As a former film major, I can understand why someone would look at that photo of me and Juliet from 2001 and imagine a Pretty in Pink backstory: a teenage boy hopelessly in love with his best friend, but never able to tell her. When you’re interpreting art, you’re supposed to take cues from limited information and make assumptions about what exists outside of the frame. But real people and real relationships are never as simple as characters in movies and books. Even I don’t remember exactly what I was thinking when I put my arm around Juliet for that photograph at a summer camp reunion. I can only guess that it was something similar to what ran through my mind all the other times I’ve put my arm around friends for photos: cheese.
Jeff Deutchman from a series mostly by Juliet at Slate on platonic friendships. I haven’t been reading the series, but this caught my attention.