Thanks for the reviews.

I do not own the OC or any of the characters. And nor do I own NYC.

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Ryan POV

"Hey, how's it going? Is Seth back yet?" she asked as I opened in the door.

I looked into her sparkling brown eyes and what I saw in them caused an ache in my stomach. She was totally oblivious of me. When I'd met her so many years ago, I'd instantly thought she was cute. Plus one thing. I'd recognized the same sadness in her eyes that resided in mine. While I 'worked' out my pain with my fist, she worked hers out with her wit. Essentially, we were the same but different. I made myself into the introverted person whose moods swung with the wind while she created this spunky character who always said the right thing, saw the glass as half full and gave her all to her friends. Knowing better, I saw through it and found myself drawn to her. But at the time, her life revolved around Seth, and I could understand because mine revolved around my ex, Marissa . Hence, I knew nothing could come of it and didn't even allow myself to have feelings for her. Well, at least, I did not acknowledge them. Besides, as far as I was concerned, because of her relationship with Seth, she was pretty much like kryptonite - I couldn't even think of touching her. But that was high school and I was not so young anymore. I laughed as I remembered the madness Newport had been for the few months she lived there. It's so funny how at that age, you think you know everything.

"What's funny?" she asked. "Are you going to let me in or am I supposed to stand here forever?" she teased.

I stepped aside to let her in.

She looked at her watch. "I take it that Seth is not in yet."

I shook my head.

"Wow, I know you never used to say much as a kid, but a syllable would be nice every now and then."

I laughed. She always knew how to make me do that. I wanted to speak, I really did, but I was afraid that some words would escape my lips before my brain had a chance to censor them. Her skin was glowing so brightly that I wanted to touch it. She was always attractive but now, she was beyond exquisite... and I knew exquisite. Having dated all sorts of girls from actresses to bikini models, I'd had my fair share of women. But Anna was refreshing. She wasn't trying hard to impress anyone because she was comfortable in her own skin and that made her exponentially more beautiful than those other women could ever dream of being.

"So do you know when Seth is coming back?

Seth. Seth. Seth. My God, I loved that boy. He started off as the weird kid I had to live with and turned out to be the most important man in my life - closer to me than my own kin. But as I looked at her, all I wanted to hear was 'Ryan.' I wanted her to see me and not go on about Seth. It's funny how history repeats itself. Once again, Seth was the reason I had to forget Anna.

"So, were you supposed to meet him at a certain time?"

"Yeah," she nodded. "He's supposed to make me dinner tonight." She looked at her watch. "I suppose I am early but I wanted to help him out with the cooking."

"He was probably going to get something on the way and pretend to have cooked it," I joked.

She laughed out loud, "that sounds like Seth alright. Is it okay that I wait for him?"

"Sure." I wanted to refuse because I wasn't sure how I was going to behave but I couldn't. It was a rhetorical question anyway.

"Thanks," she replied. She walked around the apartment looking at the artifacts and pictures we'd put up. She picked up a framed photo. "Is this your brother?" she asked.

"Yes."

"When was it taken?" Normally, I hated talking about my family but for some reason it seemed o.k. with her.

"Last year."

She looked at me. "He's out now?"

"Yeah, he's on parole."

"That's great." She sat down and pointed at my keyboard. "You write?"

I was embarrassed. If I'd known she was coming over, I would have cleared my stuff away. As it stood, my pen, paper and a half drunk bottle of beer were lying on top of it screaming that I'd been working on it just before she came in.

"Cat caught your tongue? I always figured you to be more of a guitar sort of guy."

I want to tell her that there was a lot she didn't know about me. But I couldn't. So I kept my mouth shut.

"What do you write?" she continued.

"Oh, a little this and that," I replied. I really didn't want to talk about it. My music was something I fiercely kept private and I'd only gotten into it as a way to channel my emotions. My very private thoughts and fears that I had never shared with anyone - not even my roommate.

"You're going to have to play something for me," she said smiling.

"Not even if Hell's frozen over."

"Alright, touchy touchy. Let's talk about something else, then."

"Alright... Anna, did I ever tell you that I actually missed you when you left?"

She grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah, it was fun having you around -someone a little different from the usual Newport crowd."

She kept grinning,. "Thanks for saying that... I wouldn't have thought. Hmm... I guess you never realize the kind of effect you have on others." Truer words hadn't been spoken. "But when I suggested we talk about something else, this wasn't what I had in mind."

"What then?"

"How about you and Marissa? The blonde girl from the other night sure as hell didn't look like her."

"She didn't?" I replied with a twinkle in my eye.

"Well, not unless Marissa's visited a plastic surgeon and gotten two balloons glued to her chest."

"Hey, don't hate on God's work."

She coughed in disbelief. "God? Come on."

"Well, God created the surgeon, right? So it's God's work."

"Whatever. I don't even get men. They are obviously fake so why are you even attracted to them?"

"Hey," I argued, "it's not about real or fake, it's about how it looks and she looks damn good. Besides, you don't have to be jealous," I said glancing at her breasts. It must have been cold because it looked as if two peanuts were struggling to pop out of her shirt.

"I'm not jealous." She shook her head in pity, "I just feel sorry for you men."

"Why?"

"Because you let your little friend do all the thinking. Sad. Sad. Sad."

Well, normally, I did. But when it came to Anna, even though I was trying to let my little friend in my head do all the thinking, the little friend in my chest was controlling my every thought. With a little help from the little friend downstairs.

"Who said anything about being little?" I joked.

She gave me a disgusted look. I laughed - I was enjoying the banter. It was amazing how well we were getting along. Back in Newport, we hadn't had the opportunity to have this much conversation because Seth was etched onto both our brains. And when she left, I didn't think I would see her again. I really should have looked her up sooner. That way, I would have been the first to reconnect with her and this whole Seth business would not have been an issue this time around. For the first time in my life, I hated myself for coming second.

"Well, you're not that slick," she said after a little while.

"Huh?"

"You and Marissa. You're not getting away that easy."

I laid back on the couch. "Well, there isn't much to tell."

"Alright, Mr. Man of Few Words, I'll ask questions, you answer."

"Shoot," I urged.

"Did you guys get back together after I left?"

"We did for a while but discovered that we were better off as friends. Much like what happened with you and Seth." She tried to hide it but I saw it - a grimace. I instantly regretted my words. I'd certainly not expected her to still be hurt by that, especially not now that she and Seth were back together.

"Go on," she implored.

"Hmm... what else is there to say? We are great friends now... in fact, I think she might be my soul mate because there are times I don't have to say anything for her to understand what I am feeling, and vice versa."

"Wow. I hope this is not something you tell your girlfriends, because if it is, I can understand why you are single."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning, how does anyone compete with that?"

"It's platonic," I argued, "so why should anyone be threatened by that relationship? That's just who we are."

"Yeah, if she was a fat ogre, yeah, she wouldn't mind, but when she looks like she should grace the cover of every fashion magazine, you can't expect your girlfriend to not be intimidated."

"If I said that to you, you'd be intimidated?" I was very curious to know.

"Hey, I don't mind, we're not dating, so it's fine by me."

"No, I mean if we were dating..."

She bobbed her head around as she thought about it but didn't seem to want to come up with anything.

"O.K. let me rephrase it. If Seth says something like that, how would you feel?"

"Oh," she replied quickly, "I'd be fine. Marissa and Seth don't actually have a romantic history and from what I remember, Marissa doesn't seem like the husband-stealing type. So I'd be o.k. with it."

I was disappointed. I wanted her to just say, "Ryan, I'd be fine with it because I trust you." But all these ifs and buts weren't giving me what I needed.

"O.K.," I replied. I was already sick of talking about it.

"So is she single? Maybe you guys might want to try it again? You are much older now, it might be different for you just like it's different for us."

"Oh, things are serious with you guys?"

She tried to look at me but she couldn't. Instead, she looked at the coffee table. "Hey, it's only been about a month, right? We don't even have a 'label' - you know, we haven't yet had 'the talk.' But so far it's going well... and you still haven't told me what Marissa is doing now."

"Oh," I said offhandedly, "Marissa is engaged, actually."

"Engaged?"

"Yeah. To this dude called Nick."

"I'm happy for her," she said genuinely. "Have you guys met him?"

"I set them up."

"No!" she said with glee. "You must tell me this story!" I don't know what was wrong with me but I derived so much pleasure from knowing that I was putting her in such a great mood. She was so relaxed that she'd thrown her jacket on the arm of the chair, kicked off her shoes and stretched her legs on a near-by stool.

"Well, it's not that great really. I met him while I was interning in my junior year. By the time I moved to here, he'd moved to USC to attend Medical School. Marissa was in her senior year -she'd taken a year off after high school to backpack around the world . He complained about being bored so I gave him her number, but he was too embarrassed to call. A month later, I gave her his number, but she didn't call because she said that "if he really wanted to talk to her he'd have called." So I took matters into my own hands and one evening I made a three-way call to introduce them and as they say, the rest is history."

"Wow! So I guess I can call you Cupid," she kidded.

"Please don't."

"What about Chuck Woolery?"

"Not that either."

"Hmm... Roger Lodge?"

"Who's that?"

"Hosted 'Blind Date' a few years ago."

"Anna, is this what graduated students do in college?"

"What?" she asked a little confused.

"Watch lame ass television shows?"

"No." she said, looking at the keyboard again. "You want to know what's lame?"

"What?" I asked a little scared about what I thought was coming.

"That you refuse to play something for me. Even though I asked nicely."

I looked at the clock. "Shouldn't Seth be coming home soon?"

"So what?"

"I'm just saying."

"Stop trying to change the subject and play something already."

I got up and went to take a peek in the freezer. "Do you know what he's cooking? I doubt we have anything here. We should go to the grocery store and get some stuff."

She sat on the bench in front of the keyboard. "Only after you play me something."

She pestered me till I gave in. Actually, I enjoyed being begged by her and for some reason, I wanted to share that side of me. I knew that she was with Seth but regardless, I wanted her to have a glimpse of the real me.

I sat next to her. "Alright, I'll play what I've been working on - it really sucks. I hope you are happy now that you've forced me."

She laughed and clapped. "Go on, don't be shy- I am sure it's great."

"I can't believe I am doing this. I feel like such a dork."

She grabbed my shoulders. "Don't worry it'll be our little secret."

I started to play and soon after, got lost in the music. By the time I reached the second verse, she'd pulled the lyrics closer to her and started harmonizing with me in a perfect mezzo-soprano. As I sat there singing with her, I realized that I hadn't had that much fun in a long time. It was almost as if everything I had experienced that day led to those five minutes. When the song ended, we looked at one another, both of us grinning like cleaning maids who had just won the lottery, and just stared. Well, I drank her in. Slowly but surely, I let my heart run my head and I found myself leaning toward her then kissing her. She responded, but only for a quick second. I opened my eyes and saw alarm in hers. She jumped off the bench, grabbed her jacket and shoes and headed for the door.

I ran after her. "What about your dinner?" I asked. I wanted to ask so many things at that moment but I didn't. I couldn't. I was so unsure of my feelings that I didn't want to explore hers till I'd come up with counterpoints to every reason she'd would give for us not being together -Seth or no Seth. All I cared about that moment was that she didn't leave.

"Don't leave yet," I begged.

"Tell Seth I couldn't wait any longer. Bye," she said, opening the door. At the other side, Seth was standing with bags of groceries.

"Honey," he said before he gave her a quick kiss, "I'm so sorry I'm late. I tried to call but my stupid phone was acting up."

She didn't say a word. She simply relieved him of one of the grocery bags and walked into the apartment. For the rest of the time I was there, she didn't glance at me once.



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A/N: I never thought of Ryan being attracted to Anna till I saw that scene in 'The Goodbye Girl..." If you were wondering, that's the inspiration for this chapter :)