Taylor had to leave Newport. She had to go to work. And yet she didn't really want to. She needed some sort of closure. The night before Veronica Townsend, in her own insensitive and totally blind to anyone but her way had interrupted her string of dances with Ryan. She hadn't even managed to say good bye. Nothing. A string of dances and no words.

He had felt the spark, she knew that. He was trying to get close to her, she knew that too. He had never been that way around her. He had always been polite but never really paying attention to her. So his attitude definitely changed after the "incident". But Taylor had no idea how far he wanted to go. She had no idea where he wanted to go. Maybe the spark was just an amazing attraction between the two unlikeliest people in the world. Maybe opposites do attract. But is it pure attraction or is it something else? All Taylor knew was that she wanted to see him once more before going back to LA. She couldn't just leave like that.

The thought of a new encounter with Ryan scared her just as much as it pleased her. She couldn't think of anything to say to him.

'Hey Ryan, you know, I noticed we're kinda attracted to each other lately. What are we gonna do about it?'

That pretty much summed up what she wanted to say. Of course, it didn't work like that.

Unfortunately Taylor was not very good at games. She always went straight to the point when she wanted something. That was probably one of the reasons she hadn't had many boyfriends - just irrelevant relationships. Because she went straight to the point everyone just assumed she wanted to have sex. She didn't know how to play the games of the early relationships. It hadn't mattered to her for a very long time because the truth was that she got bored pretty easily of everyone she went out with. But for some reason, she wanted Ryan to like her, instead of just wanting her.

But did she deserve to be liked?

By Ryan, most of all. He had dated the highschool's most beautiful student. Why would he then go for the dork? For her? Taylor knew she wasn't an ugly dork, but a dork was a dork. And she was one.

"Ugh!" she shouted in frustration and tried to ignore the taxi driver's weird looks. 'I'm a weirdo, get used to it.' Taylor mentally screamed at the driver.

She had managed to plan her stop at the Cohens just short enough to not get too weird. She had 45 minutes to get to the train station.

She felt her hand trembling as she was reaching for the doorbell so she took a minute to breathe in. Once she rang she wished she didn't but then was glad she did. She couldn't avoid it anymore. She was going to see Ryan.

"Taylor!" Kirsten's surprised face welcomed her.

"Hello, mrs. Cohen. I hope I'm not intruding."

"No, of course not. Is everything OK?"

"Yes, of course it is. I'm leaving for LA in 45 minutes and I just wanted to say good bye to everyone."

"Unfortunately, it's just me here. Sandy had to leave for office earlier today cause he has an important case and Sophie left for school twenty minutes ago."

Sophie? Who was Sophie? Then she remembered Seth had a younger sister she had never met. God, things had changed.

"What about Seth? And..." her voice trembled: "Ryan?"

She thought she caught a flicker of something in Kirsten's eyes. Had Kirsten been at the wedding the night before? She couldn't even remember.

"Oh dear, you really haven't been around much lately, have you? Unfortunately the boys have grown and left home. Ryan lives in a rented place near the mall and Seth has moved in with Summer ages ago!"

Taylor mentally slapped herself and pulled her hair out. Of course they moved out! They were 25! ARGH!

"Oh. You're right. I haven't been around much."

"Would you like to sit down a little?"

"No, I have to go catch my train." She forced a smile. "Have a nice day, mrs. Cohen."

"You too, dear."

---

At first she didn't want to answer the phone. She was too depressed to talk to anyone. But then she noticed it was Summer. Maybe Summer would help.

"Hello."

"Hey, Taylor, how's it going?"

"Going home. On the train. I have to get to work in an hour or so."

"Anything you'd like to tell me?"

Taylor paused a little and then decided to play dumb.

"What do you mean?"

"Girl, don't you even try to deny it. In all my life I've seen Ryan dance twice and then... this! Can you tell me how the hell he suddenly became the most avid dancer at the party?"

"I don't know, I suppose he felt like dancing..."

"Taylor. Don't give me that crap. Ryan IS a hot guy who's not popular because he doesn't want to not because he can't. He IS the guy that keeps his cool when everyone around him freaks out. I'm not dumb, ok? When did you feel the sparks?"

"Six months ago."

"What? How?"

"He was designing our new headquarters and we met casually and I shook his hand and... I don't know, I just felt it. I just... I don't know where it came from. I mean, I've known him for too long for this to happen now! We ignored each other for our entire lifetime and we were good at it!"

"Taylor, I believe I have explained you last night that sometimes things happen and I think I'm a good example on how you simply cannot ignore something like that."

"Yes, you did... just that... I'm so confused..."

"What would you like to do?"

"I'd like to talk to him. I'd like to get to know him. But then when he's around I'm just... a total idiot!"

She could hear Summer laugh and bit her lips in frustration.

"Summer..."

"Sorry."

Taylor sighed.

"Look. Last night I very cleverly interogated Seth since he's the only one who knows anything on Ryan..."

"Yes..?" Taylor stopped breathing in anticipation.

"Apparently the other day when we were at the diner and Ryan found out I was lunching with you, he decided he and Seth could have lunch with us. Seth of course saw nothing to it, but considerring the fact that Ryan has rarely manifested a desire to dine with me, I think you can read between the the lines by yourself."

Taylor couldn't help but grin.

"Also, I remember Ryan offering to come to the wedding and I believe he was the one who invited you to dance, right?"

"Right." Taylor grinned some more.

"So the signs are good."

"Yes. But..."

"But what?'

"What about Marissa?"

"What about her?"

"She and Ryan..."

"Taylor, Ryan and Marissa have been broken up for five years now. They both had other relationships and I think I can safely say they got over each other. Marissa is not a problem."

"But I'm in LA and he's..."

"...in Newport, which is really not that far."

"But what am I supposed to do?"

"Leave it to me, girl."

"Summer..."

"Trust me. Have a nice day!"

Summer shut her phone without waiting for Taylor to say good bye. Taylor sat back on her chair and tried to calm herself down, but all she could do was listen to her heart beating from both happiness and nervousness.