‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’s Taylor And Steven Deserve To Be Endgame

The Summer I Turned Pretty, Prime Video‘s hit series inspired by Jenny Han’s popular YA novels, is a coming-of-age story with focuses on grief, friendship, biological and found family, and a number of other relatable themes. But from the start, love stories have always been at the show’s heart.

With fans divided into Team Conrad and Team Jeremiah, a flood of TikTok fan-cams romanticizing each ship, and Lola Tung’s narrations giving us crush updates each episode, the first two seasons of TSITP shine a spotlight on the complex love triangle between Isabela “Belly” Conklin (Tung) and brothers Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah Fisher (Gavin Casalegno). In Season 2, however, they’re not the only love triangle around. Belly’s brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) is clearly crushing on her bestie Taylor (Rain Spencer), who’s dating Machine Gun Kelly wannabe Milo (Will Spencer). And sorry to that man, but Taylor and Steven deserve to be endgame.

In Season 1 of The Summer I Turned Pretty, Taylor and Steven hooked up at a party, which caused a brief rift in her and Belly’s friendship. After the longtime pals talked things through and Taylor admitted she’s had a crush on Steven for years, Belly forgave her. But Steven got back with his girlfriend Shayla (Minnie Mills), so Taylor hid her feelings and backed down. In Season 2, the roles are reversed. Steven is single and Taylor’s the taken one, but despite her status, with each passing episode their chemistry — and my love for them as a potential couple — grows stronger.

In TSITP books, Taylor and Steven played such minor roles that a will-they-won’t-they romance was never explored. But as crucial characters in the show, they shine and expertly play off each other whenever they share the screen. In the Season 2 premiere, Steven struggles to hide his jealousy over Taylor and Milo’s relationship, and as the episodes progress, the two find themselves repeatedly thrown together. The more time they spend alone, the more comfortable they get with one another, and their shared sense of humor, effortless banter, and mutual love for Belly is on full display as they road trip to Cousins Beach.

As shown in their gas station scene, they’re capable of being brutally honest, having serious conversations, and challenging each other to be better. They bicker and flirt with equal passion. They can be playful and vulnerable. So I simply CAN’T be the only one praying for them to kiss. (Again, sorry Milo. Your perfect person is out there, too. And she knows all about Aerosmith.)

The sexual tension between “Tay Tay” and Steven has been steadily building in the first half of Season 2, but in Episode 5, “Love Fool,” they share one of the show’s cutest scenes so far. The episode finds the friend group spending the night at an empty country club, with Steven and Taylor going off in search of pillows and blankets for everyone. The episode is peak 2023 teen TV, thanks in large part to a romantic ballroom scene that kicks off with Steven ignoring Jeremiah’s “where are you” texts so he can spend more alone time with Taylor. He smoothly plays Frank Ocean’s “Moon River” from his phone and tells Taylor to imagine she’s with her perfect man on the dance floor. He pauses to pull on a suit jacket for dramatic effect, then asks her to dance, even saying please. Taylor calls him “so corny,” but she accepts. They grab hands, hug, and sway together in an intimate moment of pure bliss and Han checks in with the others to give them some privacy.

When we return a few minutes later, Steven and Taylor are heavily contemplating a kiss, but Conrad and Jeremiah’s interruption delays the inevitable. Their “vibe” is so strong that even Belly picks up on it, but on top of the whole having a boyfriend thing, Taylor’s also keeping her guard up around Steven after Season 1. Before the episode ends, he apologizes to her in case “the dancing thing was weird,” but she tells him she didn’t hate it. Naturally, I’m counting down the seconds until they kiss.

It may be Belly, Conrad, and Jeremiah’s world, but Taylor and Steven aren’t just living in it. They’re writing their own story, reminding us all that supporting characters deserve fleshed-out love stories, too, They exude main character energy whenever they’re together, and Season 2, Episode 5 showed them inching as close to the friendship to lovers line as they could without crossing it. With a name like “Love Fest,” Episode 6 can’t come soon enough.

The Summer I Turned Pretty is streaming on Prime Video. New Season 2 episodes premiere weekly on Fridays.