A/N: One-shot. Anna's in it purely because I am a shameless Ryanna 'shipper. But odds are you've noticed that by now. REVIEW! Please?
Oh. I also don't own The OC, or Ryan. I do own lots and lots of half- used lip glosses in random flavors though.

Gloss

Theresa always wore cheap, waxy lip balm. The kind that came in colorful tubes and maybe made her lips a little redder, but was really little more than chap-stick. Theresa always tasted like fruit, of orange and grape and watermelon. Candy flavored fruit. Candy flavored mouth. Kissing Theresa had been like eating package of package of Jolly Ranchers.
Marissa wore expensive glosses and glasses and stains. The kinds you could only buy at department stores. It was gluey, and after make-out sessions Ryan felt like he would never get it off of him. Marissa's make-up was supposed to be flavorless. It had a flavor, the flavor of animal by- products. After awhile with Marissa, the scent of lanolin turned him on, but to this day it always reminded him of her.
Anna's lip glosses were his favorite. And that worked, because of Ryan's three significant relationships, his time with Anna was his favorite. Anna's lip glosses were never the same brand, or color, or flavor. Anna had her favorites and liked to experiment. It became a game with them, sampling her multitude of flavors. Anna used flavors to match her moods, or sometimes Ryan's. Cherry if she was feeling sexy, grapefruit for coy or spunky, vanilla if Anna was at peace, berry if she was bored or lazy. Kissing Anna, like everything about Anna, was light and fun.

Now that he was older, and he hoped wiser, Ryan swore by the lip gloss test. He had found that you can pretty much tell what kind of girl she is by the lip gloss she wears.
The Lip Balms, like Theresa, tended to be low maintenance. They were the kinds of girls you were friends with, or friends-with-benefits. Good for quickies, but not relationships, at least not relationships with Ryan.
The High-Ends, with their flavorless animal extract concoctions, they were high maintenance. The kinds of girls you never knew when to kiss, because you might smudge their make-up. Girls like that reminded Ryan of adolescence, full of the highest highs the lowest lows and not much in between. They were exciting, but ultimately Ryan ended up exhausted.
Ryan had a feeling he would end up with a Flavor Girl, a girl like Anna. You could tell Flavor Girls actually wanted to be with you, while that wasn't always certain with the others. Unlike High-Ends they were always good-to-go, and they were softer and sweeter than Lip Balms.

Ryan bumped into Theresa not long ago. In the midst of their conversation, she'd pulled out a tube of boring, white, probably flavorless chap-stick. Ryan hadn't been surprised, but it made him a little sad. Eddie probably didn't even notice what Theresa tasted like.
Marissa and Anna were both at the Harbor high school reunion. Marissa had moved on to lipstick, and Ryan bet it tasted lousy too.
As Anna hugged him, Ryan swore he caught a whiff of grapefruit. She left a sticky residue on his cheek when she kissed him, and Ryan couldn't resist tasting it. Grapefruit. Anna was still a Flavor Girl. He was pretty sure it was even the same brand she'd worn in high school. It was nice to know some things never changed.