When the next day Lucy decides to stay over at Matt's for dinner, I decide to go join Ellie and Will at his house. It feels good not to have to cook and really, I just love Will's cooking. As I arrive at his door, I raise my fist and knock. Seconds later, footsteps resonate through the wood of the door to my ears and soon, Will is facing me.

"Hi," I greet. "I'm here to eat." I say and hold a bottle of wine I found in Ellie's house.

He rolls his eyes as he welcomes me in and closes the door behind us. "I take it Lucy ditched you again." He says. When I give him a grimace, he gives me one of his own in sympathy. He pulls me into a hug, "Don't worry, Willie won't ditch you."

I push against him, playfully rejecting his display of affection. "Get off me, Willie." He lets out a laugh and I ask, "Ellie's there yet?"

As I follow him in the kitchen, he says, "See for yourself."

He steps aside so I can behold the sight before me: Ellie is wearing an apron, a deep frown on her face as she examines the contents of a bowl before her with deep concentration as if performing a very delicate surgery.

"Ellie?" I call to her.

"Not now," she snaps. I hear her mumble softly, "A teaspoon of that, yes. Half a pound of this, hmm," she continues as she checks she has the right proportions. "Will, I don't get it. She finally lifts her head. Her eyes fall on me immediately and she smiles. "Tracy, when did you get there?"

I'm torn between laughing and rolling my eyes at her. I am about to speak but Will cuts me off, "There's nothing to get, Ellie. It's cooking," he says matter-of-factly. He strides towards her and looks her up and down, "Plus, you look ridiculous in that apron."

Ellie's open mouth lets me know she's about to retort something but I interrupt, "What are you trying to do, El?"

Her attention momentarily veers towards me but not before she sends a death glare in Will's direction. "Dessert."

Will scoffs behind her and before I can oppose myself between the two of them, Ellie slaps him on the back of the head with a table cloth. "Ouch!" Will screams as he whips around to glare at Ellie.

"I dare you to open your mouth and complain, Will Simons." And she points a menacing finger at him to underline the seriousness of the threat.

Will stares at her for the longest time, and I watch the two of them have a staring contest. There's no real rivalry between the two of them however, and by the way they're looking at each other – I don't think they even realize it – the only thing that's brewing is passion. I'm not surprised to find that passion in Ellie, I'm surprised to find it in Will as he looks at her. This isn't a best friend having a staring contest with his best friend, this is a man looking at the woman he loves.

Or maybe I'm wrong – I used to have a fertile imagination as a child and sometimes remnants of it resurface.

I cough awkwardly to have their attention and Will is the first to look away. He appears to be shaken out of a trance as his eyes widen slightly. With one last look at Ellie, he goes to his cooking and ignores the two of us. Ellie rolls her eyes at his back before removing her apron and walking towards me.

As she reaches me, her phone rings and she looks down at the caller ID before looking back at me. "Sorry, it's James." And she disappears.

I let her go and go find Will as he finishes to prepare dinner. "You okay?" I ask.

He lets out a sigh. "She can be so annoying sometimes," he mutters as he takes the meat out of the oven.

"You never answered my question," I say.

He frowns at me as he removes the oven mitts. "Which one?"

I look back, making sure Ellie isn't there. I whisper, "Do you like Ellie?"

Will avoids my gaze for a moment as he pretends to busy himself with removing all trace of Ellie's disastrous attempt at making dessert. "She's my best friend, Tracy." That's all he says.

I keep observing him, keep watching as he avoids my gaze. "That doesn't mean anything," I say. "Best friends fall in love all the time."

"Not Ellie and I." He says, his tone final so I know not to push it.

"Okay." Then, just because I don't want things to stay awkward between us, I dive into a new topic. "Do you cook every day?"

He nods before going back to the stove. "The least I can do for my parents since I haven't chosen a college near home."

"And why not? Not for the same reason as me, I hope." I take a seat on a stool and watch him move around, completely at ease.

He chuckles heartily. "What's that reason?" I tell him I was fleeing Lucy's unbearableness (which is not true, of course, it's only half the truth.) This time, a loud laugh fills the kitchen. "Is she that bad?" The look I give him is enough of an answer to him. "I actually got into my dream school which I thought I wouldn't, and I told myself this wasn't an opportunity to miss."

"For someone studying journalism, you sure as hell are blind to some things," I say.

He looks at me questioningly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

I only shrug. "One day you'll know."

At this instant, Ellie walks back into the room and I hear her footsteps as they resonate on the floor. "Let's set the table and leave Mr. Will here to his cooking, shall we?"

She doesn't wait for my answer and starts pulling plates out. I see Will glare at her before he opens the cupboard and pulls out glasses.

"Actually," he says, "I'm done cooking."

He storms past her into the dining room and I smile at the both of them. They do like each other.

I don't wait to follow them with the salad bowl and silverware. I walk past Will who's setting down empty glasses on the table. Will completely – and childishly – ignores Ellie and hits me whenever he can with a kitchen cloth, making jokes.

I miss a blow by a few inches "Will, would you stop!"

He wiggles his eyebrows as he smirks at me. "No."

And as we're done with the table and have nothing left to do, he begins to run after me. It doesn't take me long to react and I race outside the kitchen, leaving Ellie behind as she watches us with a frown on her face. I'd say she almost looks jealous.

"Stop, I'm too old for these games, Will."

But my words don't stop him. I stand, shielded from him by the small sofa between us. He appears to be full of energy, a large smile eating up most of his face. And before I know it, he jumps over the sofa and almost catches me. I make a dash for the kitchen once more, and I scream, yell at him, plead him to leave me alone but he refuses to listen.

The merciless heat of the summer doesn't help much as I don't stop running around, sweat drenching my clothes. I'm running towards the front door like a man chased by a hungry lion – no chance of escaping – when two arms wrap around my waist and pull me back. As I said, no chance of escaping.

"Gotcha!"

My shrill screams pierce through the house just as the front door opens before us. There, in the doorway stands Will's mother with a man carrying grocery bags behind her.

"Oh, hello kids," her wide smile is contagious and I can't help but reply with one of the same kind.

"Hey, Mrs. Simons," I dislodge myself from Will's grip with awkward movements and walk towards the woman. "How are you?"

She gives me two big kisses on my cheeks. "Pretty good, dear, thanks." Then she turns around to the man still in the doorway behind her. "This is my husband, Frank."

I at last get a sight of the man. Appearing to be only a few years older than his wife, he looks as vigorous as Will's mother despite his lanky physique.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Simons."

He doesn't reply right away. He stares at me a little too long, and in a way, his reaction reminds me of that of his wife when I first met her. She had looked surprised, but this man seems to be more than surprised. I frown as to why his face is conveying such astonishment and am about to draw back my outstretched hand when his wife speaks out loud.

"Frank," Mrs. Simons calls him back to earth.

Snapped out of his surprise, he fumbles, maladroit, with the grocery bags. They are all soon slid onto one arm so the other is free to accept my hand.

"Nice to meet you too, Tracy." His beaming smile throws me off guard and I hesitate a little to take his hand – I have to admit, his reaction was a little weird.

When he notices my reticence, his smile turns uncomfortable. "Sorry, I was just..."

I wait for the sentence to have an end but the end never comes. Will and his mom are already gone and he and I are the only ones left. I offer to help him with the bags and he accepts with haste as if happy to be rid of his burden.

Just as we are about to start eating, Ellie barges in the room, coming back from wherever she had gone to. She greets Mr. and Mrs. Simons before taking a seat next to me.

Mrs. Simons doesn't wait to ask Ellie questions about her relationship with James. She starts talking, counting her days with James when she went trekking through the woods at the end of the town. It's hard not to roll my eyes but it's harder to fight the smile at her evident joy. Once in a while, very swiftly, I lift my eyes to gauge Will's reaction to it all. There's no reaction at all. He almost looks like Yann in this instant, his face impassible and I find myself wondering what he thinks about Ellie's and James's relationship. I will ask him later.

"And when I was too tired, he carried me. And I had to..."

I don't really listen anymore. I observe this family, Will and his parents. They take genuine interest in Ellie's incessant babbling, Mr. Simons interrupting her with questions here and there and Mrs. Simons smiling a smile that grows wider with every bite she takes.

I like how Will's parents are treating – and have treated – Ellie so much like a daughter. She tells me this is her home as much as the house where she lives with her parents. Those people are her family too.

I smile as the chatter goes on and on, never stopping. Everyone has a word to say, a comment to make – even Will as he now seems to break his vow of silence. A smile lights each of our faces and it feels wonderful. But wonderful never lasts too long.

I need to go home to Lucy who is probably waiting for me already. When I call to say I'm going to be a little later than usual, Lucy tells me it's fine, that's more time for her to play with Matt.

Ellie grabs my hand, yanks me to her as she does the same with Will and guides us to Will's room once dinner is over. She slams the door shut, rushes to her window, climbs out of it and ushers us outside. I take a seat on her left, and Will, on her right.

"Why are we here?" Will asks, saying out loud what I've been asking myself.

In the dark, I hear a deep breath being taken in before Ellie's voice fills the silence on the roof. "I think I'm falling in love with him."

For a moment, Will and I remain totally unresponsive, probably shocked by Ellie's declaration. The breeze of the night whisks past us, blowing my hair back and a few strands get in my face. I welcome the distraction as I brush my hair out of my face, giving myself time to find my voice again.

"You what?" That's not exactly what I had in mind to say but that's all that comes out.

Ellie turns a confused face to me where giddiness is slowly sliding off her features. "I'm falling in love wi–"

"Don't even finish that." Both Ellie's and my heads now snap towards Will. Ellie tries to speak again but Will interrupts her. "What, after less than two months?"

"You don't seem happy about it," I can decipher disappointment in her tone, as if she were expecting us to be happy once the news heard.

"You're so perceptive," Will sings sarcastically and from where I sit, I can see the hard look he's giving Ellie.

"Why are you getting so worked up?" Ellie snaps at him.

Will doesn't answer and an uncomfortable silence settles amongst us, wrapping around us in mocking victory. I clench and unclench my teeth, unsure of what to say. I can't look anywhere else than ahead of me but where I really want to look at is Ellie's face.

"He's amazing." The words are hard, aggressive.

"Oh, yes, and when did you find that out? In the past weeks?"

Will's temper seems to rise with every word along with his voice. I want to grab his hand and tell him to stop but I'm separated from him by Ellie who's sitting between the two of us.

"Yes," she shouts in all discreetness, "and?"

And before Will can place a word, I rush to say something. "Personally, I don't know James much," Ellie already begins to cut me off but I ignore her and continue, "but, he looks like a nice guy." That makes her smile. "Nonetheless, I want you," I emphasize the last two words, "to know what you're doing."

Her head goes up and down in vigorous nods as she tells me she knows perfectly what she is doing.

"This is bullshit!" Will declares before getting up briskly and leaving us outside alone.

"Maybe I–"

Ellie grabs my arms and pulls me back down when I try to get up. "No, leave him. He's got a lot on his mind so I don't blame him."

Lot on his mind awfully rings with problem in my head, and problem equals Yann. "Anything to do with Yann?"

Ellie laughs lightly before lying on the roof. "When isn't it about Yann?"

I lie down next to her, and together, we stare at the navy blue starry sky. Little dots glimmer miles away from us, almost like fireflies in the night. The sole of my foot hits the roof in soft taps as I hum Ray Charles's What A Wonderful World.

"I really like him, though."

And I cease to hum to ponder her words. "Thinking you're falling in love with him and saying you like him are two different things."

She groans by my side, the sound of her feet on the roof echoing. "Ugh!" I smile a little as I imagine her face now. "I don't know," she sighs in defeat, "all I know is I like being with him."

I scoff and turn on my side to look at her. "I like being with Will," I can't help but compare, "your words don't mean much here."

She cocks an eyebrow at my words but don't point them out. "It feels nice with him."

She's desperately trying to find an argument to strengthen her statement but she's failing. I can see this friendship she has with James is all it'll ever be: a friendship. I have no idea why Ellie takes this out to so big proportions when in fact it is nothing. Does she want a guy in her life? Does she feel lonely?

I don't ask her and instead, I say. "Just tell me when to kick his butt and–"

And she cuts me off. "And of course, you'll end up kicking him in the balls as well."

My head jerks up and down in vigorous nods. "Exactly."

I can't see the expression on her face as she looks at me but I can feel the squeeze of her hand in the dark that tells me in all sincerity: thanks.

Then, she says, "I don't know what's up with Will, really." Her voice is laced with annoyance with our best friend. "I thought he'd be happy."

How can he be happy when he's watching the woman he loves with another man? Because if I had any doubt before, I don't have any now. As he got up to leave, Will's eyes briefly met mine over Ellie's head before he disappeared through the window. That look itself answered the question I'd asked him earlier. Or maybe it did more than answer it, because I'd asked him if he liked Ellie but it's obvious that like doesn't even come close to it.

He loves her.

•••

I felt like we needed to disconnect from Yann a little bit so here it is. Anyone saw that one coming, Will in love with Ellie? I know I did :)

Thank you so much to all of those who have made it this far and a HUMONGOUS THANK YOU to those who have been there from the very beginning. It's been almost a year now. You guys are amazing❤️