Surprise visitors were never Hope’s favorite thing, especially not now that she had a crazy stalker following her around, but she forced a smile on her face when she opened the door to find Rafael there with a bag of takeout. 

“What’s all this?” Hope asked, that smile still plastered across her face as she eyed the bag worriedly. 

“Lizzie’s having a hard day, and I think Josie is too, so Landon said we could all get some food and have a good night here.” Rafael glanced over his shoulder. “If that’s okay with you?” 

“Of course.” Hope nodded quickly. “Why wouldn’t it be?” 

Rafael’s smile drooped and his head tilted a little, like he wanted to say something but he couldn’t. 

“Raf!” Landon appeared just in time to spare them the awkward silence that was sure to follow. “The twins should be here in a few minutes with MG, and I have drinks in the kitchen.” 

Hope caught her husband’s gaze as Rafael disappeared into the kitchen, and a silent conversation passed between the two of them.

Fine. He was right. She needed this. They all needed this, and Hope would probably end up enjoying herself. 

And she did. The twins showed up, Josie looking exhausted and Lizzie with red-rimmed eyes, but pleasant enough. MG was a little aloof, but Hope felt like he always was. She imagined his feelings for Lizzie were still getting in the way.

Nonetheless, they had a good time pretending like nothing was wrong. Just for a little bit, Hope wasn’t being stalked by some faceless creep hellbent on traumatizing her. Landon didn’t have a brother who slept with his wife in a coma fighting for his life. Rafael didn’t have his reputation smeared by someone stalking the woman he was secretly in love with. Lizzie didn’t have a missing prescription that she couldn’t refill. Josie didn’t have an ex-maybe-ex who was ghosting her after being outed by their leaked sex tape. They were just a group of friends having a movie night.

“Don’t start the next movie!” Lizzie announced, jumping to her feet as the credits rolled. “I have to pee.”

“No!” Rafael tried to get ahead of her. “I’ve had to pee since they made it into the forest!”

“Well I’ve had to pee since they got lost, so me first!”

The two of them fought to get to the door first, and Lizzie won, closing it triumphantly in Rafael’s face and turning the lock.

He turned away, ready to resign himself to waiting on the couch, but instead found Hope standing behind him. Just beyond her, he could see Landon had disappeared into the kitchen and Josie and MG were tossing popcorn at each other.

“Hope …” Rafael looked down at her in surprise. She tilted her chin down the hallway, motioning for him to follow. For a moment, she thought about just telling him he could use the bathroom upstairs, but she had to say it now or never.

“Nothing’s ever gonna happen,” Hope said when they were out of earshot of the bathroom. “Between us, I mean.”

Rafael furrowed his eyebrows. “What?” 

“I just … I don’t know about you but on my end at least, there’s always been this ‘Will we? Won’t we? I can’t. But I might.’ thing.” Her cheeks burned to admit it out loud, but this was the first step in clearing things out between them. “But the answer is no. I can’t do it to Landon again. I don’t want to. We can’t ever …” Hope shook her head, dropping her eyes.

“I …” Rafael’s eyebrows furrowed more. “I didn’t know there was a question of that.” 

“There wasn’t,” Hope said quickly, scratching at her upper lip.

“You just said there was.” Rafael’s face twisted into something close to a scowl. “I wouldn’t ever do that to my brother. Never.”

“I know. Neither would I.”

“Except … you just said you would.” Rafael took a step back. “Actually, you already did.”

“No, I mean … not with you,” Hope tried again.

Rafael nodded, setting his jaw. “No, just with Ryan, right?” He laughed painfully, shaking his head as he headed back down the hall.

“I only meant because you and Landon are closer -” But it was useless. Rafael wasn’t stopping, and Hope didn’t have an excuse that would make things better.

Lizzie poked her head out of the bathroom just in time to see Rafael storming away. She had a puzzled look on her face. “Do you still need to pee?” she called out.

He didn’t look back, and his answer was cold. “No, I’m going home, actually.”

“What?” Lizzie glanced at Hope.

“Rafael, wait …” Hope started after him, but he shrugged her off and slipped out the front door before she could say anything more.

Landon appeared just in time to see the door close in Hope’s defeated face. “Who … Where’s Raf going?”

Nobody answered. They just stared in silence at Hope who was struck speechless by the lump in her throat. She had thought she was doing the right thing. Apparently not.

Lizzie finally broke the tense silence. “Guess he wanted to pee at home.”