Great loves are usually defined as the tumultuous, heart-stirring, up-and-down romances that make us want to sing and vomit and at the same time. The best on-screen romances will do exactly that: make us fall in love both with the characters and with their relationships to each other. Here are some of the greatest on-screen romances to ever take our emotions for a ride.
Number One: Noah Calhoun & Ally Hamilton, “The Notebook.” These two gave us what is probably the hottest kiss-in-the-rain scene that will ever hit the silver screen. With fights as dynamic as their love-making, these two hard-headed characters are the embodiment of passion.
Number Two: Chuck Bass and Blair Waldorf, “Gossip Girl.” They’re on again, they’re off again; they’re off, but still getting it on, or they’re on, but scheming to take the other down. What other on-screen romance compares to the dizzyingly unpredictable one of Chuck and Blair?
Number Three: Quincy McCall and Monica Wright, “Love and Basketball.” These two are childhood basketball buddies who ended up competing for each other’s hearts. All that competitiveness led to some intense chemistry. Remember that one-on- one strip-basketball game? *Fans self.*
Number Four: Emily Fields and Alison Dilaurentis, “Pretty Little Liars.” These best friends have an unspoken sexual tension that Alison’s wicked teasing game makes agonizingly sweet.
Number Five: Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant III, “Scandal.” When it comes to the most suspenseful of all on-screen romances, this one takes the cake. When your lover is the leader of the free world, the risk factor alone is hot enough to make you sweat.
Number Six: Ian and Mickey, “Shameless.” In between beating each other up and cursing each other out, the love these two share is a love as sweet and sincere as any.
Number Seven: Damon and Elena, “The Vampire Diaries.” The heart wants what it wants, even if that heart isn’t actually beating. The intense eye contact and heated interactions that ensue whenever these Damon and Elena share the screen are among the most delightfully excruciating and erotic on-screen romances to air on the CW.
Number Eight: Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big, “Sex and The City.” He loves her, he loves her not. He loves her again, He doesn’t love her again. Oh wait, never mind, he’s always loved her. The romance between Carrie and Mr. Big toyed with our emotions almost as much as it did Carrie’s.
Number Nine: Piper Chapman and Alex Vause, “Orange Is the New Black.” When this pair isn’t trafficking drugs or navigating prison politics, these jailhouse lovebirds make one badass twosome.