the cloudy and rainy night in the Outer Banks is getting worse and worse, and as you walk down the stairs with quick, desperate steps to get out of your house, your mind is racing a mile a minute as you feel your body shudders at the mere thought of knowing that Rafe is behind that door — standing in your backyard in the rain, after a year of zero contact, showing up and staring at you with those blue orbs that overflowed with despair and thousands of mixed feelings.

you two had broken up a year ago, and after several twists and turns, failed attempts to try to let go of each other, both clinging to that toxic relationship and unhealthy love that tied them down and made them feel alive, one night they simply stopped looking for each other thinking that love had simply ended — you waited for Rafe's call, that message he always sent after every fight to fix things; it never came, and your pride didn't allow you to look for it either, even though it was the only thing you wanted.

you crossed the door and closed it behind you, walking towards him with your veins boiling with anger, frustration and mixed feelings at having him in front of you after so much — he looks at you, his expression serious but with a hint of vulnerability at the sight of you, as if both of you were burning at the thought of being face to face again after parting without saying anything.

each one had a different version of what happened; and while you were angry about the fact that he didn't even seek you out to fix things after the breakup, Rafe couldn't stop thinking about the the fact of seeing you being Topper's girlfriend, starting a new relationship and feeling his chest ache with anger and something else at the thought of you forgetting him so quickly.

he looked at you with his hard expression, scanning you from top to bottom, making you shudder - the tense but at the same time so familiar air flooding the environment between you, both with broken hearts and unhealed wounds.