Lucas's POV:

Emily. Hmm... What can I do about her? I can't just say I like her, that's too straightforward. I can't keep denying it, or she'll think I don't like her for real. I can't do nothing because it's impossible to do nothing in times like these. Ugh... You know, overthinking things is great sometimes, but others like now, it's the worst.

"What are you thinking about, Lucas?" Emily asked. I almost forgot she was here!

"Nothing I don't normally think about," I respond.

"What do you normally think about," She wants answers, why?

"School, mostly..." I try.

"What else? That's surely not what you are thinking about right now," She suggested.

"How can you tell?" I asked, wanting in on her secret so I can fix it.

"Your eyes and your facial expressions are different right now than at school. This is more creative, imagination like at school you look more analytical," What's that mean?

"How do I fix it?" I ask, hoping she will help me.

"Tell me what you are thinking about now and maybe I can help," She smirked.

"The fact that I overthink things too much," I half truth it.

"You overthink what too much. Something other than school," Am I in trouble?

"Uh... Things?" I don't say confidently,

"Lucas, you're acting like what you say to Danny and Anthony will get you by with me, I am a girl, I can not only see right through you, but I can read feelings. What good is hiding your secret doing you anyways? Let alone the harm it seems to cause you," she explained.

"The fact I don't understand girls Em! There's so much pressure and so much... Confusion and things, it's just... I don't get it!" She always gets to me. I go to grab something from the fridge while Emily sits on the couch just... In shock, almost. Just proving my point further.

"Exactly! Like, I have no idea what you're thinking right now! I don't get it!" I add.

General POV:

After Lucas admitted he didn't understand Girls, Emily was shocked. That was one of the last things she wanted to hear from Lucas. When Lucas said he couldn't read her thoughts, it made her feel a little bit better, but the fact that he was suddenly worried about understanding girls was disappointing to her.

"Why-why do YOU need to understand girls?!" Emily asked him. She had two thoughts running through her mind. The first was that he might like someone else. The second, was that maybe she pushed him too far. This was the first time she felt like she lost control over their conversations. It was off script. It was actually personal, and she didn't know what would happen next. Of course, the thought ran through her mind that he understood girls enough to get her to like him, why not someone else, but that wasn't Emily's concern, at least her top one.

"Who doesn't! They are like half the human race! You don't understand girls, you don't understand life," Lucas adds.

"It's okay if you don't understand life, you're only 15, you know. You still have a lot of time," Emily tried, hoping she could continue acting like nothing bothered her.

"You seem like you're an odd mix of scared, confused and surprised right now. What's up?" Lucas admitted, not thinking about what he just said.

"What the? I thought you said you didn't understand girls?!" Emily asked, with those three emotions mirroring her feelings.

"Oh, I can read emotions and expressions fine, I just can't read minds," Lucas replied.

"Girls can't read your mind either!" Emily exclaimed, hoping her strategy would work.

"Then how do you do it! It's unfair!" Lucas whined back.

"I can't! If I could I wouldn't have to ask what's wrong or what you're feeling like or anything like that every ten seconds would I?" Emily replied.

"You are the opposite of me. You have trouble reading my feelings, but you read my mind just fine. I can't read your mind, but I understand you're feelings... That's weird. I think I finally understand life now," Lucas said out of nowhere. Emily suddenly felt trapped. If Lucas understood her feelings, did that mean he was knowingly taking her crush on him for granted and trying to understand some other girl? She had the option of just admitting her feelings for him, but would she do that? Risk it all just to find out he was trying to understand someone else? She started to feel a bunch of weird emotions. Stress was one of the top ones. She thought of one question to ask him before she ran out and gave up all hope. It was worth a shot.

"Are there any emotions you can't read?" Emily asked as a last resort.

"I'm sure there are, I just haven't found them yet. There's flaws to everything," Lucas said, desperately trying to read what she was feeling when she asked that.

"Might one of them perhaps be when someone likes you?" Emily asked, hoping Lucas didn't catch where she was going with her question.

"Nope. I can tell pretty easily when someone likes me. That's one of the reasons I knew I could read feelings and such. It's harder for me to tell if I like someone than the opposite,"

"Who exactly are you trying to understand anyways," Emily said discouraged.

"Well... I really don't feel like saying. I mean, it is supposed to be a secret," Lucas tried.

"So you're trying to understand some poor girl who doesn't even know that some guy is trying to understand her? I mean, that seems pretty... Invasive, almost..." Emily questioned. Lucas couldn't read Emily. He just didn't want to admit it. It's like he wasn't meant to. That's why he was trying to understand 'girls' he really just wanted to understand one, like Emily thought, but she didn't know it was her. If Emily could read his mind, she would clearly know what he was thinking now, right? Emily, was thinking the exact opposite. Like she tried telling Lucas, she couldn't read his mind, despite her best attempts and hopes. They were now both thinking the same thing. If they could read each other, wouldn't they each know about the others crush on them?

"You say you can read my emotions, right? Try me," Emily demanded boldly.

"I can tell by your voice you sound... Daring. It looks like you're trying to decide between hopeful and hopeless and I think you like someone, but I can't read your mind so I have no idea who, and every once and a while I'll see confused, surprised and nervous among others," Lucas told her. She finally understood it. He couldn't read her mind, but he could read her feelings. Then everything came to her. She knew exactly what was happening. Lucas thought she liked someone else, and so he needed to understand girls because if she liked someone else it would never be him, so he wanted to like someone. Maybe she kind of could read his mind. A little bit.

"I'll be back in a little while," Emily told him. She didn't say how long a little while was, and to be honest Emily didn't know either. She just wanted to lock herself in her room and take the rest of the day off from the world.

"How long will it be? Why the sudden feeling change?" He asked her.

"Not sure, but it won't be too long, I don't think. Later today for sure," She forced a smile as she walked out the door, leaving her phone at Lucas's house so she had a reason to go back later when she felt better. She had a passcode on it so she felt safe leaving it there. She instantly did exactly what she was thinking about. Lie down on her bed, and start to get upset, like most 15 year old girls would if they thought a guy didn't like them back. Lucas was trying to figure out what happened. By this point he had given up on ever understanding girls, his code for figuring out Emily's thoughts, when he saw her phone. It was locked, so he couldn't use it, but he thought of an idea. He decided to call Emily to find out what his ringtone was. It sounded like a default track, but he wasn't sure. He then asked Danny to call her phone, then Anthony, then her two best friends, Valerie and Natalie. Each of them did, not knowing why he was doing this, and when she didn't answer any of their calls, all four of them were worried about Emily. The last thing on their minds was Lucas listening to all their different ringtones. Sure, it was kind of private, but he had heard them all anyways, he'd come to remember. He just didn't think of it when he asked them to call. Everyone else had a special ringtone. Some type of song that played when the phone rang. The only exception to that was Lucas, who was still on the default tone. He decided to try calling her with the old home phone he'd been using before instead, when it was a different ringtone. It was a song he'd never heard before, but was kind of different. His four friend's songs were upbeat, danceable, etc. his, was quite the opposite. It was almost a sad sounding guitar intro, that was played quite slow.

"A ballad? For me? What's up with that?" He thought out loud. He then heard someone knocking at the door. He instantly knew it was Valerie and Natalie.

"Why'd she leave her phone at your house, and why did you ask us to call her if you knew?" Natalie said as soon as he opened the door.

"I think she left it here so she remembered to come back from... Something she never told me about, I have no idea," Lucas explained.

"Then why did you want us to call her?" Valerie asked.

"Because I thought she took her phone with her until I called her to ask where she was and heard her phone give off a boring old ringtone," Lucas said slightly discouraged by this. The girls then understood what he was doing.

"So you asked us to call to see if it was different than yours, and it was, wasn't it?" Lucas nodded in response to Valerie's question.

"She's so predictable. What did your contact name come up as?" Natalie asked, realizing this was a prime opportunity she couldn't let go to waste to set the two up.

"I didn't bother to look. I was too busy focusing on the ringtones. I want you to tell me if this song is familiar to you real quick," Lucas called Emily's phone from the home phone, and the slow sad sounding ballad played again.

"I don't think I've heard it before," Valerie lies to cover for Emily. Natalie elects a different route, although not the most direct one.

"What's our ringtones?" Natalie was going to figure this out the hard way where Lucas would have to figure it out himself. She wasn't just going to give him the song!

"Val's was the guitar part to Brown Eyed Girl on repeat, Danny's was Dancing In The Streets, Anthony's was the Crazy Train intro, and yours was Smooth," The girls were confused, but happy for themselves.

"Wait, so Emily chose either our fav songs or songs that fit us perfectly, right? That would mean she would have had to do the same for you, right?" Natalie suggested.

"I guess... I mean, I didn't get this phone that long ago, in fact I'm not even listed as a contact yet. She doesn't have my number?" Lucas asked

"Well, maybe she didn't think you got a new phone? Who knows," Valerie responded truthfully. She decided to stick with that principal again. "Hold on a second. That song. I think I might know it," Natalie didn't know what Valerie was doing. Trying to set them up like she was, but make it more obvious?

"Okay? Is it a good or bad thing?" Lucas asked, unsure he wanted to know, even.

"Dream On. By Aerosmith. It's a great song, it's one of my favorites from the era, actually. I just don't understand why she picked a song for you that you don't know," Valerie said confused, but honest at the same time. Natalie instantly understood the song choice, and Valerie wasn't sure, but she did, but Lucas couldn't figure it out. What does Dream On have anything to do with him? Maybe he should listen to the whole song and not just the title and the intro guitar.

"Well, thanks for stopping over, do you want to give her her phone back so nobody else is worrying like you guys did?" Lucas asked.

"I guess. I'll tell her to add your number too," Val said, taking Emily's phone, not questioning why he didn't do it.

"Thanks! I'll see you guys tomorrow," he said as he closed the door, before going up to listen to Dream On and try to understand why she chose that song for him.

Emily, meanwhile was listening to Kansas. Dust In The Wind, to be exact.

"Same, Old, Song, Just a Drop of Water in an Endless Sea," The ringtone she set for her home phone in case Christina needed to call her on that for some reason like a dead battery or something. It was one of Christina's favorite songs that Emily had taken a liking to as well. Valerie ended up going to Emily's with Natalie, as they had to ask Emily some questions.

"Uh, why do you have my phone? When did you see Lucas? Why are you here? What did you do to Lucas? What did you-" Valerie gave Emily the cut off sign, so she stopped rambling, before walking inside the house.

"I have your phone, because Lucas gave it to us to deliver back to you. I saw him a minute ago. I didn't do anything to him, just talked to him and Natalie and tried to figure out why he doesn't have a special song like we do," Valerie kind of asked.

"Huh? What brought up my ringtones?" She asked, worried Lucas found out the meaning behind his.

"Well, Lucas tried to call you, not knowing you left your phone there. Heard a default ringtone. Thought you left it there on purpose so he just kept it for when you came back like you wanted, whatever that meant, but Natalie and I tried calling you and you didn't answer because Lucas doesn't know your passcode, but we found out from him he had your phone because he knew by this point, so he told us to go over to his house so he could ask us about your ringtones apparently," Valerie explained the whole story. It made common sense, but what stuck out to Emily was that she received a call from an unknown number, and then two from Lucas.

"Why did Lucas call me twice?" She asked. "After you guys?"

"No, the first unknown number is from Lucas too. It's his cell phone, he was just too lazy to give you his number," Emily scoffed. Stupid Boys, of course was her thought.

"Why? Dang, I need to think of another ringtone!" Emily exclaimed. Trying to think.

"What was the purpose behind Dream On anyways?" Val asked.

"I'm assuming he asked you guys?" Em said, Val nodded. "Okay, well, it should be pretty obvious, but basically Lucas is the guy of my dreams, not for real life. I need to keep dreaming, because if I stop, I lose Lucas, but if I don't and try too hard for real, I'll either really lose Lucas and never move on, or move on from him and find someone else, or just be alone my whole life..." Emily told Val her story, which was quite depressing, before Emily's excitement kicked in again. "I got it! Lucas's cell phone ringtone! Alone by Heart. Seems like a good song name, good artist, I like the song, it's the same era, everything. Perfect!" Emily said. Valerie was quite confused.

"Why are you choosing sad sounding power ballads for Lucas? I'm assuming that's what Alone is, right?" Val asked.

"I guess you can call them that, sure, but what am I supposed to choose? Happy by Pharrell? For Lucas? It doesn't fit. Sad by Maroon 5 is too depressing and almost boring. At least the two songs I picked are timeless classics," Em proposed.

"Something happier would be nice, maybe?" Val replied. "I mean, he does make you happy, right?" That seemed like common sense to her.

"When I'm not dreading over forgetting him and eliminating my crush on him," Em said, "which is most of the time now."

"Not you too! Come on Em!" Valerie pleads.

"Maybe when he doesn't like someone else," Val just stood like a statue. She was frozen shocked. Could Emily have just said Lucas likes someone else? No, no, no. Val wasn't buying that for a second. "He asked me how to understand girls," Valerie had no idea what was happening, everything around her was changing. While her crush on Danny was just getting bigger and bigger, her two best friends crushes were failing miserably and falling apart right in front of her eyes on two of her three best guy friends, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

"So, you're saying that Lucas likes someone else?" Val said. "You can't get Anthony to like you," she said to Natalie, "And I can't get Danny to even talk to me?" Val finished.

"Sounds about right." Natalie replied. Emily was even more sad after hearing Valerie describe everyone else's struggles too.

"Now do you see why I chose two power ballads for him? I mean, the song starts out with a good piano intro that's repetitive. It's perfect. Just like Dream On," Emily explained.

"I love how you make all your ringtones personal, but shouldn't you make them... Happier? I mean, how can you stand to be sad when your crush is about to call you?" Val asked.

"Haven't you heard the song? The lyrics aren't too depressing, it's not like a breakup song or anything, and the second verse is impeccably accurate to my life," Emily said. Val was confused, so Emily played her the song.

"It makes me want to cry inside. It's so dreary... Sad... Disheartening..." Val replied.

"I don't care how sad the song is. I care about the lyrics, and the lyrics and the range and everything is amazing. Heck, if I could sing it I would be rich, not have to worry about Lucas, and my life would be great!" Emily faked.

"But you are oh so wrong. You would still like Lucas if you could sing that song, which by the way I'm very sure you could do quite easily. You could be all rich and famous and everything but you'd still like Lucas, and you wouldn't care about any other groupie guy if he was the only one that came to a show of yours," Natalie spoke up.

"That's... That's... Sadly true. Sigh... Why are you right?" Emily questioned.

"I know what you're feeling. That's why. It's hard Em! That's why we have each other. Girls all unite, work together as one. Help each other out in times of need, even if I don't know why you are upset with him right now," Natalie said.

"He asked me how to understand girls, and it was personal, and it wasn't normal lame friend talk stuff, that's why!" Em said.

"Exactly what Natalie said. Why is that so bad?" Val asked cluelessly.

"He likes someone else! He even said as much!" Em exclaimed, as Val and Natalie exchanged glances with each other, not knowing how to approach the new problem that came up.

"Are you sure? I mean, how do you know?" Natalie asked.

"He said I need to understand girls, I asked him why, he said because I like one, I said who and he said its a secret with no emotion. Seemed pretty obvious..." Em explained.

"Oh, okay, you had me worried for a minute there. I thought he did like someone else..." Val said

"I don't know... Maybe he does..." Natalie said smirking.

"Why the smirk? This isn't good!" Em said.

"Yes it is. It means either he likes you and you win, or he likes someone else and you can get over him," Natalie said.

"I don't know how to get over him! That's the issue. I've never had to do this before. That's what is making this so hard!" Em replied.

"It sounds like you two need to talk. You obviously don't understand we are teasing you. Of course there's nothing to worry about," Natalie said.

"You two talk to him! I have my own things to worry about," Em said.

"Like what? Lucas? Uh huh. I'm calling him." Val stated boldly.

"But-But- You might distract him! It might-He might not answer!" Em replied.

"If he doesn't answer leave a message. He's not Danny, he'll call you back later. If it distracts him, too bad. He needs to take the time to talk to you." Val said, while Natalie agreed with what was being said. Emily just sat there pouting.

"Em, calm down! You need to chillax a little bit! It can't be that hard talking to Lucas, can it? Sheesh. I don't get you sometimes." Natalie said.

"Fine! Give me the phone, I'll talk to him... If it matters this much to all of you, he will probably just-" Em got cut off as Lucas answered.

"Hey Val, what's up?" He asked.

"Val is making me talk to you, so hi." Emily responded, leaving Lucas confused.

"Em? Uh... Hi, I guess... Um... Is... Is something wrong or..?" Lucas asked, as Emily normally didn't call him.

"No. Just Valerie forcing me to call you is all. She wanted me to apologize for leaving earlier, but I left my phone there so I would have a reason to go back later," Em said.

"Wait, that's why you did that? Oh. I thought you just left it here." Lucas said. Em just rolled her eyes. Lucas didn't really know what to say, as he was really unprepared for the conversation they were having.

"So I talked to you again. I got my phone back and added your number, and I think that's all I have to talk about right now, so I will talk to you again-" Val stole the phone back from Emily as she was saying bye.

"Lucas, this is Val," Lucas responded with a hey Val as she left to go to a different part of the house. "So, you really need to talk to Emily. She thinks you like someone else and she's getting super agitating about how you can't like her. Say something nice to her or something. Make her think you still like her even if you don't." Val said.

"For the record, I do still like her, but I don't think there's anything that would get the opposite to happen. I've already tried. I'm a lost cause. I feel like I'm annoying her and I need to just step back or something. Be her friend when she needs me to be. It's obvious she doesn't want anything beyond that right now," Lucas said.

"You don't know that! You can't just say what you think someone else wants! This isn't all about her, it's about you too. You can't just say oh she might want this so I'll let it be! Ugh. Do you like her or not? Yes or no. Simple. One word response." Val tried.

"I'm not sure." Lucas replied.

"Too many words. That's three, I only want one. Yes or no. Oh, and maybe this will help. She still likes you either way," Val added.

"Doesn't make this any easier! I mean, I don't know what to think! I wish I did, but I have never had to do this before, and I don't know what I'm doing, and..." Lucas started rambling.

"Lucas. Stop. One, little tiny three letter word. Say the darn word." Val demanded.

"You say this like you know I still like her. How could you know?" Lucas asked.

"If you didn't like her you would have said no right away. Since you do, you are trying to get me to stop caring, which will never happen by the way, to try and keep your secret, which also will never happen, just so you know," Val said.

"So, because I haven't said no yet I like her? Shouldn't it be the opposite?" Lucas asked, questioning Val's tactics.

"Not with you. With boys, everything is the opposite. We say I don't not like a guy, you say I like a girl. We say something embarrassing, you get embarrassed by doing something stupid. Everything is the opposite. This is a perfect example." Val said.

"So I'm guilty until I say I'm innocent, in which case you have no reason to believe me anyways and still will consider me guilty?" Lucas asked.

"No. That's why I'm asking you. I trust you're judgement and that you will tell me what you feel. If you still like her, I trust that you won't tell me you don't because it would ruin everything. If the opposite were true, everything would be irreparable, and I know you don't want that, plus that would be stupid to do anyways. If you tell me you don't and you truly don't, then oh well, it didn't work out, I can help Emily enjoy single life. If you do like her and tell me so, it could be happily ever after for the rest of both of your romance lives. Pretty simple. Whichever path you choose is up to you. You can lie or tell the truth, and say either yes or no, but I need one answer.

"Fine. Conditions included, I guess I do..." Lucas said.

"Wait, so a yes with conditions? What are they?" Val asked.

"No relationship, nothing romantic, and I don't want it public." Lucas replied.

"Then what's the point of doing anything about it?" Val asked.

"None. That's why I haven't done anything about it, and I won't until I'm ready to change my conditions," Lucas said.

"Well, whatever. I suppose it's your loss. Might want to hurry up with that. As Emily's agent I field lots of offers from guys, so... Good luck! You wait too long you might even have a disadvantage in the bidding process. Talk to you later," Val said hanging up.

"Well?" Natalie asked. As Emily just sat there annoyed.

"He likes her. He just doesn't want anything romantic including a relationship and he doesn't want anyone to know that he likes her. I don't get it." Val announced.

"See! It's not my fault! I'm telling you! Boys are stupid! They don't understand us. They try to or say they do or whatever, but they don't! They never will!" Emily said.

"I don't think that's your problem. I think you're problem is Lucas is too smart. He's trying to outplay you, or us, rather, and we are letting him win. We need to work together and come up with a strategy to pin him down." Natalie suggested.

"How about cornering him physically into a wall and not letting him move until he talks to Em about his feelings?" Val proposed.

"That's cruel! What if he has to go to the bathroom or he has an important thing he has to go to or something!" Emily alerted.

"Em, it's the only thing that's going to work. We need to make him feel like he is a mouse and we are the cats. We can't just keep playing games, or you will never win! If he has to go somewhere, we let him go and catch him again when he comes back. If he has to do something like go to the bathroom, then we make him wait until he is done with us." Natalie said.

"That's harsh, isn't it?" Emily asked.

"Nope. Now, do you want to figure out if he likes you or not?" Val asked.

"Fine. If this is what it will take. Just know I don't plan on helping much." Em relented.

"Hey Lucas!" Natalie says as he answers. He starts to get suspicious when Natalie calls, but will at least give it a shot.

"Hey Natalie, what do you need?" He starts.

"From you? A lot. You can start by coming over Em's house. The sooner the better, I'm sure all of us would just like to get this over with," Natalie replied. Lucas didn't know how to react to that, he could pretty much tell he was going to be cooked like turkey on Thanksgiving, but not going at all was way too risky too.

"Alright... I'll be over in a few. Just give me a couple minutes to get ready," Lucas said, who did not really anticipate having to go see his crush the rest of the day after giving her phone to Valerie and Natalie. After getting ready again he made it over to her house. It felt quite eerie for him, and he couldn't tell why. Natalie opened the door, kindly inviting him in.

"Okay, so here is where we are with this. We all know you like Emily, regardless of whether or not you admit it or not. Here's what it comes down to- do you lie and tell her that you don't like her, which breaks both of your young hearts and ruins any chance you two have together which would be terribly disappointing, or do you tell her the truth, and end all of this non-stop madness solving more problems than you create. It's up to you, but you have to pick one.

"What do you mean? I don't have to... I'm not sure yet!" Lucas answered.

"How are you not sure!" Val asks as she meets the two in the living room. Emily was just listening to it all unfold from the kitchen patiently, quietly, and deeply engaged in hard thought about it all.

"I'm just not! I don't know, I'm not ready yet!" Lucas replied.

"What do you mean you're not ready yet?" Val asked.

"Too many hard questions! I don't know the answers!" Lucas said.

"Yes you do! They are easier questions than what you answer in math!" Natalie adds.

"These are higher pressure, higher stakes!" Lucas tried. Val and Natalie both took him by his arm, and lead him to a corner.

"We aren't letting you leave this corner of the room until you answer our question. Do you like Emily enough to want to go out with her?" Val asked. Lucas started to try and fall asleep on purpose, however this was something the girls had been training for.

"Wait, so Emily puts you to sleep. Talking about a girl who's super cute, smart-" Val starts before Lucas cut her off.

"I just was trying to take a nap when you called," Lucas said. "I thought I was done with this already..."

"You won't be done with this until you make up your mind on what to do, and do it." Valerie told him.

"Doesn't this bother you? Doesn't it upset you? Don't you worry about it a lot?" Natalie asked him.

"Yeah, I do, that's why I'm taking a long time to make sure I make a good decision," Lucas replied. The girls were less convinced.

"Lucas, girls have this ability... We can tell when you are lying about romance. It's just... Natural for us as a gender. Let's just say, you are failing a lie detector test right now." Natalie told him.

"I can't be! That's true! What other reason would I not be saying anything for?" Lucas said. He didn't understand everything himself, if he had to be honest.

"You are doing this because you know lying to her would destroy her, and you, but you aren't willing to take the risk that everything turns out fine and dandy. For some stupid reason you feel like she doesn't like you, even though she could practically be in love with you, and you don't realize that if things gosh forbid do take a downturn, you can always slow down or go back a level. The only thing you are doing right now is admitting that you like her and think she's cute. Nothing special about it." Valerie explained. Lucas didn't understand what she had said. Everything she had told him was exactly the opposite of what he had heard from everyone else.

"I don't want to lose anything! I value my freedom, and life and time, and current family and friends and everything! I don't want it to end!" Lucas whined.

"Ha! You, are funny. Freedom? You have always liked Emily, be honest with yourself. You were never interested in anyone else. Life? She's not going to kill you, you will still have a life. Time? Heck you spend so much time with her now, you might actually get even more time to yourself! She doesn't change anything related to family at all, and she is probably one of your best friends at this point, and certainly won't change anything with that category. We all agreed regardless of what happens all six of us would stay friends regardless of what happens with romance. What else?" Natalie shot down every single counter Lucas had in him.

"Why are you making me do this then? If this is so good for me, what does she get from it? What happens next?" Lucas asks.

"We are making you do this, because we care for both of you, and this is way too stressful for you guys to have to deal with. Not to say dating or a relationship isn't stressful, but it's easier to deal with things together. What she gets from it is a great guy for a boyfriend who actually cares about her enough to actually ask what she gets from a relationship. She doesn't need anything, she just wants you to be bold and take a step up. She knows this whole crush thing is probably bothering you as much as it is her, and thinks it's about time that whole era ended. As for what happens next, nothing changes. Only more kissing, hugging, doing things together, more alone time with yourself and or her, and more love instead of crush feelings." Valerie described.

"So... I don't get why this is so important. It sounds like nothing changes." Lucas said.

"Then what's the problem! If nothing really changes, then why is this so hard for you!" Natalie asks, not understanding boys minds.

"The title. Being someone's boyfriend? It's a scary thought. I don't like not knowing what consequences can happen because of my actions." Lucas said.

"What's the worst that can happen? There's either two endings to this assuming you go through with this. The first, is that you stay lifelong friends after you guys break up for some stupid reason like different colleges, the other path is that you guys stay together your whole lives, have kids together, and experience the rest of each other's lives with each other, sharing all kinds of valuable timeless memories with someone you care for." Valerie said, adding to her romantic persuasion tactics.

"I guess I'm just nervous. Unsure. Worried..." Lucas echoed.

"For what! Do you want to see those things?! Follow me, I'll make you feel them. You're telling Emily exactly what you just told me. She deserves to know what you're feeling, heck we've already told you what she's feeling like! You have to talk to her anyways." Natalie said, as she literally pulled Lucas halfway across the house.

"Hey Lucas! Glad you could make it! I didn't expect to see you, take a seat in my office. I think the blue chair will suit you best, but sit wherever you'd like." Emily said quite professionally despite knowing that this conversation with him would likely be super emotional for her one way or the other, and would likely determine half her life story.

"Sorry for the wait, I was um... Busy being... Talked at by your friends." Lucas explained, as Natalie smiled widely. Emily just sent Natalie an expression that read along the lines of what did you do to the poor boy now? Emily was pleasantly surprised when Lucas elected to continue the conversation instead of just stopping it before he said something wrong.

"So, what did you talk about?" Emily asked.

"Oh, mostly girls, boys, you, me, relationships, romance, the like." Lucas admitted.

"Okay, and what happened? I want to know. For real," Emily asked.

"Well, exactly the same things I just said. The exact same things I just said. We talked about things, and then Natalie dragged me in here because she wanted me to talk to you." Lucas said, as if he was unafraid.

"Why exactly did she bring you in here? Other than to talk to me, like, what prompted that?" Emily continued questioning, wondering when they were going to talk about something deeper.

"I said I didn't want to tell her what I was feeling, so she said she didn't need to hear it anyways, you did, so she drug me all the way across the house, literally," Lucas answered, leaving Emily slightly surprised.

"So, you wouldn't tell them what they wanted to hear and now they are forcing you to talk to me about it instead. Good! That's exactly what I planned! Now tell me," Emily demanded from Lucas. She wanted the details. She wanted to feel what he felt. She wanted to know what it was like to be in love with her. She craved the feeling of it.

"Well, um... I'm feeling... Tired, still. Uh, somewhat bored, I've just been talking to girls for the last hour or so. I don't know what else," Lucas answered in the moment.

"Not what I'm talking about. I want to know how you feel about me! Lucas, I'm not super scary, and I hope I'm not mean or anything like that either. The worst thing I am is demanding, and that's because I've been waiting for an answer to this question for five years now and you've never given it to me, so it's making me tired, and-" Emily stopped talking while she saw Lucas just sit back in his chair and smile.

"Why did you stop talking? I was enjoying listening to you. You could say the worst things ever and you're voice would make it sound like it was greatness," Lucas said, hinting to Emily what she wanted to hear.

"In a charismatic, or charming kind of way?" She asked.

"More charming. Charismatic is more of a personality trait," Lucas replied.

"You're cute when you compliment people. Do you know that?" Emily asked him. Lucas responded with a blush, and a shy head shake. "You are."

"Okay, okay fine! Fine! You're too nice to me. I give up. If you want to know, I will tell you. The truth. I can't handle keeping everything bottled up in me. It's terribly taxing on me and it's getting increasingly difficult to stay strong," Lucas boldly stated.

"Um... Okay? About what?" Emily asked, acting clueless to play the game.

"My crush on you. I've had one the last five years, three months and a day. Since you moved in. Don't ask me why, I don't know. Don't ask me anything else about it, I don't know. I truly don't know anything, and that's why I haven't told you. I just know I like you and that I have a crush on you. That's it. Nothing else," Lucas admitted.

"You know that everything you said is kind of a big deal, right? I mean, you finally told me your first crush ever has been on me. Lucas, come here... I don't ever want to let you go. Again." Emily said, while hugging him, trying to comfort him after he had just spilled his feelings for her. He hadn't quite expected that, so he accepted, and it actually felt better to hug her than he thought it would.

"Em... Why do you do all this? For me? I don't get it. You do so much for me, and all I have ever done-" Emily cut him off by putting her finger to his lips.

"You clearly underestimate yourself. That's something I guess I need to help fix. Lucas, you aren't a nothing. You have not done nothing. You are a someone who has done something. Nothing will ever change that. To answer your question, it's because I like you too, but that's for another time. We can worry about my feelings for you later."

"Em? I... I... I don't understand this. Everything. Anything rather. None of it makes any sense. I guess I just... I don't know. I don't know anything anymore," Lucas said.

"Don't worry about it!" Emily replied. "Just stay yourself. You don't need to understand anything. You just have to know it exists."