"You were lying."
Rafael turned to Hope scrutinizing him with her arms crossed. "What are you talking about?" She walked slowly towards him.
"Just now, with Dr. Saltzman. " She said in a tone that suggested that she knew that he knew exactly what she was talking about. "You were lying about your dream."
He felt panicked and immediately got defensive. "What? No, I wasn't. Where do you think this welp came from?" He thrusted his arm out to her. She swallowed at the sight of it again, remembering the abuse he told them about, before looking back up at him with narrowed eyes.
"Maybe he was. But there's something else. I can see it in your eyes."
He shook his head angrily. He was angry. He was angry at himself for having that damned dream in the first place. Angry that Hope was pushing him to tell her about it. "Really, Hope. That's all it was." He turned to walk into his room before she grabbed one of his hands, tugging at him to face her again.
"Hey, what aren't you telling me?"
"Look…" His voice lowered at some classmates walking by, "leave it alone Hope, okay?"
She watched him for a moment, eyes trailing over him before she let go and began pushing him into his room, closing the door behind them. Rafael slid his hands up to his head in frustration, groaning. "I'm not leaving this room until you tell me." She quipped defiantly, watching him slump onto his bed, eyes trained forward. "Well?" She pressed in irritation at his silence.
No respone.
"Raf."
Nothing.
"Really, Raf?" He shook his head with a conflicted expression, that made her feel like strangling him. "Raf, whatever it is, it's important. We need to know everything so we can figure out how to stop her." She insisted with in an impatient tone, not understanding why he was being so difficult.
"I-i just can't Hope." He hoarsed out with difficulty, making her eyes soften. She slowly walked over to the bed, sinking down next to him, gently grabbing his arm.
"Raf." She called softly, grabbing his cheek and turning his face so he would look at her. "Whatever it is, you can tell me. I promise." He closed his eyes at her delicate touch and soothing tone, before remembering how wrong this was, pushing her away.
"No, I can't."
She sighed, staring at him. "Why not?"
"Because it'll change everything between..between.." She leaned into him, trying to catch his eyes.
"Between who?"
He licked his lips while shaking his head in defeat, looking down at his lap. "Us."
She blinked with a frown, processing what he just said. "You and me?"
Rafael only nodded, avoiding her gaze.
"Raf, tell me what happened between us in your dream." She demanded, determined to get to the bottom of this.
"Hope-"
She grabbed his hand. "Hey, you can trust me. It's okay."
He growled, standing up to go across the room, away from her, kicking at his desk chair in frustration. Hope quickly stood with furrowed brows and a deepening frown. "Raf?"
"This isn't okay! None of this is okay!" He exasperated desperately, coming over to grab her shoulders, staring down at her with a heaving chest.
Bewilderment shone through her eyes. "Raf, what are you-"
"We kissed."He interjected, eyes, for the first time since she grabbed him earlier, intensely locked on hers.
Her breath caught in her lungs. "W-what?"
"That was the other part of it. My dream. Before my foster dad…hit me, you were there and…" He swallowed at her blue orbs gazing up at him, "we kissed." They could only stare at each other, both trying to get ahold of their bearings. Rafael was mentally kicking himself at the almost blank look on Hope's face as her mouth kept opening and closing as if she couldn't find her words to speak. It wasn't until he slowly released her and began backing up, did she finally talk. "We…k-kissed?"
"You see why I didn't want to tell you?" He breathed out, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Landon will hate me. I'm the worst friend in the world." Hope broke out of her shock at his words, rising from the bed, coming over to him.
"Hey, don't say that. Landon loves you. And you're not a horrible friend. You're a great brother. You protect him. You're there for him when-" Rafael was suddenly mere inches away from her.
"Then why can't I stop thinking about you?" He asked in a low, deep voice. Her breath hitched at his close proximity, eyes searching his before they absentmindedly trailed to his lips. The air stilled around them.
"Raf…" She whispered, "I-"
"Hey!" They jumped at the sound of Landon's voice and quickly stepped away from each other as he came into the room. He paused at the anxious look on both of their faces. "Is everything alright here?" When it seemed like Raf was having trouble answering, Hope spoke. "We were discussing the Night Hag. Raf had a dream about one of his old foster parents."
"Ron." Rafael supplied with awkwardness when he found his voice. Landon's brows rose, eyes sliding down to the red mark on his arm.
"Oh, man. Are you alright?"
Rafael forced a smile. "Yeah, man. It was just weird." He cleared his throat, heading towards the door. "Well, I'll give you two some privacy. See you later."
Hope looked like she wanted to protest but Landon beat her to it. "Woah, hey, wait, Raf. Do you wanna talk about it or something? Ron was a pretty messed up dude."
"No, I'm good. It's better if I just push it out of my mind." His eyes found Hope's briefly before walking out without another word or glance. Landon walked over to her.
"Poor, Raf." He sighed before pulling her into his embrace. She laid her head against his shoulder, eyes sadly staring at the empty doorway, Raf previously occupied.
"Yeah."