I don't know what to do with this. The cable got yanked out when the front wheel was off and the handlebars were twisted the wrong way, so it's the front brake cable. I'm really really really reluctant to mess with anything beyond the wheels and chain on my bike, but I also really don't want to have to bring this to a bike shop. What do I do?
Share a picture of the front brake. Don't mess with the cable tension if it was working properly before (though you did say it got yanked). I suspect you hooked up your front brake wrong
i couldn't remember how to tag a user in a comment so here it is
naw i tried multiple times to reattach and adjust the brakes because i really hoped it wasn't something worse. i could get the cable back in but everytime i pulled the brake it just got loose again and wouldn't go back. it's definitely something with the tension 😞