It Ends with Us

Lily chooses not to go home after work, fearing she may run into Allysa and have to explain what’s happening. She goes back to Atlas’s instead. That evening, she gets a text from Allysa begging her to visit. Lily lies and tells her that she’s in the hospital getting stitches after banging her head at the shop. Allysa offers to have Marshall join her since Ryle is gone. Lily realizes that Ryle told Allysa he was leaving without sharing the whole truth, so Lily knows she has until Ryle gets back in three months to come clean to her. She cringes at this thought; she feels that she’s hiding the truth from people just like her mother. Lily tells Allysa that she’ll come by the next day.

A car pulls up that isn’t Atlas’s. Whoever it is knocks at the door and rings the bell simultaneously. Lily is worried it may be Ryle or Atlas’s girlfriend, Cassie. She tries to catch a glimpse of the person, but she can’t see them. Lily texts Atlas while two men begin yelling for him through the door. With the chain still securing the door, she cracks it to speak with them. They ask who she is, and she gives her name. She is hesitant to tell these strangers that Atlas isn’t home. Atlas calls her back and explains that they are his friends who came for a poker night that he forgot to cancel. He tells her he’ll call them and tell them to go home.

Now that she knows that she’s safe, Lily lets the two men in. They introduce themselves as Darin and Brad. As they settle in, they ask if she can play poker. Lily tells them she used to all the time in college. They ask her about her head, and she is surprised to find herself telling them everything. Lily describes the attack, how Atlas helped her, and that discovered she was pregnant in the hospital. Darin is stunned into silence. Brad, however, nonchalantly recommends a product that will help with the scarring. This actually makes Lily feel better, as if Brad normalized the situation for her.

Brad tells Lily that their friend bailed on them for poker, so she should join the game instead. Lily agrees. She shuffles the cards for them. Another man named Jimmy arrives, and Brad brings him up to speed on what happened to Lily. The four of them play a few hands waiting for Atlas to come home. When he arrives, he pulls her aside to ask if she wants them out, but Lily assures him that the distraction is helpful. Atlas brushes Lily’s hand affectionately as they talk. Though Lily knows he does it to comfort her, she notices it sparks desire in her.

Back at the poker table, Atlas’s friends ask how he and Lily met. Atlas tells them that she rescued him when they were children. Brad points out that Atlas is returning the favor now. Atlas is confused, but Brad reassures him that Lily told him the whole story. Brad tells Lily that in his experience, things always get better. Darin jokes that Brad has never been pregnant or abused by his husband. Atlas is furious. Lily tells him to calm down. She asks how the three men met Atlas, and she learns that Brad is the dishwasher, Darin is the sous chef, and Jimmy is the valet at the restaurant.

They all keep playing until Atlas’s phone rings. He leaves to answer it, and Lily suspects that he’s talking to Cassie. Eager for more information about her, Lily asks if Cassie has ever attended poker night. The men tell her they’ve never heard of someone named Cassie, nor has Atlas mentioned having a girlfriend. When Atlas comes back, Jimmy asks who Cassie is, and Atlas admits that Cassie doesn’t exist. Atlas tells his friends it’s time to go. They say goodbye to Lily before reminding Atlas that they’ll see him next week for poker.

Lily can’t stop thinking about the fact that Atlas lied about Cassie when they first ran into each other. She wonders if he lied to her because he never wanted to be with her in the first place, and a fake girlfriend was just an easy excuse. Lily also considers that if Atlas had been honest, she may have chosen to be with him instead of Ryle—and the events of the last few months would never have happened. Lily tries to leave, but Atlas stops her.

With tears in her eyes, Lily confronts Atlas. She asks the real reason he never came back to find her. Atlas admits that he did. When she was in college, he came home from his first tour with the Marines to see her. When he got to her school, he saw that she was happy with her friends and another guy, and he didn’t want to complicate her life. Lily tries to remember who her boyfriend at the time had been, but she can’t. He was nowhere near as special as Atlas has always been. Instead of talking with Lily, Atlas went back to the Marines to try to improve his life even more. 

Lily is angry and wracked with images of what could have happened if Atlas had only spoken with her. She worries that Atlas never felt the way about her that she felt about him. Lily asks him why he lied about Cassie. Atlas tells her that she seemed so happy with Ryle and that he didn’t want to mess it up. Also, he was jealous. Atlas’s admission overwhelms Lily, so she decides to go home. There, she will be able to process what happened with Ryle without the added complication of her feelings toward Atlas.

Atlas is sad that she is leaving, but he drives her home and walks her upstairs. When they get to the door, Atlas realizes that Lily is terrified. He offers to check the apartment for her. Once he’s turned on all the lights and confirmed it’s safe, she comes in. Atlas is hesitant to leave. Lily tells him that she can’t figure out how to salvage her life while he’s in it trying to fix things for her. Before he leaves, Atlas tells her that he will be there if she ever needs him. He asks her only to call if it’s an emergency, because he can’t just be her friend. Lily knows he’s right. 

After Lily and Atlas say goodbye, Lily hears a knock at the door. She knows it’s him. When she opens the door, he wraps his arms around her and kisses her face. Lily begins to cry. He tells her that he knows the timing is awful, but he doesn’t want to lose another chance to tell her how he feels. Atlas asks that if she ever wants to find love again, that she finds it with him. He tells her she is still his favorite person. He leaves without a response. Finally alone, Lily reels from the two heartbreaks she’s experienced in the past two days.