She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Marissa, "Hey Coop." she sighed to the voicemail, "Just calling to see- to say happy turkey day. I'll call you later."
She tossed the phone onto the counter and grabbed a bottle of wine from the rack under the sink. Right as she was about to pour herself a glass her phone rang, "Coop?" she answered not checking the caller id.
"Uh hi Summer, No it's uh... It's Seth, Seth Cohen."
"Oh hey." Summer said, putting the bottle down," What's up?"
"I was just calling to see if you...uh... if you have any plans for today. Cause see Thanksgiving is like my favorite holiday, one of my favorite holidays, and well Ryan isn't gonna be here cause his brother called and yeah long story," Seth rambled on, "And I need someone to help me keep my mom out of the kitchen cause she's a really bad cook. Oh wait, I'm sorry. Geez you probably already have plans with your own family, that I am interrupting right now. I'm so sorry Summer-"
"Cohen!" she said interrupting.
"Yeah?"
"I'm already in the car."
"Ryan, your girlfriends are here." Seth said softly entering the poolhouse with Marissa, Taylor, and Kaitlyn in tow.
"Ew, I heard that." Kaitlyn said smacking Seth on the head.
"Heard what?" Taylor asked.
"Nothing." Seth said, "So hey, Summer's coming over to help with mom, since you won't be here."
"Where are you going?" Marissa asked.
"My brother called." Ryan said giving Seth a glare.
"Oh." Marissa said, "Is that a good thing?"
Taylor sat down awkwardly at Ryan's desk and picked up a book he had obviously been reading, while he went on to answer Marissa, "I guess, I mean it is Trey."
"The brother who got you arrested?" Marissa pointed out.
"Yeah, but he got him sent here." Taylor said opening the book and flipping through it to find out how far he was, "Is this any good?"
Ryan grinned rolling his eyes, as Marissa glared at her, "Having a conversation here."
"As was I." Taylor said slowly as if Marissa was an idiot. Ryan scolded her, and turned to face Marissa, "Look I'll be back this evening, so I'll see you after you have dinner with your mom."
Marissa nodded, and they all followed Ryan back to the kitchen, when Summer walked in, "Oh hey... it's a party." she said looking pointedly at Seth, "I thought you said you needed my help."
"I do!" Seth said.
"You're taking over for me, cause I have to leave." Ryan said coming to Seth's rescue.
"As soon as our mom's done here, we're goning back next door." Kaitlyn added.
"Oh." Summer nodded, "Well, what do you need me to do?"
"I'm gonna go talk to mom." Taylor said quietly slipping away, while Ryan went to go find Sandy and Kirsten, "Hey mom?"
Julie was sitting on the Cohen's couch waiting for Cal to be done with Kirsten, so to pass the time she was on the phone with one of her Newpsie friends, "What is it dear?" she asked distractedly.
"Can I take a ride with Ryan to Chino? He's going to see his brother and see me and Ryan haven't really had any time to hang out since he and Marissa started dating, and me and Luke started doing whatever it is we're doing, and well he's my friend and I just wanna see where his head is at with this whole brother thing." Taylor said.
"What? Oh sure baby, whatever you want." Taylor hugged her mom as Cal walked in the room, Julie hung up as Taylor nodded, "Mr. Nichol."
"What was that all about?" Caleb asked once Taylor was gone.
"Oh that, just Taylor being Taylor. I think she said something about Chinese food or something, she hadn't had some in a while and wanted to try and get her head around it again. Whatever that means. Kids are so strange these days. Ready to go."
"The restaurant is booked, so we're just gonna stay here for Thanksgiving, Juju."
Taylor climbed into the passenger seat and buckled up, "One pie holder at your service." she said when Ryan opened the door.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
She shrugged, "This whole big dinner thing is for Marissa, not me. No one will even notice I'm not there. Mom didn't even seem to care when I asked her if I could go."
"She said you could?" Ryan asked.
She nodded, "Yep. So you want some company?"
"Can pie holders talk?" he teased.
"I think you'll find that Pie Holders can talk sometimes without stopping to take breaths." she nodded.
"Then I'd love some company." he said handing her the pie which she placed in the back seat.
He looked at her incredulously, to which she replied, "What? I am not going to hold a pie for the whole ride."
Ryan started the car and laughed.
"So I'm ten years old my mom's passed out drunk on the couch, and Trey's in the kitchen making Thanksgiving dinner." Ryan said.
"I lived with my dad when I was ten. That was actually the last Thanksgiving we spent together, he uh... he brought his girlfriend over and well she didn't really like kids, I guess. Or maybe she just didn't like me, but anyway, dinner ended very early I didn't even get desert."
"Hey, Taylor can I ask... I mean say no or something if it's too personal, but can I ask something about your parents and the whole living situation? It's kind of been confusing me since I first heard about it."
"Yeah sure." she nodded.
"Well Seth told me that your mom cheated on Jimmy, and got pregnant from it," he gestured to her, and Taylor nodded, "And that you lived with him for eleven years. Why uh... Why did you live with your dad instead of Julie?"
"Oh... well."
"Look you don't have to tell me." he said sensing her discomfort.
"No, it's not that I don't want to tell you. It's just hard, cause well I don't really know. All I have is guess work." Ryan nodded, "She didn't really want me." she shrugged, "I was a reminder to her and Jimmy, and Marissa that Julie had screwed up."
"So when your dad asked for you...?" Ryan prompted.
"She gave me up willingly. And that's assuming he's the one that was doing the asking." she said, "Then eleven years later I show up on her doorstep, she doesn't have much choice does she? I am her daughter."
"Hey I'm-... I'm sorry Taylor."
She shrugged, "I'm sixteen years old Ryan, I'm kinda over it."
"Really?"
"Why waste time on coulda, shoula, woulda's?" she asked with a tinge of laughter in her voice.
Ryan knew there was more to it than that but he let it go, "I'm glad you came."
"So we could bond over our dysfunctional families?" she questioned.
"Well yeah, but no. I like spending time with you Taylor. We don't really get to hand out to much cause I'm always with Marissa and you're always with Luke."
She didn't bother correcting him, since they had started dating Taylor had spent exactly three nights out with Luke. She saw him in the halls between classes, but she never had much time to talk between classes. She did like him, but he seemed very much like a lost puppy looking for it's owner, and Taylor wasn't sure she was ready to be that person.
"I like spending time with you too, Ryan." she nodded.
He turned off the car and said, "We're here."
"It looks like a prison." she said softly neither of them getting out. He turned to look at her, "You know what I mean." and he nodded.
Okay there you go. Sorry I keep taking so long to update guys. I'm just so busy lately. Anyway please review.
-Em