The Sun Won't Set On Your Anger

"'The sun won't set on your anger', as my grandmother always said." Emma smiled as she put down the tray. "That's why I try to never get angry."

"Emma, I'm pretty sure that's not how the saying goes." Luke answered and laughed.

"Oh really?" Emma put her hands on her hips and turned towards Luke: "Well, think about it. I haven't been angry with anyone for more than a few hours in 2 years, 5 months and 7 days. Remember the day that never ended back in 2016? I got really pissed at my mum and I just couldn't let it go."

"I was backpacking in Iceland that summer, didn't notice anything." Luke turned to the cutlery that needed polishing.

"Of course, you didn't notice anything! They've got midnight sun in the summer time! The sun never sets there then! Didn't you watch the news?"

"Emma, seriously." Luke snickered. Emma looked him in the eyes very seriously demanding him to budge. "Emma, no. I was backpacking, I wasn't really watching the news back then. I was busy looking at mountains."

Emma threw her dish towel over her shoulder and turned to the coffee machine. "I can't believe you. It was ALL over the news." She started steaming milk loudly for a chai latte.

Luke picked up a spoon to see if he got all the spots. "So basically you're telling me, you have the power to stop the Earth from turning? Have you not learned anything about our solar system? The sun can't be up and shining on every single place on the Earth at one time, you know." Luke laughed as he picked up three forks to polish all at once with the old table cloth.

Emma bickered back at him: "Of course, I've been taught about the 'solar system', Luke. And it's only where I am the sun doesn't set."

Luke blew air out of his nose mockingly.

Emma cleaned the steamer a bit too violently so the end bit fell off. "I'm serious though! Freaking google it!" she said while she screwed it back on with stressed movements.

Luke kept polishing cutlery calmly, knowing very well he was pushing Emma's buttons right now. "I'm not gonna give you and the guys in the kitchen the satisfaction."

"Oh, so you think this is a joke? It's not! Luke, just look it up!"

"I won't. I'm not that stupid, Emma." He looked her in the eye when he said this and she rolled her eyes at him and sighed deeply. She avoided him for the rest of the day. He loved that he could trigger her that easily. He'd always been the prankster at school and had had the ability to anger people. Emma always came back around in a short time though, but that day when she was off she just grabbed her coat and walked out without saying goodbye. Luke found it strange but maybe she just needed time to cool off. He left the restaurant at 4pm. "Strange,", he thought: "it's usually dark by now." He got on the bus and listened to his New Releases playlist on Spotify saving a few of the songs he liked. He got home, had some leftover lasagna with one of his roomies while watching a stupid TV show. "Dude... the sun hasn't gone down yet. Isn't that kind of strange?" his roomie turned to him and said when they put their dirty dishes in the sink. "Yeah, maybe. Maybe it's some astronomical phenomenon we haven't seen posted on Facebook yet." he answered. "Maybe," his roomie looked worried: "things like this just freaks me out." Luke laughed shortly. "Don't worry, bro. The sun will set."

But as the day went on the sun didn't set. They watched the news on the big TV in the living room. Experts were fumbling for an explanation. "It couldn't be..." Luke thought to himself as he turned his phone around in his hand. "Helicopters! They're searching the area just like two years ago." his roomie said looking out the window. "Wait a minute, what did you say? This happened before?" "Yeah, dude. Two years ago. The sun didn't set for a full 24 hours or so. Everybody was losing it, thinking it was the end of the world."

Luke stared at his roomie in disbelief. "What, you didn't know this? Wait, how long were you in Iceland?" his roomie asked perplexed.

"I was hiking on my own for three weeks, I think." Luke answered silently, still processing that Emma actually might've been right.

"Yeah, that might've been enough to have missed the hype." his roomie said and sat down on the other couch.

Luke unlocked his phone. His thumb danced just over the screen, while he decided whether or not to write to her. He unlocked it and they watched the news for another hour. It was now 9pm and it should've been pitch black outside by now. It was getting to Luke too now. He grabbed his phone again, went to his room and pressed the little phone icon above Emma's name.

"So...?" Emma's voice was full of fury.

"I think I believe you now." he said gingerly.

"You THINK?" she replied.

"I do believe you. Please make it stop." he asked her.

"Only if you tell say: "You were right, Emma". Come on, I wanna hear you say it."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Luke sighed. "Okay... You were right, Emma."

"Thank YOU!" she said triumphantly. "See you tomorrow at 9am! Now get some sleep." She laughed just before she hung up and the light outside immediately changed to warmer hues until the eventually, darkness had taken its natural place.