Busybee's Playlist

I love you, you love me but neither one of us knows, and that makes for a good story

Poppy and Alex meet first year of college. He’s a bookworm, with a calm and gentle soul; she’s a firecracker who wants to travel for a living. The chemistry isn’t instant, and both find the other quite peculiar. But on a long drive back to their mutual hometown, they discover they are more alike than they initially thought. When adulthood gets in the way of them seeing one another more frequently, Poppy proposes a pact: every year, once a year, they need to take a vacation together. It doesn’t matter where or when, as long as they go discover the world together.

Years go by, and the friendship organically develops into mutual attraction — but as it is the case with most friendships, neither of them acknowledge it. Or even realize it. Or even admit to it.

And so naturally, a playlist is born. A playlist oozing lust, longing, and heartbreak — not from a love story that has run its course, but rather one that hasn’t even begun. Constantly wondering whether it ever will, this playlist strives to convey the mixed feelings one feels when one is in love with a long-time friend.

Questions are asked: is it worth ruining the friendship? Can romantic love even begin to compare to the complicity we already have as friends? Why am I imagining their hands all over my already-heated body when they’re talking about their work day? When did this electricity between our bodies even begin? Oh shit, am I in love with them? And more importantly, do they even love me back?

A collection of modern love songs, alternative rock mixed with soft pop ballads, this playlist is my gift to every soul struggling with (sometimes seemingly) unrequited feelings. The playlist is named after Emily Henry’s characters, Poppy and Alex, but it can easily apply to all of us. Whether it urges you to read the book or not is not the point, but I hope these songs resonate with you and help you in feeling less alone.