In Taylor Swift’s “august” storyline, Augustine is romantically involved with James.
The song presents a short summer relationship from Augustine’s perspective. James is already connected to Betty, which makes the romance temporary and gives the song its bittersweet emotional tension. “Cardigan” and “Betty” develop the same fictional triangle from other perspectives.
Listeners sometimes confuse James with Betty because “Betty” is one of the three connected songs and is also a character’s name. Rebekah Harkness belongs to the subject of “The Last Great American Dynasty,” another Folklore track, not to the teenage love triangle. The characters are part of Swift’s invented narrative world rather than documented autobiographical figures.