stay there whenever she wants.”

Betty was temporarily distracted from the point of the conversation by this surprising information. “Seriously? Unsupervised? Overnight and everything?” James just nodded. “Wow.”

“Yeah… it’s not that surprising once you get to know her parents. They really reinforce the idea that having a lot of money doesn’t automatically mean you’ll be a good parent. They give her everything she needs, except their attention.” James shook his head sadly.

“Hmmm,” was all Betty said in return. She didn’t want to know more about Augustina or her family life. If she knew too much about her, that would make her a real, three-dimensional person—and that would make her harder to hate. She’d much rather think of her as a heartless boyfriend-stealer and nothing more. 

“But anyway,” James continued after the silence went on a moment too long. “I won’t lie to you. I stayed with her for most of the summer. Days turned into nights and somehow we just… forgot to leave.”

Betty’s face was unimpressed. “Forgot to leave? Okay, sure.” 

“Look, Betty. I may have slept next to her, but it was you I was dreaming about all summer long. All I was thinking about was how it used to be with us. I thought about the times in my car when we’d take the opportunity to kiss every time we stopped at a streetlight,” he chuckled fondly at the memory. “I thought about the first time I saw you, standing in your cardigan in the hallway at school. You were so beautiful it took my breath away.” Even though it sounded corny, she knew that it was true. When they were going out, he had never failed to let her know just how beautiful he thought she was, every single day.

“I missed you so much I even snuck peeks at the picture of you I keep in my backpack; you know the one.” He smiled in what he hoped was an endearing way.

She did know the picture he was talking about. It was a tiny plastic picture frame that fit neatly in the front pocket of his backpack. The picture was of the two of them, her smiling toward the camera with her eyes closed as he pressed a big kiss on her cheek. It was a bit blurry, and the lighting was terrible, but she still had always loved that photo of them.

“What’s happened between you and Augustina since then?” she asked, directing the conversation back on topic. 

“Nothing, I swear. It was just a summer thing. Before school started again, I told her I didn’t want to have a real relationship.” 

“That must’ve been hard for her to hear. How did she take it?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugged. “She seemed fine?” 

Betty doubted that Augustina was actually fine after being dumped following a summer rebound fling, but she didn’t share her thoughts on the matter. 

“So that’s the whole story. I’m sorry for showing up at your party like this, but I needed to talk to you. The worst thing that I ever did was what I did to you, Betty. And the only thing I want to do now is make it up to you.” He stood there, heart in his hands, and waited for her to reply. 

He knew that from this point, it could either go one of two ways. 

The first possibility was that she would tell him to go fuck himself. He knew he deserved it, and he would leave her alone if that was what she really wanted. 

The second possibility was that she would take his hand and lead him to the little garden in her backyard. It was a special place of theirs with a cozy bench, where they used to sit for hours doing homework, or talking, or kissing. He hoped that she would take him there, and tell him that she trusted him about it being over between him and Augustina. Better yet, he hoped that she would kiss him right there on the porch, in front of all her friends. He could see a few of them now, eyes peeking out from behind the window curtain. When they saw him noticing them, the curtain fell back quickly and he heard giggles emanating from the other side of the door. 

Betty chuckled. “Ugh, sorry. My friends are being stupid,” she said, but lovingly so. Then she sighed and looked up at James. “I want to trust you. I’ve missed you too, and the truth is that I haven’t gotten over you yet. I even switched my homeroom because of you,” she admitted sheepishly. He remembered how she’d been in his homeroom the first few days of school, but then wasn’t anymore. He had figured it was probably because she didn’t want to see him. 

“I noticed,” he told her. “After that, the only way I could find to see you at all was to ride past your house on my skateboard, hoping to catch a glimpse of you in the yard or through a window. It never worked, but every time I rode past it was like I couldn’t breathe. I’ve been needing to see your face for what feels like so long.” Cautiously, he reached out his hand and gently brushed the back of it against her cheek. She didn’t move away from his touch, and he felt hope springing up in his heart.  

And then, like a dream come to life, she pulled him to her and tilted her face up to kiss him. He kissed her, feeling his heart soar with joy and gratitude and love for his girl. She was his girl, again. From then on, he was determined to do everything in his power to patch her broken wings, and be the best boyfriend she could ask for. 

Songs used: 

Betty

How You Get the Girl