I am an unapologetic soap fan, and while I know the stories are almost always absurd, I just can’t help watching. Everyday I have my lunch around the time The Young & The Restless and The Bold & The Beautiful come on and I’ve been watching with mild interest a love triangle with a black woman at the center.

Maya (Karla Mosley) is a girl born on the wrong side of the tracks and who has been to prison. She works part time at a coffee shop and is trying her hand at acting. Then by chance she meets the handsome and very wealthy Rick Forrester (Jacob Young), who pretends to be a regular guy and not the president of a powerful fashion house, Forrester Creations. At the time Rick meets Maya, he’s dating the equally rich and well-connected Caroline Spencer (Lindsey Godfrey) who believes that her and Rick are equally matched socially (and racially), so when she discovers Maya has turned Rick’s eye she reacts like a spoiled, entitled rich biotch who drops borderline racist comments about how Maya is beneath Rick and his interest in her is just him indulging a fleeting desire to “walk on the wild side,” which sounds a lot like code for “jungle fever.” As Rick and Maya get closer, Caroline is shocked, SHOCKED!! that she, a rich, skinny, gorgeous blond, is being out-shined by someone who she deems to be a common hood booger. Rick and Maya get together despite Caroline, but she refuses to give up on Rick.

Enter Carter Walton (Lawrence Saint-Victor) a gorgeous (and black) lawyer-turned-actor who also has eyes for Maya, and Caroline knows this and attempts to exploit it by influencing the producer of the show they both work on to through them into as many romantic and sexy scenes as possible in hopes a real-life romance will spark. Of course Caroline not-so-slyly encourages Maya to hook up with Carter, after all…he’s black.

Unlike Caroline, Carter is a stand up guy, who admits his interest but respects the boundaries Maya puts up because of her love and loyalty for Rick. But as soaps go, of course there’s some horrible misunderstanding that occurs that leads Maya to temporarily believe that Rick doesn’t support her acting career, which leads to a kiss with Carter that stops short of going any further because while she’s attracted to him, she’s in love with Rick. Caroline discovers this interlude and runs to Rick, who promptly dumps Maya and sleeps with Caroline, who makes herself readily available in her Elle McPherson lingerie.

The story leaves off with Caroline flaunting her hook up with Rick to Maya, who then goes to confront Rick, who is now apologetic and wants to get back together with Maya.

After what Rick did, I’m on #TeamCarter. Who wants a guy who runs into the vagina of another woman at the first sign of trouble?

This triangle makes for good commentary on how the world is changing, and how some *cough* white women *cough* will express dismay as more rainbeaus pursue relationships with women they once believed didn’t hold a candle to them.

I’m for sure on #TeamMaya either way, and you can too by liking her fan page here.