Late nights were some of the best times to think and retrospect, but it was always better when you were not tired. However, to the bright sunshine girl who had the energy of three horses in her, thinking was never a tiring thing to do.

She wanted to believe in many things but if there was one thing Emily Wonders absolutely believed in, it would be that struggle always led to something better behind it. Just like the way the cold and harsh winters paved way for the bright and sunny summers, in the same way, Emily believed that if a person were struggling there would be daylight for them at the end of their tunnel.

But Liam Wyatt was not one to believe that. According to him, the conflict did not lead to something better. He believed that happiness had to be earned, and it was not something you sit back and waited for.

They rarely ever argued but this was one thing the both of them could never agree on even after spending almost every waking moment of the day with each other for over six years.

In the darkness of the night, two different souls who were separated by buildings and walls were connected by a highly advantageous contraption called a 'phone'.

On either side of the line were two best friends who had known each other for a very long time. Many people knew them as the 'inseparable duo' and others as 'forever is the sweetest con', but both of them knew that 'forever' was not promised.

They liked to believe that they were going to be friends forever, yet they both knew that time was an illusion. Someday, they were not going to be as close as they were now. But instead of worrying, they decided to relish the time they had together rather than fret over the future that was about to come. Or, hopefully, it would never come.

Spending time left is much better than arguing anyways.

Wishing that his best friend would shut up for once and let him sleep, Liam shut his eyes painfully. He loved Emily. In all ways, he loved her so bad, but sometimes, he wished that she would just shut up. It could get annoying at times. Especially when it was way too early in the morning and they had school the next day.

"I'm telling you, Liam! Happiness isn't something you can make!" Emily tried convincing the dark-haired boy from the other side of the line, "It comes naturally!"

"Can you please stop yelling?" Liam groaned, squinting his eyes as he held the phone a yard away from his ear, "It's two in the damn morning and my brain doesn't work after midnight!"

"Oh, please," she scoffed, "You luuuuuurrrrrvvvvvvveeeeee me!"

"I do, now, can I please go back to my fucking sleep?" he asked her and buried his face deeper into the pillow, muffling his words up.

"But who's gonna listen to Taylor's new album, then?" she whined like a three-year-old who wanted ice cream.

"Go to sleep, Emily!" he moaned as his eyes were getting droopier, "Sleep and listen to it in the morning."

"But I'll miss the moment she releases it!" Emily shrieked in horror as though what he had suggested was atrocious.

"Yeah, Emily, but it will get released in an hour! Just set an alarm and please, just go to sleep-"

"Liiiiaaaaammmm!" she dragged his name, trying to make him change his mind.

"DAWN, Let me have my sleep!" he roared as he lifted his head from the pillow. Blinking twice, he dropped his head back into the pillow once more.

Emily knew that if he used her middle name, he meant it. A crazy grin dangling from her lips, she told him, her tone as sad as she could make, "Okay, alright, yeah, just leave, go. 'Night Liam."

"Wait, Emily," he called her, right before she could cut the call, just like she knew he would. Just like he always did.

"What will you do?"

"Oh, me?" she asked, feigning shock, "I'll stay up, waiting for the album."

"All night?" he asked, pulling the phone closer to his ear while rubbing his face with his left hand, "We have a Chemistry test tomorrow."

"Yes, all night, and yes, I know that I am going to fucking fail."

"And you're not at all worried?" he asked, but it sounded more like he was stating a fact.

"For fuck's sake, Liam!" she groaned, "You know me the best. Do I look like I give a damn about a test?"

"Of course not," he replied with a sigh.

After lying for a minute on the bed without a shirt on, he stared at the ceiling of his darkroom. Without saying a single word to her or hearing nothing back, he let out a heavy breath he had been holding back and whispered, "Alright, I'm coming over."

"Yay!" she cheered in excitement, not bothering to lower her volume, "Love you, Liam."

"Love you too, you idiot," he chuckled as he tossed on a hoodie over his naked torso, "You better have something good to watch and a lot of popcorn."

"Marvel marathon, it is!" she cheered then replied with an afterthought, "We can only see one movie though. What will it be?"

"Spiderman", he replied in the same moment she did, "Eternals."

"Fuck, no, Spiderman", he stated as he opened the window of his bedroom and the breeze hit him right in the face.

"Aw, come on, Liam!" she whined, "The Eternals from there are just- the love of my life, please. Last time, I swear."

"That's what you say every time!" he groaned as he tried finding his headphones, "I'm not seeing it. It will be the fourth time, since the release then."

"Fine, no Eternals," she agreed with a huff as she took out the glass bowls from inside the shelf in her home, three blocks away.

"Black Widow?" she suggested in a small voice at the same moment, he landed on the grass with a soft thud.

He rubbed his hands to his face and told her, "I give in. Every. Single. Time. What's the use of arguing?"

"Exactly," she replied as she waltz towards her fridge, "Diet soda, ain't it?"

"Duh," he replied through heavy breaths, "I'm just around the corner."

"Alright, see ya real soon," she replied and threw her phone on the couch with full force at the same moment he cut the call.

Liam, on the other hand, true to his words, was nearly there. Panting heavily, he turned left and rapped on the familiar light brown, mahogany door of the Wonders. One knock and the door swung open with no one behind it and he knew that Emily had left the door open.

Sighing heavily, he walked into the house, not bothering to make his presence known, he dropped his body as though it was dead weight into the familiar couch that somehow always smelt of peppermint.

"Hey, Emily!" he roared when he found out that he had sat on her phone, "Don't keep your goddamned phone on the couch, it nearly went into my ass."

"Oh hey, Liam," Emily replied, poking her head out of the kitchen to see Liam, "Wonderful, now that you're here. And besides, it wouldn't be the first time my phone has crawled up your ass."

"Damn Em, what's all over your face?" he asked her, chuckling as he headed towards the kitchen.

The look of horror on his face when entering the kitchen was quite evident. Every single item in the kitchen was covered in white powder. It was everywhere and especially all over Emily. Her face was smeared white and she even had some of them dusting her hair.

"What happened here?" he crackled.

"I was bored," she stated as though it was an answer to his question.

Everybody who knew Emily knew that when she was bored, a disaster is brewing. When she was younger, she was even named 'Disaster' by her classmates on more than one occasion, but a heavy punch on the nose for the meanest guy in class and her name changed to 'Wild'.

Rule one to knowing Emily: Don't be on her bad side.

"And you decided to?" he trailed, still unsure of what happened in the kitchen. In all honestly, there was still white dust flying drifting across the kitchen.

"Bake."

"Jesus," he whispered breathlessly, "And I'm guessing that this mess is the flour?"

She looked at him with seriousness and then put her left hand on her waist before responding, "Worse. It's confectionary sugar."

"Bloody hell, Emily," he replied looking all around him, "This is next level."

"I know," she responded, "Learned my lesson. Never bake."

He bit on his lower lip as he examined the mess. More like a disaster. The thought made him start grinning wide like a Cheshire cat. He looked like he was about to tease her, but she spoke up before he could, "Don't even think about it."

He smiled as he pulled his sleeves up and took a damp cloth ready to get working, "But I didn't even say anything."

"That crazy grin tells me everything", she replied without even having to look up. She scrubbed the kitchen counter as she continued, "I know you better than you know yourself."

Liam was about to counter back, but then he realised, she did know him quite well. She knew if he was lying, if he was hiding the truth, if he was pissed, angry or mad. She knew him inside out.

Except he knew that she did not know how much he loved her.

If she did, she still wouldn't be standing there, scrubbing the counter along with him. She wouldn't be there laughing her lungs out at every silly thing he did. She loved him too, just not in the way, he would have wanted her to.

Does wanting someone to love you make you a bad person?

A question that always haunted Liam's mind. It was not a silly crush anymore. It was a full-blown obsession. A fully blossomed love and he knew that he couldn't live without her anymore.

"Hey, Liam?" she called without having to look up.

Her voice broke him from his reverie and he responded with a "yeah?"

She tried controlling her smirk but she just couldn't help herself, "I can see you staring at me."

His comeback was fast and smooth, "Oh, I was just checking the size of your boobs, you know? If you even drag me to lingerie shopping again."

"Oh my god!" she moaned, red in the face. When he began chuckling, she threw the dirty powder-filled rag with which she was cleaning the tabletops, and it landed straight on his head, "That was one time, Liam!"

"Yeah," he scoffed and threw the cloth back at her which she caught with ease, "Any sane person knows that even if you're best friends, you don't take your guy best friend for lingerie shopping."

"C'mon, Liam! I like girls, so, taking a guy is more appropriate. Especially, my best friend, Liam... And besides, don't act like you didn't like the show," she smiled cynically.

At the mention of that, his mind replayed the picture of her which he tried to bury deep inside his mind so hard. They were both fifteen that time and she had dragged him to a lingerie store.

That was one thing Liam wished that he would never have to repeat. Even after all this time, every time he thought back to that event - that was too unspeakable to phrase into terms - he still went red in the face. 

Emily had lost her mind and she was leading him everywhere. They were both fucked in the head. 

No matter how many times he tried to forget the way she had looked in that picture, it just wouldn't get out. Sometimes he wished that 'oblivate' was real. 

When Emily had realised who the girl in the picture was she had been livid. She send her own picture to the wrong person. Who would've send a picture of themselves half-naked to their male bestfriend? But then, she was much naiver and she never minded it much. It was just Liam. 

Besides, after that mess was cleared away, red in face Emily and Liam had gone to the ice-cream parlour and soon, they were back to punching shoulders and grinning ear to ear. 

That was the best part about them. Even after a thousand differences between them, they never ever let anything get in between them. They complimented each other.

Liam was sure that they wouldn't be able to survive without the other. Emily was like a balloon, head adrift, mind floating in the air, always off to some new crazy fantasy, while Liam was a rock underground.

She lifted him up and he grounded her.

They had been fine thus far and they would continue to be. Or at least, that was what Liam wished for.

An ear-piercing whistle grabbed his attention and he was staring right back at his best friend.

"Stop being a pervert and get on with the work," she mumbled with a smirk as she swiped the tabletop for the fifth time.

"Oh, shut up, will you?" he retorted with a grin as he closed the door of the shelf, "Besides, it's nearly done."

And true to Liam's words, three minutes later, they were done with it. Emily was so close to dropping her butt to the sofa when he sat first and she fell into his laps.

"Liam!" she gasped as she faced her best friend, "What are you doing?!"

"You're gonna go and take a shower," he replied, stretching his long legs to cover the entire couch, making sure not to leave any place for her to sit down.

"But why?!" she whined, jutting her lower lip outwards.

"Because you've got flour in your hair," he mumbled, eyes glued to the screen. 

"Help me?" she asked in a mere whisper.

His eyes snapped to hers - connecting like magnets - just like they always did. He found her looking at him anticipation in her sparkling hazel eyes. The left corner of her lower lip was held between her teeth, her hair was unscathed chaos with tangles and sugar all over them.

Her clothes were crumpled and white and her face was also white in a few places.

In all, she looked like a mess, but then again, she was the mess he loved.

Just like everything, after a while of debating what it was going to do to his heart, he let a "fine" fall from his lips.