'The Summer I Turned Pretty' Star on That Almost-Kiss Between Taylor and [Spoiler!]: 'A Moment of Surrender'

Rain Spencer exclusively talks to PEOPLE about this week's episode 5, including a scene that makes author Jenny Han "tear up every time she watches it"

Warning: This post contains spoilers for season 2, episode 5 of Prime Video's The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Will there or won’t they? That’s the question The Summer I Turned Pretty fans are asking after Taylor (Rain Spencer) and Steven (Sean Kaufman)’s almost shared a kiss in episode 5.

After Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad's (Christopher Briney) aunt Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) moved out the Fishers' things from the summer house at the end of episode 4, the entire gang headed to the country club to find refuge in the following episode. Paired up to find supplies, Steven and Taylor wound up having a nearly romantic moment in the deb ballroom.

Speaking with PEOPLE on July 13, Spencer, 23, said the scene was a real “moment of surrender” for her character Taylor as she gave in (yet again) to her feelings for the brother of her best friend Belly (Lola Tung).

“I love that scene so much,” Spencer said. “Jenny [Han] says that it makes her tear up every time she watches it. I feel the same because I think the most powerful part of that scene is the silence. When they're dancing and when Taylor finally puts her head on his shoulder or on his chest and you can see a moment of surrender in the silence. It's a really beautiful moment for her character.” 

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Taylor and Steven certainly have a complicated history. In season 1, Taylor and Steven briefly hooked up while he’s still dating Shayla (Minnie Mills), causing a major rift in Taylor and Belly’s friendship. Despite her past mistakes, Spencer noted that Taylor has gone through a lot of growth this season.

“Season 1 Taylor acted like a grown-up, she was playing pretend, and in season 2, all of the characters have genuinely matured,” explained Spencer. “Taylor, because she's matured and grown up a little bit, she's able to be there for Belly in a way that maybe she wasn't able to in season 1. Just putting Belly's needs before her own and making sure that her best friend is okay.”

“Taylor has a soft spot for two people and it's Belly and Steven. She has major walls up with everyone else,” she continued. “Of course, she has walls up with Steven, but she's learning how to break them down, and I think that's really beautiful that we get to see Taylor be there in the best way that she knows how and learn how to be a better friend.”

She added that while Taylor has “a million and one defense mechanisms,” it’s Steven who is able to see right through them. “In season 2, Steven is showing her that he knows who she is and she can't hide around him.”

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Calling out the deb ballroom scene, she noted how Steven was able to detect that Taylor was lying about not wanting her princess moment. “She can't even deny that,” she said. “She can't deny that he actually sees her because they've grown up together and as much as she tries to hide around him, she can't.”

Though fans were sad to see Steven and Shayla’s relationship end — after Mills exited the show after season 1 — Spencer is able to make a good case for why fans should give Taylor and Steven a chance.

“I love Minnie and I rooted for [Shayla and Steven] too,” she affirmed. “The beautiful thing about Steven and Taylor is that they did grow up together. Taylor has loved Steven in every phase of his life, dorky phases, weird phases, annoying phases, although not having admitted it, [she] was head over heels the entire time."

"I think that Steven in season 2 can really see how much Taylor has matured and I think that’s part of the reason Steven roots for Conrad is because Steven is rooting for Steven,” she added.

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Since both Taylor and Steven don’t have a large presence in the books, Spencer shared that Han gave them special direction for their characters, specifically that “Conrad is to Belly what Steven is to Taylor.”

“It's that kind of unrequited love that is just unconditional and will probably never go away,” Spencer said. “I think that Belly understands that more than anything.”

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New episodes of The Summer I Turned Pretty season 2 drop Fridays on Prime Video through Aug. 18.

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