Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the OC. If someone is someone is offering it to me, I won't object.
Thank you so much to everyone who has been reviewing my stuff. You've convinced me to keep writing fthese shorts while working on some bigger stories. This is sequel-ish to Getting over Seth. I promise Taylor afnd Ryan will eventually hook up in one of my stories.
Morning after money
"Ryan?" Taylor asked as she neared her house. "Is that you?"
He lifted his head to look at her, slowly and painfully if she was reading his expression correctly. Taylor winced at what she saw.
She had heard Ryan was a fighter, but had chalked it up to rumours that had stemmed from the simple fact that he was from Chino. She guessed by what she saw that the rumours were true. There was one bruise forming on the side of his face, but other than that it was only his hands that were torn, knuckled bloody and scrapped from what Taylor guessed was a beating he had barely felt.
Despite the bruise and the blood, it was the cold, hard look in his eyes that had made Taylor wince. He was in his own world of battles and self-torture.
"What happened?" she asked as she rushed toward him, dropping the corsage and purse she'd been holding since the prom.
"Nothing. Here." He raised his hand and Taylor sighed when she saw her money bag in his fist.
"Ryan, where did you get this?"
"Doesn't matter," he told her, shaking his head and standing up. "I think it's all there. I didn't count it or anything, but you should be fine."
Taylor's jaw dropped as she watched him walk away from her, framed by the light of early morning. She blinked as she realized he was leaving without another word. Taylor bit her lip and tugged at her hair. It was the first time they had been alone since he'd saved her from Holly and Jess, and Taylor guessed it would be quite a while until they were alone again.
"Ryan!"
He stopped but didn't turn around.
"At least let me clean you up. You don't want the Cohens to see you looking like this, do you?"
He looked over at her, then let his eyes wander in thought. They dropped to his hands. Finally he shrugged, raising his eyebrows as he slowly nodded. He walked toward her front door without a word.
Taylor winced as she dabbed the corner of Ryan's mouth. His eyes stayed neutral despite the pain she imagined he felt at the contact of alcohol against his blood. She bit her lip to keep away either a cry of pain or a sigh of sympathy.
"It's not as bad as it looks," Ryan told her as he handed her a clean cotton ball.
She narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything.
"Seriously," he continued. "I barely feel it."
Taylor sighed and shook her head. "Volchok, I presume?"
"You weren't picked as valedictorian because of your good looks," he answered with a shrug.
Taylor's face fell and Ryan's eyes widened as he realized what he'd just said. He reached up to grab Taylor's hands.
"I'm not… I didn't mean… You're beautiful, I just…" He sighed and shook his head as he let her go. "I'm sorry. Hang around with Seth long enough, and apparently you inherit his ability to put his foot in his mouth at any moment. I just meant you were right."
"Yeah. I figured. I heard what happened with Marissa, and you hurried off, so… I guess anyone could have figured."
Ryan's brow furrowed as he grabbed the bottle of rubbing alcohol next to him. "I didn't go after Volchok because of what he did to Marissa. I said a long time ago that I was staying out of their relationship, and I meant it. Kirsten was right; I have to stop trying to save Marissa."
"Then why were you with Volchok?"
"Your money," Ryan told her as he pointed to the bag. "I knew he took the money and I wanted to get it back for you."
"And the fight?"
"That one was about Marissa. I don't know." He shrugged. "I'll always love Marissa. I'm not in love with Marissa, but I will always love her. She was the first person who spoke to me when I got here, and she was the first person I felt loved me, I guess other than Trey and my mom, but that definitely wasn't the same, and it definitely wasn't the unconditional love Marissa gave me. I'll always want to pay her back for that, and when Volchok started talking shit about her, I reacted like I always do. I reacted the same way I do when people are beating up on Seth or calling Summer a bitch, or whatever."
"Oh." Taylor let her wide eyes travel Ryan's face as she measured what she had clean of him against what was left. "I don't think I've ever heard you talk so much."
He smiled a small, crooked smirk. "It's hard to get a word in edgewise when Seth's always around."
"Well, whatever the fight was about, thank you for getting the money back for me."
"No problem." He hoped off the bathroom counter where he'd been sitting, and moved around Taylor to leave the bathroom. "What did you do about the money last night?"
"Oh," she waved her hand in the air, as she followed him around her house. "I called my mom and she took care of it."
"Your mom?"
"Well," Taylor shrugged. "She took care of it quickly while telling me that I had disgraced her once again and that we'd talk about this in more details today. But yeah, she took care of it."
"Where is your mom?"
"Hmm." Taylor looked around, stretching her neck to hear better. "I don't know. She's probably at yogalaties or something."
Ryan froze. His eyes narrowed as he stared at Taylor and pointed to the front door. "Did you just get in?"
"Yeah."
"From prom?"
"From after-prom."
"From the Bait Shop?"
Taylor ducked her head and felt the faintest of blushes come to her cheeks. "I had another after prom with my date and Summer's."
"And Summer?"
"I'm guessing she's with Seth. Probably cursing him for the hangover she has."
"So they made up," Ryan said, pursing his lips together and nodding.
"Yeah. They were going to eventually, right?"
"So, wait, you were with two guys?"
Taylor shrugged as she leafed through the money Ryan had given her. "Sometimes it takes two guys to keep you out of my head."
Ryan froze. Taylor kept counting the money, ignoring what had just slipped from her mouth.
"Taylor, I—"
"Taylor! You better be ready with a— Who are you?"
"Mom," Taylor answered for Ryan as she moved between him and her mother. "This is Ryan. You remember Ryan? He's living with Mr. and Mrs. Cohen? Anyway, Ryan found the money. Apparently I had dropped it at the Cohen's house when I went there for pictures."
"The boy from Chino found the money or he took the money?" Taylor's mother asked as she slowly looked Ryan up and down.
"He found the money. If he took the money, he wouldn't be returning the money."
"Well," Taylor's mother said with a shake of the head. "I knew this was your fault and that no one had really taken it. God, Taylor, do you enjoy embarrassing me like this? Go grab your coat and we'll drop that off at the bank. You can't be trusted with it and I have to be on my way."
"Okay," Taylor answered in a tight voice. She offered Ryan a smile as she moved around him. "Thanks again, Ryan."
"I can…" He watched her leave. "Wait…"
"It was very nice of you to bring that money here, Ryan, is it?" Taylor's mother asked as she moved forward.
"No problem. I knew Taylor would be freaking out and I didn't want her to have to worry about nothing."
Veronica's fingers moved forward brushing at some blood on Ryan's shirt cuff. "Rough night?"
"I broke up a fight between two drunk guys. I got a little scraped in the process."
"You're just saving everyone, aren't you?" She moved closer. "Tell me, Ryan, how old are you?"
"Can you tell Taylor I had to go?" Ryan asked as he quickly moved around Veronica before she could pin him against the wall. "I'll see her at graduation."
"Well, we'll both look forward to that, then."
Ryan shook his head as he walked down the Townsend driveway. He hadn't had such an encounter since he'd first come to Newport and been released to the Newpsies. Though, there had been that one encounter with Caleb's supermodel girlfriend…
He blinked his eyes and moved towards the Range Rover. He had to hurry home before Sandy and Kirsten really started worrying about him, and before Seth exploded with whatever news he had of him and Summer.
Ryan drove away, trying to remove from his mind the image of Veronica Townsend hitting on him. He was concentrating so hard that he entirely forgot what he'd wanted to say to Taylor and what she'd let slip to him. With the events that were about to occur in his life, it would be a while before he would remember them again.