Rating: 'K'

Author's Note: Sorry for not updating for ages! I was really busy with my dramatic high school life. My friends were in a fight and one of them started cutting herself. Made me cry, 'Jane' (Name will not be mentioned), please stop causing harm to yourself—if you open your eyes, you'll see that you have a great group of friends that will be your support network, if you just give us the chance and let us in.

Sorry about my rambling—I wrote that because I wanted to tell her that, but she's been shutting us out.

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Chapter 2

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Marissa sat down with her mother on the swing outside, glad that the awkward dinner was over—and that she couldn't see anymore of Ryan's glances towards Taylor. The 2 former lovers had decided to go on a walk right after dinner to talk about their issues.

Julie slid over and let her eldest daughter sit down "Tonight was awkward"

Marissa sighed "Am I crazy? I love him, he loves Taylor and Taylor loves …. I'm not really sure—but why can't he love me back?"

"The heart does what it wants, we can't force somebody to fall out of love or force somebody to fall in love"

"How I wish things would happen so differently, I tried to change things so many times but he just couldn't see"

"You're not the one for him, even if he's the one for you. But I promise you that one day, you'll find a guy that will love you back, and you'll love him more than you ever loved Ryan Atwood"

"I'm envious of Taylor, because I once knew what it was like to be the one he longed for—and that's what hurts the most, knowing that I could have had him—silly that I thought I would always have his heart"

"I told you, the heart makes you do stupid things"

"Thanks for the confidence, mom" Marissa rolled her eyes

"I'm just telling you the truth" Julie offered "Maybe you should move on"

"Maybe I should"

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Ryan and Taylor walked down to the local park enjoying the night air; they took a seat on the cold bench and continued talking.

"How's journalism going for you? Is Yale everything you hoped it would be?" Ryan asked

"I enjoy it. How about you? Berkeley keeping you busy?"

"I love it there—better than anybody imagined"

Taylor focused her gaze on a leaf on the ground, knowing full well that Ryan said that to make her feel guilty about leaving "I'm sorry for leaving"

"Don't be. The past is in the past, we should look forward into the future"

"Look forward but don't forget, right?"

"Right" Ryan agreed

"I'm sorry it took me this long to realize that I've missed all of you that much—3 years can go by really fast"

"I know, and as time crawls by, we'll probably all be getting married and having kids"

"Do you want kids?" Taylor smiled warmly

"Definitely, I'll love to have children—but I want to have a steady career and be happy with myself before I even consider it"

"Me too, but not right now—maybe after college and when I'm married" Taylor agreed

"Do you wonder what it would be like if we stayed together?" Ryan wondered out of the blue

Taylor looked over "Sometimes, when I'm feeling nostalgic about the past and present. But not all the time, How about you?"

"Same, I was just thinking if we stayed together, would we still be like this, still talking? Or would we be fighting and being negative"

"I think you know the answer"

"I do" silence filled the air and in her usual Townsend-ish way, she broke it "Why'd you bring it up?"

"I just needed some closure"

"Things have changed, they're not the same. Things are different now" Taylor explained

"You don't understand how much pain and confusion you put me through when you left out of the blue"

"So we're rehashing the past now" Taylor never raised her voice, but she had the urge to do it in this instance

"I guess we are"

"I knew you would be like this" she shook her head negatively

"Of course I would be like this! You walked out of my life, you didn't even call"

"The world does not revolve around you, Ryan Atwood"

"You gave up first, have you ever been ripped apart? Have you given everything to the one you love, only to get it ripped away?"

"I knew that you and Marissa would somehow get back together! That's why I left"

"We didn't, so you left for no reason"

"Then I guess we were too young to understand what love was"

Ryan stood up "Than where are we supposed to go from here?"

"I don't know" Taylor put her head in her hands "I always thought I had everything planned out, finish senior year, go to college, graduate and get a great career…" she looked up at Ryan "But somehow, I got married and divorced in one summer, dropped out of college, kicked out of home and found love"

"Everything's thrown out the window" Ryan finished for her "I know"

"To be honest, you really don't know"

"Yes I do… I've been adrift since you've left—and now that you're back, everything's off balance"

"Whatever"

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Because we can't pick up our little fling from where we left it—everything's changed, including us"

"This is goodbye then" Ryan said apprehensively

"I guess so" Taylor got up and stared at him for a moment—and then walked off.

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Kaitlin watched Taylor run up into her room from her walk with Ryan and she followed her up, as she made her way towards Taylor's room, she could hear muffled sobs and sighed 'I knew this was going to happen' she whispered to herself and knocked.

"Piss off" Taylor shouted into her pillow "I'm not in the mood"

"That's not a very nice way to speak to your bestie" Kaitlin said through the door

"Kaitlin—I just need some time. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning" she wiped her tears away and closed her eyes

"Fine" Kaitlin sighed and made her way downstairs, running into a very irritated looking Ryan "Nice job, you made her cry"

"It's not my fault that she's melodramatic" Ryan defended himself and mumbled an inaudible word and went into the lounge room and sat there, brooding.

Kaitlin rolled her eyes 'drama drama drama'

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