Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Author's Note: 6 months after the island...

"Your a jerk!"

"Your a brat!"

"Your a disgusting player!"

"Your a whore!"

"Your horrible!"

"I can't stand you!"

"I can't stand you either!"

"Real original," Eric snarled as he glared at the beautiful blonde girl he was now arguing with.

Taylor closed her eyes in frustration and a low growl issued from her mouth. She couldn't stand this good-looking guy standing in front of her. She couldn't remember why they were fighting to begin with... Oh yeah. She had caught him making out with a girl at a party. That wasn't so bad, but ten minutes later he had been making out with a different girl. That had pushed her off the edge. Then ten minutes later he was hooking up with a different girl whose shirt couldn't have been legitly called a shirt. Eric's hands had been EVERYWHERE on that girl. Everywhere.She couldn't stand it when guys were players. She had been hurt too many numerous to let her best guy friend become that, horrible, despicable kind of guy. She had dragged him into one of the bedrooms at the party so she could yell at him. And now it had turned into a yelling match.

"How dare you!" Taylor hissed her eyes still closed.

"How dare I what?" Eric nearly threatened.

"After all that's been done to me, after all those guys using me, after you promised me, as my best friend that you would never be one of them, you have!" Taylor told him, fiercely, but she was not yelling. She was beyond yelling.

Taylor's words cut into him deeper than he thought she'd expected them to. No one had known it, but Taylor actually was close with Eric, in the friend way. He had helped her when Bryce had took advantage of her, trying to undress her, when Ross had edged underneath her shirt during a make out session, Eric had stepped in, threatening the boys who had taken advantage of Taylor, and received a good number of bruises for it. Was he now one of them? He would never, ever take advantage of Taylor, but was he becoming one of those guys? The guys who Taylor despised, hated, and even maybe feared? Even if she didn't admit it?

Taylor sat down on the bed, refusing to let any sign of weakness show. Her blonde hair was wild and her face flushed from the heat of the arguement. Eric's breathing slowed. Wow. He had become one of them. And he was hurting his best friend because of it. He took a seat on the bed next to her and she quickly turned away, her stubbornness returning.

"Taylor?"

"I don't want to hear it Eric," Taylor said, her voice trembling with anger and sadness.

"But I want you to hear me."

"I won't."

"I can try," Eric said playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

"How could you?" Taylor whispered after a moment of silence.

"Its not like I did it on purpose Taylor! I would never do that on purpose. I can't say I didn't enjoy it! Nothing felt right, nothing felt... like it was perfect!" Eric blurted out quickly, releasing the frustration that had been building inside him. As he said those last words he realized something. All those times on the island, when he and Taylor had fought, when they had flirted, when they had both been regarded as the "brats" it had never occurred to him... He was having an epiphany. He was in love with Taylor. From the start. From the moment in third grade when he had the nerve to sit next to her at the lunch table. He had thought all those times were just times of friendship. No. They were the moments that Eric had spent falling. Falling for her. For Taylor.

Eric sat in silence, in disbelief at what his mind had just told him. He spluttered in shock as he momentarily forgot Taylor's presence. She cleared her throat. "S-sorry! I think I just had... had an epi- epiphany..."

"About what?" Taylor's curiousity was getting the best of her.

"N-nothing. You wouldn't understand," he said, desperately trying to avoid telling her what he had realized. Especially after she had regarded him as a player. She would think he was just using her.

"But I would... And I'm sorry for yelling at you... I guess... But with everything I've been through you can't blame me. I don't want the guy of my dr- the guy of my best... friendship to turn into one of those people," Taylor said flushing at the end.

"The guy of my best friendship? Is that really what you were going to say. I don't believe that..." Eric singsonged. Since he was now forgiven he figured he might as well have some fun. And besides, he would have to tell Taylor about his epiphany... oh no he didn't. He wouldn't.

"I don't know if I should tell you what I was going to say..." Taylor let her sentence trail off as she looked at her intertwined fingers.

Eric gently reached over, his mind going wild at his actions, untwining her fingers. "Will it hurt me?"

"I-I don't know..."

"Do you think I care?" Eric's voice was a passionete whisper. He didn't know how many more minutes he could hold in his realization.

Taylor looked into her best friends eyes. How could she trust him? How? After all the girls he'd made out with that night. If he hurt her... it would hurt her deeper than anyone else. But it also hurt her, not trusting him.

"No," Taylor whispered, twining her fingers again, but this time, including Eric's fingers in the knot. Eric held an invisible breath. "I-I think I might..." Taylor began.

"You think you what?" Eric asked breathlessly.

"I-I think I l-lo..."

"I think I love you," Eric finished for her, closing the decreasing distance between their lips. It wasn't a huge, heated passionate make out session, like the one Eric had experienced earlier that night with all the skanks. It was soft, gentle, sweet. And he wasn't going past that. Not tonight. He would restrain himself. He would go against the nature of all teenage boys. He would do it for Taylor.

She pulled away, moaning. Sorrowfully. "Why?"

Eric looked confused and hurt. He was so caught up in what was wrong he didn't notice their hands were still intertwined.

"I shouldn't have done that," Eric muttered to himself.

"I'm glad you did. I love you," Taylor whispered. She spoke in a stronger voice, louder now. "But I'm afraid."

"Afraid... Afraid I'm going to hurt you? I wouldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't take advantage of you. I couldn't look at you and think about nothing but sex. I couldn't do that to you. I couldn't do anything to you. I wouldn't do anything to you Taylor! Don't you understand?"

Taylor looked into his eyes. She saw the truth. Eric's eyes had always been the key to telling if he was lying or not. And she could see nothing but truth in his eyes. But he could mean his promise today and break it tomorrow.

"You could mean that... now. But... you could forget it tomorrow."

"Taylor. If I ever did that to you... I would probably kill myself."

"You love yourself too much."

"Not as much as I love you."

"So was that your epiphany?" Taylor asked a gentle, reluctant smile on her face.

"You tell me," Eric smirked as he leaned in, pulling her onto his lap, looking into her eyes and kissing her gently before pulling her tightly to his chest, as though to shield her.

"An epiphany," Taylor laughed softly as she kissed Eric's cheek.

Now this is perfect, Eric thought.