James & Raquel's Relationship On 'Vanderpump Rules' Has Been Filled With Drama Since Day One

According to Bravo, the couple met on New Year's Eve 2016, when James was DJ'ing at a party; Raquel told Bravo that she had "no idea what the show was" when they first met. They made things social media official just a month later, sharing plenty of adorable photos of themselves celebrating Valentine's Day together. At the time, Raquel was a student at Sonoma State University, studying kinesiology with a focus in pre-occupational therapy.

However, Raquel wasn't a stranger to the spotlight, as she held the title of Miss Sonoma County, and was hoping to become the next Miss California. "Not a single day goes by without working toward my dream of being the next Miss California USA," she wrote on Instagram at the time.

Though she hasn't become a fully-fledged member of the Vanderpump Rules cast, it's surprising to realize that Raquel has only appears on five episodes of the reality show, starting with her debut back in the season premiere of Season 5.

The many (many) rumors of James cheating on Raquel first grabbed headlines in Season 5, when SURver Gerelyn “GG” Gilbert claimed that she had slept with James while he was dating Raquel.

In one of the season's most dramatic moments, GG and her friend Elle — who also claimed to have hooked up with the British DJ — confronted Raquel at one of James' shows. When James came over to investigate the fight, GG handed him a bag of clothes that she claimed she borrowed after sleeping over at his house. James denied being unfaithful to his girlfriend, maintaining that GG and Ellie were just "groupies."

"I was so surprised to see GG and Ellie there, honestly," Raquel told Bravo's "Daily Dish" about the fight. "Why are you here? To harrass us? I dont deal with drama well ...Once GG gave that slap, I was outta there."

Despite the drama that GG's confrontation caused on Vanderpump Rules, James told Bravo that not only was he not unfaithful to his beauty queen girlfriend, but that fighting the rumors actually helped bring them closer together. "Obviously, I understand all the rumors and drama and everything that's happened on the show," James said. "You know we've basically gone through it together and I felt like these girls went to the end of the Earth to try and ruin my relationship."

He added, "But we've stuck through everything and we love each other. But that's what makes relationships stronger is going through hard times and good times."

James even gushed that Raquel is "beautiful soul inside and out, and I couldn't be luckier."

Let's recap the most dramatic fight over a bowl of pasta to ever take place: In Season 6, Lala made a joke about finishing off Raquel's pasta while they were all out enjoying dinner somewhere. In response, James blew up at her, saying that it was disrespectful of her and their mutual friend Logan to eat his girlfriend's food, despite the fact that Lala claimed that Raquel offered it up to them.

See, in James' mind, it truly was "not about the pasta." He explained to the camera, "It's about Lala showing respect for my girlfriend. ... Show respect to get respect, don't giggle after you eat my girlfriend's plate of food."

Despite many fan theories that "pasta" was a code word for something much more nefarious, all of the parties involved have confirmed that it really was a fight over Lala eating Raquel's pasta, and James' feelings that she was being rude by doing so. "'Pasta' legitimately means pasta. How sad is that? I wish that it could mean something cooler, but it was about the fettuccine," Lala recently told Cosmopolitan.

One cheating scandal ends, and another begins. This time, the person claiming to have hooked up with James while he was in a relationship with Raquel was Logan, his best friend. While there was always tension between James, Logan and Raquel — especially after Logan seemed upset that the DJ was in a committed relationship — things came to a head in Season 6, Jax claimed that Logan admitted to hooking up with James.

"I don't want to have to deal with another person saying that they're f*cking my boyfriend," Raquel said in response to Jax's bombshell.

"Me and James have a very deep relationship," Logan told Raquel at one point to explain his hesitation over celebrating their relationship. "So for me, I just always look out for him."

While James' friendship with Lala began to fall apart, his relationship with Raquel seemed to be stronger than ever, and in November, the couple revealed to Bravo that they had even moved in together. The pair seemed thrilled about their new apartment, which included a walk-in closet, a DJ and production studio and a great "selfie light," with Raquel telling the outlet that their new place was "amazing."

Unfortunately, things didn't stay "amazing" for too much longer: Season 7 of Vanderpump Rules brought with it plenty of drama, and a brand new set of cheating allegations against James. This time, it's Kristen's friend Hope, who confronted Raquel at Pride in order to let her know that she and James hooked up at Coachella, while the beauty queen was sleeping just a few feet away. Hope also claimed that she and James have been hooking up for two years behind Raquel's back, but that it was hard for her to own up to the infidelity because James "manipulated me."

Neither Raquel nor James seemed to give these allegations much credence, but the rest of the SURvers think that James has been stepping out on Raquel, and that she should leave him. Calling the couple "a match made in heaven," Lala told Us Weekly that James loves Raquel "because he can get away with everything."

She continued: "I don’t know that I feel badly for her anymore because … it’s like seeing the murder scene and still needing more evidence. It’s like, ‘Okay, girl, I can’t even deal.’ Like, you’re killing my brain cells at this point, and I don’t have a lot of those to lose."

The ladies of Vanderpump Rules have also encouraged Raquel to ditch her boyfriend over his demeaning language, after she admitted that he "treats me like a queen" until "he's been drinking too much," and then he insults her the same way he has insulted all of the other women on the show.

Despite all of the fighting, cheating allegations and drama, though, it looks as if Raquel is committed to standing by her man, and she and James seem to be together and just as happy as ever. Now, let's just hope nobody ever touches her pasta again.