Chris has nightmares about the last moments at the cabin and worries that Larissa will have another allergic reaction, but he feels better knowing she’s in the next room. Chris also worries about if his friendship with Mike can ever be repaired or if he wants it to, wondering if he could ever take care of him again. Most of all, he knows that telling Larissa what he did last night would be unforgivable to Mike and all their friends, but he doesn’t care as much as he cares about Larissa’s well-being.

He gets up from bed to check on her, but she’s in the middle of coming out of her room to check on him. Larissa had also feared that her throat was going to close, and when Chris asks if she wants him to stay in her room with her, she agrees.

Lexi is surprised to see Larissa at work the day after everything happened at the cabin because she was meant to stay there until New Year’s. Larissa snuck out of Chris’s place after worrying what Mike and his friends would think about them finding comfort in one another.

Larissa asks if there are any shifts she can pick up since she’s determined to build more of a safety net for herself, and Lexi tells her to ask Donna. When she goes to speak to Donna, Larissa sees that the new menus she’s printing out all have foods with nuts in them. Donna mentions that she would have to pay Larissa unemployment if she fired her but suggests that she quit if she can’t complete her job duties, saying that the diner needs to be a safe place for her son, not for Larissa. Larissa runs out before Donna can see her cry.

Larissa calls Chris as soon as she leaves Donna’s, and she tells him what happened. She says that she needs to go out to do gig work, but Chris tells her to come home because she can stay there as long as she likes. Chris seethes after hearing what Donna did and feels a rift grow between himself and Mike’s family, especially as he wonders what Mike said to make this happen.

Larissa comes back to Chris’s house and immediately starts to cry when she sees him. He tells her that she needs to rest for the next day, and then they can talk. In the meantime, Chris promises to take care of everything.

Larissa and Chris talk about what she can do for work, and he offers to give her start-up money to do catering full-time, but she refuses. After some debating, Larissa eventually agrees to allow Chris to co-sign on a loan to grow her business. Larissa thinks about all the men who have told her they loved her and how she knows Chris really loves her because she has learned what love isn’t. They hug, and Larissa realizes that she loves Chris, too.

The first week of Larissa living with Chris is both the happiest and saddest of his life. They spend all their time together talking and trying to start her business full-time, but Chris feels terrible about everything that happened with Mike.

Mike calls Chris and asks if he and Larissa are okay. Mike is surprised to hear what his mother did to Larissa, not knowing about the cruelty that Larissa faced at the diner. Mike asks if he can come over to see Larissa, but Chris says no, and Mike mentions that she blocked him. Mike hears Larissa in the background of the call, and his heart breaks. He apologizes to Chris and tells him that he was always right, mentioning that he’s getting help now.

Mike tells Chris to come to him if Larissa ever needs anything, but Chris knows that Larissa wouldn’t accept any help from him. Though Mike tells Chris that he loves him and Chris agrees when Mike says that they should hang out soon, Chris knows that their relationship, as it was, has ended. Chris thinks of all the ways he’ll be cut off from his friends, but he knows it’s worth it if he has Larissa.

Chris tells Larissa he was on the phone with Mike, and she worries about whether she’s making things weird between the friends, but Chris says that it was Mike who made things weird. Chris tells her that he doesn’t want to feel responsible for Mike, like he once felt responsible for his mother, but he wants to help Larissa be responsible for herself. He apologizes for any role he played in enabling Mike’s behavior, but Larissa understands.

Larissa is hanging out with Lexi, who quit Donna’s moments after Larissa did, and she shows Lexi what she and Chris had been doing for her catering business. Without telling her, Chris had bought all the supplies to make her graze boxes full-time and transition into making bigger table designs for catered events. Larissa feels more relieved than ever because Chris has made her believe in herself.

Lexi tells Larissa that Mike hasn’t been talking to his mother or his sister and has started working full-time as a plumber. Lexi asks about Chris, wondering how he and Larissa are still only platonic friends despite all he does for her. Larissa finally admits that she wants to be with Chris, and Lexi points out that she’s out of “survival mode” for the first time in years. Larissa has finally reached the point where she could afford her own place if she wanted to, but she still wants to live with Chris.

Larissa comes home to tell Chris that she’s received three orders for her first event, which would cover her expenses for the next month. To celebrate, Chris takes Larissa to a bookstore and lets her get whatever she can carry in two minutes.

Afterward, as they eat takeout in his car, Chris thinks about what his mother would think about the situation he’s in. He feels bad that Mike is still such a part of their lives and wishes that he and Larissa were the only people in the world so that it wouldn’t matter what anyone else thought. They talk about the night of the concert, and Chris admits that he probably wouldn’t have even asked for her number if she had gone with him. Larissa admits that he intimidated her as well, but she would have sought him out afterward if he hadn’t asked her out then. They talk around the subject of being in love with one another, though both understand that they are.

When they get home, they get a surprise visit from Jesse, who asks to speak to Chris alone. For over a month, Chris hasn’t seen any of his friends, and Jesse asks him why. Jesse tells Chris about what Mike has been doing to improve himself, mentioning that he does it for the hope of getting Larissa back. When Chris says that he’s letting Larissa stay with him as long as she wants, Jesse questions whether that’s appropriate, hinting that he knows about Chris’s feelings for her. Chris says that he doesn’t care what Mike thinks since he was the one who put Larissa in this situation. Jesse tries to make him feel bad about it, telling him that no one in their friend group is happy about them living together.

Larissa didn’t know that Chris had been ignoring all his friends, not just Mike, and feels responsible for this. She knows that it’s time for her to leave, though she isn’t ready and may never be. Looking at Chris’s bookshelf, she sees the napkin they used to rank breads the first time they had breakfast together and wonders how Chris knew she was the one all along when she didn’t see it.

She hears Jesse slam the door and goes downstairs to talk to Chris, where he tells her that what they’re doing isn’t wrong, but everyone thinks it is. Larissa tells Chris that it’s time for her to leave, though neither of them wants that. She admits to him that she loves him, and he does the same. They argue about whether or not they can eventually be together, but Chris is still worried that the hope that he can get Larissa back is the only thing keeping Mike alive. Larissa says that she can’t live like this anymore, but Chris can’t change his mind.

Larissa starts packing up her things, telling Chris that someone is bound to get hurt in this drama and that it might as well be them. Chris finally gives in when she’s about to leave, thinking about how this is hurting her, and he kisses her.

As they kiss, Larissa doesn’t know how they thought they could fight this, but she’s glad they finally stopped trying to.

Chris is happier than ever but feels like his whole world has been turned upside down. He’s relieved to stop struggling but knows that it isolates him from the rest of his community.

Larissa and Chris have been together for three weeks now, and it has affected Chris’s friendships. Unlike in the weeks after the cabin trip, his group chat with Jesse, Xavier, and Mike has been notably silent, even with Chris’s 30th birthday coming up. Larissa suggests taking a trip so that the two of them can be together without worrying about what others around them think. Chris suggests a road trip to Michigan, and Larissa is excited about the car ride with him and not having to worry about their friends.

They spend Chris’s birthday on the trip and talk about the year they weren’t together. Chris says that he doesn’t regret it because they were friends and he got to have her eventually. They talk about Mike and how Chris hates hiding from his friends, and Larissa wishes she could take that blow for Chris. Larissa looks forward to a future when they don’t have to care about what others think and hopes that future won’t be so lonely.

Two months after they’ve started dating, Chris is both happier and sadder than ever, getting to be with his best friend but also losing all the community he once had. They hear from Nancy, who has broken up with Phil and hints at the possibility of moving into Chris’s guest room, but Larissa shuts the idea down quickly.

Chris quits his job at the pharmacy to apply for a better position at a local hospital. On his last day at the pharmacy, Mike comes to see Chris to pick up his antidepressants. Mike admits that he hadn’t always been taking his medication, but he says that he’s started on a higher dose and that it’s actually working. Mike asks to talk with Chris when he gets off in half an hour, and Chris assumes that Mike knows about his relationship with Larissa.

Mike admits as much when Chris gets off, also confessing that he always knew Chris would be better for Larissa because Chris showed up for her when he didn’t. Mike still wants the best for Larissa, no matter what, and he doesn’t blame either her or Chris for falling in love with the other. Chris nevertheless apologizes, and Mike admits that he’s had some rough days over the past month without the two people he loves most, but he’s been sober and going to therapy.

They talk about how they’ve all been doing, and Mike tells Chris that everyone is mad at him, but doesn’t hate him, and that he should reach out to Jesse and Xavier. Mike apologizes for not being there for Chris when his mother died, noticing that he has never said the uncomfortable things out loud, which has ruined a lot of his relationships.

Mike has realized that Larissa isn’t the great love of his life—Chris is. He thinks back to what Larissa told him during their breakup about changing for someone else, and Mike promises that he’s going to change for Chris, whether he still wants him in his life or not. Mike leaves after making Chris promise to call their friends that night and tells Chris that he’ll be there for him to talk about anything—except maybe Larissa. Mike is committed to being a better friend, and Chris tells him he’s proud of him.

As Mike pulls out of the parking lot, Larissa pulls in, and they have a quick conversation. He apologizes, and she forgives him.

Six months later, Chris is feeding a baby deer at a petting zoo, making Larissa proud of him for facing his fears. Larissa plans on opening up a storefront for her business and plans on hiring Lexi once she opens up, but Chris has even bigger plans about expanding the business because he believes in Larissa.

Xavier, Samantha, Jesse, and Becca are also at the petting zoo. They have all mended their friendship, but Larissa still feels bad that Mike doesn’t come to these outings because of her. Chris assures her that Mike still hangs out with the guys and that it won’t always be awkward between them.

Chris and Larissa get lost in the zoo looking for their friends and reminisce about getting lost in the park at the beginning of their friendship, comparing it to the winding and uncertain path of their relationship.