"LET GO!" I yelled as Em's grip on my hair tightened.

"YOU LET GO FIRST!" She gritted out, referring to my hands tangled in her hair.

"Okay we let go at the same time." I growled, as I felt like she might actually rip my hair out.

"NO WAY! You deserve to be fucking bald." She retorted, as we balanced ourself on our knees, on the couch in her living room.

"YOU ARE EXAGGERATING!" I yelled in disbelief.

Yes, in her living room, on her couch were two grown humans, with their hands in each other's hair.

How did we end up like this?

Well...

***

*Half an hour ago*

"What do you wanna watch?" Miles asked plopping near the hand rest of the couch, placing a bowl of popcorn beside her, making me roll my eyes as I took a seat on the centre of the couch, also beside the bowl. "Actually, don't answer that. You don't get to choose."

My eyes snapped to hers. "What? Why?" I asked bewildered.

"Because" was her mature answer as she turned on the TV without sparing me a glance.

"So you won't answer any of my questions and you won't let me choose what we watch? I'm starting to think you don't like me very much." I said raising my eyebrows in amusement, trying to mask the fear of, my statement being true.

After Alec left, Miles turned to make popcorn, without sparing me so much as a glance.

When I asked her what that was about, she responded with lame excuses like, him being an ass, being tired and that maybe he hasn't been laid in a long time, but I didn't buy it.

Alec and I were never really, best friends, but he, at least didn't sound like he wants to give me a slow death when he spoke to me, back then. So I had a reason to be confused at his sudden outburst towards me.

We were debating on what we want to order for lunch, when Em's dad walked into the kitchen, now freshened up as we had small talks about my life.

He left Miles and I in the kitchen after a while, after grabbing a cup of coffee for himself.

I decided to try one more time to ask her about the bruise on her jaw, which now, had somehow disappeared. It's crazy, what girls are capable of doing, with make-up.

After earning nothing but glares and lame excuses I decided to let it be. I knew she was lying but I didn't push it, not wanting to make her uncomfortable.

I rolled my eyes and snatched the remote out of her hand, keeping it behind me, as I shift to sit, facing her.

She was glaring at me, but I saw her eyes waver to my... wait what?

A smirk grew on my face at that, as I couldn't help but feel a little giddy. I always felt triumphant when she tries to subtly check me out, but this, was something else.

"So you are a sucker for grey sweats, huh?" I didn't want to be a dick about it, but I just couldn't stop myself.

She scoffed, pulling out her phone. "I don't wanna deal with you right now." She said looking down on her phone, munching on popcorn.

I move to snatch her phone out of her hands but she moved it away with surprisingly amazing reflexes and she turned her head to narrow her eyes at me.

"What is your problem?" She rolled her eyes.

"Why is it so hard for you to answer one damn question Miles?" I asked, and I couldn't help but frown, because it was not just about this stupid question, it's about all the unanswered ones from the last three years.

"Because I don't owe you an answer." She said narrowing her eyes at me.

My face fell as I comprehended what she said and I couldn't help but overthink that statement.

I scanned her face as she noticed the change in my demeanor as I saw her trying to put her guard up. But her eyes always clearly depicted her emotions to me and thankfully, that's one thing she can't take away from me.

"You don't?" I asked my emotions slowly taking over me.

"I absolutely don't." She said raising an eyebrow.

I wanted to stop talking. I didn't want to take this conversation any further and that would've been a smart move but well, my mouth had a mind of its own.

"I think you do. You owe us all answers, hundreds of them, in fact." I said, now closer to her, with a neutral look but I know my eyes gave away how I felt. "You owe me answers, Miles."

She had a stoic look on her face but her eyes were a hurricane of panic.

I knew I should've stopped. I knew it was too soon.

From the moment I laid my eyes on her, I knew something was different and I'm not talking about the physical changes.

She carried baggage. Baggage that took away the shine in her eyes, the skips in her steps and many smiles from her lips.

"I don't have them."

She said, meeting my eyes.

Our faces were inches away from each other and I scanned her face, surprised. My hand moved on its own accord as it was on her cheek in a moment.

"You don't have an explanation for literally disappearing without a trace?" I saw her eyes flicker to my lips as mine did to hers.

"For leaving us behind?" I whispered, as I noticed her eyes fluttering as she unknowingly leaned into my hand on her cheek.

I wanted to stop there, but I couldn't.

"For leaving me behind?" That made her open her eyes to meet mine.

We both knew exactly what my words meant. I was referring to the day she stood me up, under the blossom tree. That was the last day I'd heard from her, before she literally disappeared from our lives.

She scoffed snapping me out of my thoughts, her eyes held a very strong emotion that made me regret bringing this up.

Hurt.

The hurt in her eyes made me want to envelope her in my arms and never let go.

"Leave you behind?" She raised her eyebrows. "You say it like I never came for you. I came back for you. I never wanted to leave you hanging."

Her tone held rage but her face was impassive, while her eyes were a mix of emotions.

I wince at that, as she reminded me of the biggest regret, the biggest mistake of my life.

She noticed that and a smirk grew on her lips making my eyes divert to them.

"Did you think, I'd forget?" She grabbed my hand that was on her cheek holding it between us as her other hand came up to caress my cheek, with her smirk intact as she scanned my face. "That night. On the sidewalk?"

"When you left me on the sidewalk, crying." I felt like I was under a spell and couldn't move. All I could focus on were her beautiful blue eyes, and the movement of her lips.

She knew the effect she had on me as her smirk grew, while she leaned in, and so did I. I could hear her faint heartbeat because of our proximity, and it's safe to say, it was beating almost as fast as mine.

Her lips were centimetres from mine and my eyes fluttered shut, when she moved past my lips, her hot breath fanning my ear. "So, no. I don't have answers for you."

I was in daze when she suddenly moved back, going back to her previous position, grabbing her phone and diverting her attention back to the bowl of popcorn.

What just happened?

'You got playeddd'

She was so close to me.

'Now she's not.'

We almost kissed.

'But you didn't.'

She glanced at me when I didn't move for a good minute, and threw some popcorn at me to bring me out of my trance.

"Turn on the TV." She groaned, scrolling through her phone.

I shook my head, to regain my composure before narrowing my eyes at her.

So we're playing dirty now, huh?

I moved forward and before she could comprehend by action, I snatched the phone out of her hand, holding it away from her.

That didn't earn me a bigger reaction than it did when, while retracting myself, back to my previous place, my knee brushed against the bowl of popcorn and it went tumbling down, off the couch.

We froze.

Our stares set on the bowl of popcorn, now on the floor.

I slowly raise my head to look at Miles, cautiously. I knew I had crossed the line. She hated it when someone messed with her food and well I've done that twice in a week.

I gulped as she blinked down at the popcorn lying on the floor as if her pet died.

I didn't dare open my mouth and slowly started scooting away from her to put as much distance between us as possible.

When she sensed movement from me, her head slowly rose, and turned to look at me.

She had a blank look on her face.

"I'll make you more popcorn?" I offered weakly, not liking the look on her face. I, at least want to tell her how I feel before I die and that would be a difficult task to do when she's the one killing me.

She let out a low chuckle in response. "Make your peace with the world. Today you die."

And then she lunged.

***

*Present*

"IT'S JUST POPCORN, YOU PSYCHO!" I yelled in disbelief followed by a groan as she pulled my hair even more.

"AND YOU'RE JUST A WASTE OF SPACE ON EARTH!" She glared at me, not backing down.

"What in the world is going on here?!" A voice made us both snap our necks to the source, not letting go of each other's hair.

There stood Em's mom, followed by Lexi, Dylan and Cole on her tail, all staring wide-eyed at the mess in the living room.

"Okay when I wanted you two to spend some alone time, this is not what I imagined." Dylan's said in disbelief.

"Wha- how- You know what? I don't even wanna know. Just clean this mess up." Em's mom sputtered, before sighing and leaving to probably, go take some Advil.

Em and I turned to glare at each other before I, being the mature one loosened my grip on her hair, which was so soft I wanted to not let go.

I think that could be the reason why I held on for so long. I wasn't even pulling, I didn't want to hurt her.

'You'd be bald if you held on for another minute.'

Noticing my loosened grip, she gave me one last glare before ripping her hands out of my hair, taking a few strands with her, making me groan in pain.

"Well, you at least look the part we imagined." Lexi snorted, looking at out failed attempts to fix our hair.

Miles rolled her eyes at her before snatching her phone from beside me.

"Help clean up, you imbecile." She said, eyeing the fallen popcorn while I followed her to grab a trash bag, rolling my eyes.

Wondering what our 'friends' did to help?

Nothing. They all stood there chuckling at the situation and our disheveled states.

Mia and Perri arrived, by the time we were done cleaning up, with only a few snarky comments fired at each other. Turns out, they were late because they picked up pizza on their way here.

I couldn't help but feel like things were getting 'normal'? I mean, as normal as they can be, considering the situation. We used to bicker like this all the time, back then and make up a few hours later.

We decided to settle and watch a movie and then chaos broke on what we're gonna watch. The boys wanted to watch a thriller, obviously, while the girls wanted to watch a chick flick, To all the boys I've loved something.

Miles and I were the only ones who didn't say anything. I watched them in amusement as Miles concentrated on a slice of pizza.

After a while, Cole gave in, and I'm not even surprised. He can never say no to Perri about anything. That boy is a major simp.

'You're one to talk.'

Get the fuck out of my head.

I groaned internally as my gaze instantly went to Miles, as she watched them bicker with an amused smile on her face.

She must've felt my gaze because she turned to look at me and raised her eyebrows in question. I shook my head, making her frown as I saw a hint of red crawling up her neck.

We finally decided to watch the movie, the girls wanted to watch and I started dozing off in the first 15 minutes itself.

I didn't notice when I unconsciously sprawled on the couch. I didn't notice when I laid my head on Miles' lap because she was sitting on the couch, beside me.

I felt her breath hitch before there was movement, as she leaned forward to check if I was sleeping. Once she was sure that I was indeed, out, I heard her sigh before she went back to her previous position.

*****

The first thing I felt when I came into my senses was tickling on my face. I brushed it off the first two times but couldn't help but open my eyes on the third time, only to be met with a pleasant surprise.

I always wake up annoyed, I'm not a morning person. In fact, I'm not a wake up person, at all.

But when I opened my eyes, I was met with the most beautiful blue eyes as they stared right back at me.

I heard giggling from somewhere behind her and I glanced at the source to see everyone trying to stifle a chuckle, except for Cole, who just shook his head with an amused smile on his face.

"It's almost 6 Ryder." Emily said now standing up straight from her bent position, while I got up to sit on the couch before stretching my arms above my head. "It's time you get out of my house and go sleep in your own."

I'm surprised, I slept that long. The TV was turned off, the empty pizza boxes were thrown away and everyone else was on their feet as it grew slightly dark outside.

I nodded, before getting up myself, glancing at Miles. "I slept for that long?" I asked as another yawn escaped my lips.

"Like a log." Miles scoffed, making the others chuckle as I grabbed my phone off the couch.

"Why are you all so giggly, anyway." I asked facing the others as we started making our way to the front door.

That made Dylan burst out laughing making Miles facepalm herself.

Perri hit Dylan in the back of the head, making him choke on air as he tried to calm down.

Once he regained his composure, he wiped a tear from his eye before he looked at me, grinning. "I'm sorry man, but you're in for a ride."

Miles cleared her throat, sending him a warning look making me frown in confusion.

Eh, Dylan never makes sense anyway.

I thought, shrugging.

We said our goodbyes as everyone hugged Miles. Not stopping to think about it, I moved forward, grabbed her by her waist and enveloped her in my arms.

Her arms froze for a good five seconds before she wrapped her arms around my shoulder to hug me back.

"It's good to have you back, Miles." I sighed in her ear as I felt her shiver slightly.

We pulled away as she gave me a small smile. "It's good to be back."

I reached my house after everyone drove off, with a smile on my face and headed to my room.

Taking off my t-shirt I headed to the bathroom to freshen up but when I turned to the sink, I couldn't help but freeze with one look at the mirror.

I stood there wide eyed, as the weird behaviour of my friends slowly started making sense.

On my forehead, with a permanent marker, was written, 'I'm a dick' with a very mature illustration of a dick on both my cheeks.

I let out a frustrated groan when it didn't come off after washing my face for the tenth time.

Oh you're so on, Miles.