Ryan Atwood read over Taylor's email once more and sighed in disappointment. She could not be coming back to California for Christmas Break—in fact, she would not be returning to America at all for the break. "Greece and Turkey." Ryan muttered to himself. Taylor would be going off to Athens once her semester ended with Madame de Crecy, her daughter Violette de Crecy, Monsieur Brichot and Marius Morel. It was Marius Morel that concerned Ryan the most. In a word, he was brilliant, and ever since Taylor had fallen in with Mme de Crecy and her salon of august minds, M. Morel had been a familiar character in her adventures. Ryan was sure that they were dating—or at least she was interested in him, even though the fact had not yet clearly been stated.
Logging off his email, Ryan let his mind and imagination wander over to Paris and a certain girl there. What had they agreed on before they had gone their separate ways? Hadn't they agreed to let things happen as they happen, and leave it all to chance? Taylor had broken out that old cliché: if it was meant to be then it was meant to be—why hadn't he explored the world yet? Sure he was busy with school and he did have friends, but something was holding him back. It had to be Taylor; he loved her for sure, and he did not doubt that she loved him but she had taken the first step out into their lives as single adults while he was pining for her.
"Hey man." The voice of Luke Davidson broke into his thoughts. "Guess what I just scored?"
"Tickets to the Stanford game?"
"I wish—No, tickets to the Tri-Delt auction." Luke waved the tickets before Ryan triumphantly. "You know what that means?"
"No." He did but Luke was going to tell him regardless.
"Now you can finally get that date with Madison I know you're too chicken-shit to ask for." It was common theme of conversation between the two—Madison Lewis obviously liked Ryan, and Ryan seemed to like Madison, but had not done anything about it.
"Maybe. When is it?"
"Tomorrow night—so start drinking or whatever you need to do to get your courage up."
"What are you up to?" Ryan was eager to change the subject; Luke knew about Taylor and their love for each other, but agreed with the rationality of seeing other people while living in different continents.
"Nothing really—was thinking about dropping in on Katie." Katie was Luke's current romance—he had many of them and Ryan was impressed by his ability to juggle them all as well as keep up his grades in school. "You want to come? It will be better than thinking about Taylor."
"What makes you think I'm thinking about Taylor?"
"I can tell when you're thinking about her—you get a sad, lost look. She hook up with somebody?"
"I don't know—maybe." Marius Morel appeared to be brilliant, handsome and charming. Why wouldn't Taylor fall for him? "It's complicated."
"No it's not." He agreed with Taylor's side of the situation and thought Ryan was crazy for not taking advantage of the pretty girls around campus. "You love her and she loves you right?"
"Right." She still ended every email with "Love, Taylor" and had thrown in the occasional "I love you" into her emails and letters, so he was convinced of her feelings; he too had opened up to her and had said those magic little words since starting school, but apparently she could move beyond that.
"So hold onto that fact. Even though she might hook up and see other people, she still loves you. She's just not going to let an opportunity to have fun slip by her, and you shouldn't either. You know Madison is crazy about you and you like her—ask her out, hook up with her if she's desperate enough to let you." Ryan laughed—Luke was making so much sense. "If you and your girl are really meant to be, then it will happen when the timings right. But it's idiotic of you not to have some fun in the mean time."
"Who's going to be there tonight?" Katie was an Alpha Phi and had a lot of pretty friends for Ryan to choose from.
"Jenny, Lois, Mandy—the regular set." The Alpha Phi girls seemed to be constantly in a state of celebration. Ryan couldn't remember ever seeing one of the girls not dressed well or not drunk. "I forget the reason they are celebrating tonight—maybe one of them got a new hair cut?"
"Or a 'B' on a test." Their abilities to juggle drinking and school were not as good as Luke's. "When were you thinking about going?"
"Probably in an hour or so. I need to jump in the shower."
"Okay—I'm in." He thought again about Taylor's email. Ryan had set so much in store in seeing Taylor over Christmas Break; if she was going to have fun and live life to the fullest, then he would too. It was a turning point in Ryan's college life. From now on, he would see as many women as possible.
"Are you sure?" Luke could see the wheels turning in Ryan's mind. How much convincing would he have to do?
"Absolutely."
"Good man." He turned to go. "Just don't chicken out on me."
"I won't."
"Look out Berkeley! Here comes Ryan Atwood!" Ryan could only laugh. He thought of Taylor again in Paris. He did love her, but he needed to do this. She would want him to be happy and having fun.