Top Ten Best Teen Couples

Now that we have the negatives out of the way, I thought it would be nice to focus on the positives in teen romance on Valentine's Day. Again, these are my ten favourite teen couples so they probably won't coincide with your own favourites but feel free to share your own in the comments or elsewhere. I think it's fun to find out what couples worked for some people and what couples didn't. If you've been reading this blog for a while, I'm sure you'll be able to guess at least a couple of the couples on my list but you might be surprised by their placement. I'll explain, of course, and I hope you enjoy.

Anyway, on this sacred holiday of love, invented by the Hallmark Corporation to sell more cards, it's about time we dive right in to my Top Ten Best Teen Couples:

10) Torrance and Cliff - Bring It On

Aren't they cute?

I did not expect to like this movie as much as I did, even when I was a teen seeing it for the first time but it was so much goofy fun that I just fell in love. This is one of those silly movies that I can watch over and over again and still enjoy just because it makes me happy and part of that is the dynamic between Torrance and Cliff. Sure, he's kind of an added love interest amidst the real meat of the cheer competitions and super serious cheer fights but there was still a lot to like about them as a couple...or I guess as a potential couple.

I like the fact that he's not intimidated by her smarts, for starters. Yeah, I know, it was supposed to be playful banter between them and Torrance isn't really interested in taking advanced chemistry but the fact that he isn't intimidated by her trying to achieve more is nice. Usually guys are portrayed as being super threatened by smart girls and it's just dumb. So that was point one to Cliff but I also love how he recognized when Torrance was feeling down or stressed he didn't fix her problems for her (unlike Aaron, may he rest in peace) he talked her through them and gave her the motivation to work through her problems on her own. It was nice to see that kind of thing between a teen couple where so many teen romances have the guy need to rush in and rescue the girl because she can't possibly handle things on her own (I'm looking at you, She's All That). These two made perfect sense to me and they were fun to watch together, even their weird toothbrushing/spitting flirting ritual was weirdly cute.

Just me? Come on...it was weirdly cute...right?

9) Kat and Patrick - 10 Things I Hate About You

RIP Heath Ledger

This was hands down, one of my favourite teen rom coms of the time. This is another one that I can watch over and over and I've got to give it props that it managed to make a very, very, misogynistic play by Shakespeare (The Taming of the Shrew) and managing to improve it with modernization. Unlike She's All That, this story actually makes you believe that Kat and Patrick would fall for each other and you understand why she would forgive him for beginning to date her under false pretenses. This is because, at the beginning of the movie, neither one of them really knows the other that well and Patrick's background and demeanor at the beginning makes it believable that he would go along with the plan, even if he questions the morality of it. Actually, if you ask me, Cameron comes off pretty bad in this. Paying someone to take out a girl's sister just so he can attempt to date the girl is pretty shitty and he never really apologizes for it.

But, I digress. Kat and Patrick's relationship always felt like it was moving forward, from acquaintances who despise each other, to sort of friends, to romantic partners and it feels natural all the way through. You get why they fall in love, because they are both harsh personalities that are somewhat misunderstood, and they both have a wild side to them. Also, who doesn't love a guy that will sing to you in front of a bunch of people, even if it embarrasses him and gets him detention?

Magical

Also, this scene is just cute and made me want to try paintball with how much fun they made it look:

They lie. Paintballs hurt like a motherfucker and I will never try it again

8) Lindsay and Nick - Freaks and Geeks

They definitely had their moments

I love this show! If Dawson's Creek was my guilty pleasure, and Buffy was my fantasy and hero, then Freaks and Geeks was the show that really actually got what being a teenager was about. It was the show I identified with and could really see myself in. If you haven't seen it then please, go watch it now it's on Netflix, go!

I may be cheating a little bit with this one. Nick and Lindsay are an extremely awkward couple and it was mostly played for laughs but I always thought there were some genuinely sweet moments between these two. You can tell Nick is way more into Lindsay right from the beginning which leads to some hilariously uncomfortable moments for her but lead to much entertainment for me.

Even still, I enjoyed them because I thought Nick, at least at the beginning, was incredibly sweet to her. He recognized that she was feeling down and tried his best to cheer her up or motivate her to find something that would make her happy, like he had with his drums. When Nick was feeling shit about himself, Lindsay stood by him and encouraged him to pursue his dreams of becoming a drummer, even going so far as to set him up an audition with a local band. It backfired horribly but it was sweet all the same and was the catalyst to them getting together. Now, Lindsay was not that into Nick which is the reason they are not higher on this list but she still tried with him and was genuinely upset when they broke up, even if it's what she wanted since he was very clingy.

The reason they're not lower on this list compared to the other couples I've already talked about? This. This right here:

I die laughing every time I watch this but it is 

freaking adorable of him to do

Sure, they may not be the most solid or compatible couple and Nick made Lindsay extremely uncomfortable most of the time but dammit, they were fucking hilarious to watch together.

Unpopular opinion time! You thought that was only reserved for the Worst list? Pffft! I can be just as unpopular with positive opinions too. Without further ado:

7) Seth and Anna - The OC

I will fight you Summer fans on this

Yep, you read that right. Seth and Anna. Hear me out. This show was another guilty pleasure of mine and I ate up the first season like my favourite ice cream until it went to absolute weird crap as a lot of too popular for their own good FOX shows do. I would giddily watch every week as new drama unfolded but the one thing I didn't eat up? Seth and Summer. I did not think those two made sense together. He worshipped her, she hated him and thought he was gross. Then suddenly, Anna enters the picture, this cool chick who gave great advice and actually had things in common with Seth, and suddenly Summer gets jealous and wants him? Uh-uh, not cool. Super lame.

I loathed Summer getting in between Seth and Anna because they were adorable together. They had great banter with each other and she genuinely liked him where Summer hated that she liked him but was hot so everyone wanted Seth to get with her. I never understood why people wanted that so much, I guess the "I hate/love you" thing is more popular than I thought but I just didn't feel it was there. I rooted for the girl that didn't have a hundred guys falling for her (it's implied Summer is extremely desirable), the girl who just wanted to be liked by the guy she liked, the girl who felt like a dork. She was sweet and her and Seth together were extremely sweet. I remember the backlash when they got together and being extremely confused by it. People claimed that Seth and Anna together were gross because they were more like brother and sister. I don't know what kind of warped relationships people are having with their siblings but Seth and Anna did not at all read like siblings to me. If you go by looks, Seth and Summer looked more like they were related to me. Whatever.

The reason these two are not higher, well, I have my top three firmly in place for one, but also? Seth turned into a massive dickhole when he dumped Anna for Summer but then acted like he could still have them both. I became very anti-Seth come the end of the first season and well, pretty much the rest of the series too.

And still, when he took her for granted, she offered him advice and
encouragement, even if it hurt her to do so. #teamannaforever

Side Note: Does anyone else find it annoying when shows bring up or echo comments made by fans? I've really ever only found this in FOX shows, The OC and Glee being the worst offenders that I've noticed. Like in The OC where Summer makes a comment about Seth and Anna being like brother and sister, I groaned because that's what the fans who wanted Seth and Summer together were saying and it didn't mesh with the show at all. It feels like it's just pandering to popular opinions and pulls me right out of the story. Writers/Producers, stop doing this. Just tell the story you want to tell and let people discuss it however they want. Don't change things up just because a few vocal people are crying for it.

6) Sean and Tamira - Breaker High

Baby Ryan Gosling! How could I not?

Shut up, yes I watched this show! It was awesome. Ok, maybe it wasn't awesome but I enjoyed it and the relationship I enjoyed the most on the show was Sean and Tamira's. Yeah, my crush on Ryan Gosling was not born out of The Notebook (which I'm fully aware is shit but it's a guilty pleasure of mine, that probably only is because of Ryan Gosling being in it), it was born when I was just a teen and watching him on this show.

What I loved about them was just how compatible they were. They were both slightly goofy and dorky and incredibly sweet. What's more is the fact that they do anything for each other. I recall an episode where Tamira didn't have enough money to stay on the boat and so Sean, who had just made a lot of money on one of his schemes, gave it all to her just so she could stay.

Picnic on a boat motherfuckers!

The episode I remember most is the one where they first got together because it was set in Canada which is where I'm from and they flipped around the usual American jokes about Canada. This was probably because while the show pretended it was about American characters, the show was filmed in Canada and had mostly Canadian actors but I still loved it. Anyway, the episode in question has Sean wanting to fulfill a bucket list he'd created and was determined to finish it all off before...I think it was his birthday? Anyway, one of the items was to kiss a girl and the whole episode, he's kind of flirting with this other girl but you can tell he's more in to Tamira and she likes him. Tamira is all hurt because she thinks he's kissed the French Canadian girl he was flirting with before but he reveals that he didn't because the person he really wanted to kiss was her. And then teen me swooned forever and pledged my undying love to Ryan Gosling. Not even joking, it was that scene that fully got me.

Not gonna lie, I still squee like a little girl when I watch this scene.

While the show is cheesy as hell, this couple will always have a place in my heart because, if I'm being completely honest, I identified the most with Tamira because I was never the girl that guys fell all over so I was ecstatic that she got a guy and he genuinely wanted her.

And now, my top five teen couples:

5) Lloyd and Diane - Say Anything

To know Lloyd Dobler is to love him and boy,
do I know Lloyd

Of course these two were going to be on my list. They are awesome, more specifically Lloyd is but that's because I'm a girl and I was more focused on my crush on him. Diane has her good points too. What I liked about Say Anything was that it felt insanely real, like you were watching the natural progression of a real relationship. Lloyd has a huge crush on Diane and is really sweet about asking her out, remember when you had to call someone's house and risk having to talk to their parents first to ask them out? Yeah, that sucked and this movie captured that young nervous energy perfectly. But enough about the movie, the couple is what we're here for.

Lloyd has become extremely popular lately as the ideal romanticized guy and with good reason. He's charming and likable, he considers the girl's feelings, and when he's asked to stay away, much as it hurts him, he does. He's very into Diane and is drawn to her but the important thing to note is that he also respects the hell out of her. He knows she's smart and has way more ambition than he does and he never tries to discourage her from that, he's always 100% supportive and wants her to go and follow her dreams. While he does watch over her, he never tries to control her, he simply lets her go off and mingle at the party to her heart's content but just makes sure that he knows she's ok and makes sure that there is no one hassling her. Ladies, that's called respectful protection and we need to start placing more importance on that and less on the "I must control your every move and prevent you from going anywhere without me...also no other guys can even talk to you" protection. *cough*fuckChristianGrey*cough*

Then there is Diane. She is smart and ambitious but is also a little sad that she may have missed out on experiencing the social aspect of high school, since she was so focused on her studies. Enter Lloyd, who she's not sure about but is intrigued by. She's a bit closeted but is very caring and sweet. The thing that I liked most about her? How open she was about sex. It would have been so easy for this movie to go the route of Lloyd pushing her for sex because he really wanted her but this movie surprised me by making him wait and not pressure her but then she "jumped him anyway."

This scene, short as it was, was hot

She wanted him, she wanted sex and she chose it. It's very rare that you see a movie where a girl takes an active role in her sexuality and I think that is the reason this movie has always stuck with me and why I love this couple. He respected her, she respected him and the sex came naturally. I love that and I love these two.

Side note: Fifty Shades of Grey is being released today or has been released. Don't go see that, it does everything wrong in a romance. If you want to see a true romance unfold, if you want to see a guy genuinely love and respect a girl, if you want to see a girl who actually is smart and ambitious, stay home and watch Say Anything. You won't be disappointed.

4) Willow and Oz/Tara - Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Pretty much my thoughts exactly, minus the
personal sexual orientation thing.

This might be cheating but I don't care, I'm doing it anyway. I loved both couples. Willow's relationships (early on) were the best done relationships on the show. I love her with Oz because he was the first one to like her for who she was. On top of that, he was just damn smart about relationships. When Willow was trying to kiss him because she was mad that Xander and Cordelia were dating, he stopped her and told her that he wanted to kiss her more than anything but he wanted to kiss her when she wanted to kiss him, not to make someone else jealous. I loved that, it was honest, it was open and I think it's what really won Willow over with him. It won me over too, though I did like him before. Did I mention that I'm a sucker for slightly dorky girls finally being noticed by a guy who is really into her? I think that's becoming obvious with my pattern of couples so far but I don't care. I love how close they were and I love how much they cared about each other. I love that Willow also got a chance to show how much she loved him too when she found out he was a werewolf and stood by him. That is commitment.

Aren't they cute?

Alas, they didn't last, more because Seth Green wanted to leave the show but also because of nasty, gross Veruca (not that she made him cheat, Oz was an asshole for that). But from their break up came a new and very different relationship for Willow and that was with Tara. I will fully admit that teen me was not on board with the rumour that Joss wanted to make Willow gay. It confused me, it didn't seem true to her character, etc, etc, etc. But wow did this relationship win me over. From season 4 to 5 I just adored this couple. They clicked more than Oz and Willow did sometimes and the way they grew together was just fun to watch. Willow became more comfortable with herself and more skilled with her magic, Tara became less shy and stutter-y. They both benefitted from this relationship and they both would do anything for each other. Tara defends Willow's abilities and Willow will hurt anyone that tries to hurt Tara. It was sweet and it was genuine and we shall all agree to forget that season 6 happened. Yes?

Season 6 what?

3) Gib and Alison - The Sure Thing

What? Young John Cusack is adorable

Yep, another John Cusack movie and I'm not even sorry. I adore this movie and it's not that it's anything mind-bending or original but it has heart and a realness to it that I love. I don't think this was the original road trip to love movie but it was definitely one of the best ones and it's because the couple are a lot of fun to watch.

Gib is a bit of a slacker but he's not stupid, I mean he is in college...flunking English supposedly but he did get in and at least wanted to try to do well in school. While he might do stupid things, he's really a genuinely nice guy (not a Nice Guy) but a guy who would hold the door open for you because he wants to, a guy that would take the time to show you how to shotgun a beer, and a guy that would act like a complete lunatic to save you from a rapist. Alison is a bit up tight, studious, and practical but she's not unkind and the best thing about this movie is watching her loosen up when she's with Gib. Sure, they bicker but they also get along and even when Alison has the chance to get on a bus to get to California quickly, she opts instead to stay with and help Gib get there since he didn't have the money.

Not to mention, they have great chemistry together both when they're bickering and when they are getting along which is hard to pull off successfully. Basically, I just like everything about this couple and I never get tired of watching them go from acquaintances to enemies to friends and finally to lovers. It is funny, it is genuine, and it is romantic.

Lloyd is great but Gib just seems so much more fun and relaxed

This is another one to watch instead of that other horrid thing in theatres right now. Actually, this entire list could be retitled Better Things to Watch on Valentine's Day than Fifty Shades of Shit.

2) Pacey and Joey - Dawson's Creek

Joey made the right choice with Pacey

Are any of you surprised that they are on my list? Of course they are. I debated putting Pacey and Andie on my list also but while I did like them I was ultimately a Pacey and Joey shipper from the first season on. They said it would never happen, they were wrong!

So, why do I like Pacey and Joey so much when I hated Joey and Dawson. Well, for starters, Pacey is an awesome and interesting character while Dawson is an asshat of epic proportions. Also, Joey is rather unlikable for the most part, except for when she's with Pacey. I like the idea that you become a better person with the person you are meant to be with and whether the writers intended to or not (probably not because let's face it, the DC writers were not very good) they really showed that well with these two.

I think I explained my reasoning for starting my ship of them in my recap of the episode Double Date. Pacey seemed to genuinely like Joey and thought she was pretty because my god, she totally was! Dawson meanwhile, kept her firmly in the friendzone (thinking it was incest to date her because they were like brother and sister and that was the character saying that genuinely not the fans saying it) and didn't notice her at all until she put make up and a dress on. We all know how much I dislike that trope, (again, looking at you, She's All That).

Seriously, these two are just perfect

Not only that, they both just seemed to need each other and seek comfort in each other. Most importantly, they understood each other and where they were coming from. It's kind of funny to me that while the show threw around the words "soul mate" about Dawson and Joey, the ones I found to be shown to be soul mates were really Joey and Pacey (and Jen and Jack but I digress). Think about it, they both come from poorer backgrounds, they both had hard lives and were the subject of town gossip, so they understand what the other is going through on a very empathetic level. Where Andie wanted Pacey to change, Joey seems more content with Pacey the way he is. While Dawson was, I don't want to say outright not supportive but we'll say clueless about Joey's art, Pacey was encouraging and pushing her to do it because it made her happy.

On top of this, they have just an insane amount of chemistry together and numerous adorable moments together. The writers made the best decision putting these two together because theirs was the true best love story in the show. Period. End of sentence.

Now, who the hell is my number 1 if it isn't Joey and Pacey? Well, let's find out, shall we?

1) Jane and Adam - Joan of Arcadia

I adore this couple and I will adore them forever

I was shocked at how much I liked this show. I avoided it like the plague before because I thought it was going to be another 7th Heaven type of super religious family crap show. It is close but done so much better and smarter. The show follows the Girardi clan as they move to Arcadia where the father, Will, has become the new police chief, the oldest son, Kevin, has been left paraplegic after a car accident, Joan worries that she's crazy, the youngest son, Luke, feels ignored, and the mother, Helen questions her faith after having almost lost her son in a car accident. Now the interesting thing is that the family is not religious, in fact, Will Girardi is vehemently anti-religious, which makes Helen nervous about telling him that she wants to explore her spirituality. There's some very heavy concepts dealt with in this show, including the question of whether or not Joan is actually talking to God and what it means. It's insanely well-written and I encourage you all to at least give it a shot, it may surprise you as it did me.

That out of the way, on to the more pressing matter. I'm sure you guys who haven't seen the show, are sitting there and thinking: Why did you write her name Jane in the title? Are you high, Blinvy? The answer is, of course I am but I'm still not crazy. I can explain.

See?

Ok, I'll explain a little further. Adam starts out as kind of a space case, everyone mistakenly thinks he's a pot head, actually. He mixes Joan's name up, either by accident because he was truly spaced out or on purpose as the end of his first episode would lead you to believe, because he wanted people to leave him alone. I think it was a little of both, personally but what started out as a slip up, morphed into this absolutely adorable pet name between them. Joan got so used to him calling her Jane that any time he calls her Joan, she knows he's upset. That's how awesome this couple is.

This is one of those things where you accidentally catch lightning in a bottle, and by that I mean that Adam was only ever planned to be in one episode of the series. He was just a one off character that Joan helped out because of her gift of talking to God. And that would have been it, I'm convinced, if any other actor had taken the role. As it was the role went to Chris Marquette and the chemistry he has with Amber Tamblyn is just wonderful to watch. You believe that their characters are drawn to each other. Because of this, the writers got the idea to keep Adam on as a character and seamlessly grew their relationship from there.

I had an easy time picturing them as a real couple. These two were
great at just ad-libbing these cute little moments together

What I also like about these characters is that they actually felt like real teens. Joan could be completely bratty sometimes and Adam was oblivious sometimes but they both tried to be supportive of one another despite whatever was going on. When Joan took up cheerleading out of the blue, Adam was fully supportive (not for the usual teen guy reason...not entirely), he was for it because Joan wanted to do it and he wanted her to be happy.

Is this not just the cutest thing?

When Adam was spiralling downward, Joan took notice and despite him being mad at her, she still sought him out and asked him if he was ok. What I like the most about them is that even though they do misunderstand each other sometimes, instead of making crap up or talking in circles, they flat out ask each other what is wrong and they talk about it and move forward. I never felt like they were going one step forward and then two steps back to draw out some "will they/won't they" drama. It felt natural. Even when they kissed and Joan got scared and backed off, felt natural for her character who is a bit of an emotional wreck. They still remained friends, Adam moved on and started dating someone else, instead of being a Nice Guy Friendzone whiner, until they eventually couldn't deny their feelings for each other anymore.

How she even put off dating him is a mystery to me

There is something about these two where I could watch them be together for hours and not get bored. I never felt more strongly about a couple being together than with these two and Pacey and Joey. But these two pulled me in just a bit more and I was legitimately devastated when the show broke them up. Yes, I said the show did because in real life (yes I'm talking about these characters in the context of real life, shut up!) they wouldn't have broken up, of this I am convinced. The show's producers, the networks producers, I'm unsure, decided that Adam and Joan were getting to be like "an old married couple" and wanted them broken up. Supposedly both Chris and Amber protested this decision (and rightly so since really, the show didn't focus that much on their relationship to justify this decision) but they went forward anyway. I think Chris eventually agreed to the break up but argued about the why because yeah, that was some character assassination they pulled there. They made him cheat, of course, it's the stand by reason writers love to use for a couple to break up and is honestly getting more boring to me than a relationship actually lasting. But, it wouldn't have been so bad, I might have been able to stomach it, if they hadn't made his character so cruel about it. You just end up feeling bad for the girl he cheated with, he's awful to her. The whole thing left a sour taste in my mouth and it was only mildly redeemed by the fact that Amber and Chris are great actors and absolutely nailed the scene where Joan finds out he cheated. It's great...it was just a let down that they had to break up that way.

Jeez, could I have picked a more downer way to end this list? Sorry about that, I'm still bitter on this one because I love this couple so much. Even after the break up, it is shown that they still care about each other and I have no doubt that if the show continued, they would have at least mended their friendship and perhaps found their way to each other again. In my head cannon, they did but in my heart of hearts, the cheating never happened because there is just no way that Adam cheated on Joan. They are too adorable together. So let's leave this list on a positive note, shall we?

There. Much better.

Basically, Jane and Adam are my number one favourite teen couple for life. I have never seen a teen couple dealt with so realistically, so naturally, and just so sweetly as these two. They are the best.

Indeed, Adam, indeed

And that concludes my Top Ten Best Teen Couples. I defy you to not be able to find at least one couple on this list that you like and if you seriously dislike all of these then it is my opinion that you have no soul and I bid you good day, sirs. Kidding aside, let me know what you think of the list and who your favourite teen couples are. I actually learned something about myself, writing this list.  I'd never much considered myself as having a clearly defined type, for some reason I just didn't think about it but after writing this, I think it's pretty damn obvious that I do and I wonder how I never noticed this before. With the exception of Tara and Sean who are both blonde and one is a girl and I guess Nick who is more light brown, there is a very noticeable constant on this list, the dark haired goofy type. Yep, I am definitely a sucker for dark haired guys, especially if they are fun and goofy. It is no surprise at all to me that I ended up marrying a dark haired, goofy type. The more you know.

I hope you enjoyed reading and that you all have a fun Valentine's Day, whatever you happen to do with it.