As usual, I own nothing.

A/N: I'm sorry. This was supposed to be the last chapter, but my freaking Windows crashed, and I ended up losing all my files, so I had to rewrite… anyway, think of Chapter 16 as an epilogue. As usual, I am grateful for all your feedback. Thanks for your kind words.

A/N 2: If anyone is still confused, you don't need a passport for Hawaii but you certainly need one for Tahiti.

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Anna POV

I immediately turned my face away from them, gave Seth a quick hug and turned around. What the fuck? Ryan Atwood was so not the guy I thought he was.

I couldn't have walked for more than a minute when someone took hold of my hand. I didn't have to turn around to know it was him - I'd become so pathetic that I could even recognize his touch.

"Anna, wait! Where are you going?" he asked as I tried to shake his hand off me. He let go of it, then walked around to block my way.

"Ryan, I need to find my parents," I gritted, looking around him.

"Anna, you're just going to leave like that? I thought I could talk to you for a minute, just before you left..." he said quietly.

"You must be kidding me, right?" I asked incredulously. He really couldn't be that dense, could he?

"What?"

"What do you want to talk to me about? You want to thank me for helping you and Marissa get back together?"

"What? I thought you saw…"

"Yes, asshole, I fucking saw you. I am sick and tired of being the girl the helps guys love their girlfriends even more. What the fuck do you guys eat in that house? I guess I should be receiving a call from Mr. Cohen the next time he gets in a fight with his wife."

He looked slightly amused but my deathly stare wiped that look off his stupid face.

I tried to walk past him but whenever I moved, he did the same and refused to let me get past him.

"What the fuck is your problem? I need to leave already; I bet my parents are waiting for me."

He put his hands on my shoulders. "Anna, you must know that I'm not back with Marissa."

I violently shrugged them off. "Dude, I just saw you kissing her… oh, let me guess, that was your goodbye kiss."

"No, she kissed me. I didn't kiss her. I was as shocked as you - that's why I pushed her away."

"Yeah?" I reached into my bag, took out my passport, opened it up to a page then held it up to him. " Can you read this? I wasn't born yesterday."

He looked disappointed but I didn't care - what did he expect? I gave him what I hoped was a defiant look and when he didn't move, I looked around the room, found my dad's chauffeur and waved at the older man. Then I looked at Ryan and warned, "Just leave me alone. I'm sick of you people - I need to get back to Pittsburgh where everything makes sense."

The words were barely off my lips when he pulled me by my elbows and took control of my lips in one swift suction. I tried to resist, boy did I try, but I couldn't and instead, found myself parting my lips and letting him in. I couldn't even believe it - I was so weak that I was not only letting the bastard kiss me but was responding like a stupid fool. When we finally separated, I picked up the bag that had slipped out of my fingers and walked away.

---

Summer handed me a bottle of orange juice. "So you're really leaving?" she asked, looking crestfallen.

I nodded. I was touched. I'd always liked her but it turned out that even though I didn't actually find Seth, she'd felt comforted by the regular emails I'd sent her over the course of the trip.

"And you and Seth, you still haven't forgiven him?"

"We are doing the whole 'friends' thing but it's just a matter of time..."

"Before you forgive him?" I completed.

"Pretty much. You know something I've been wondering?" she asked. She shut the Cohens' fridge and sat across from me.

"What?"

"How is it that you and Ryan were hooking up and you never once mentioned it to me?"

I gave her that laugh nervous people give when they are trying to mask their true feelings. "Who says we hooked up?"

"The whole airport, duh. And it was even hot and stuff."

I laughed. "It was nothing."

She stifled a fake yawn. "Please, you so like him."

"No. We're just friends - if that."

"Yeah, right," she scoffed. She really wasn't buying it. "Are you trying to tell me that you normally kiss guys you don't have any feelings for?"

I made a big show of thinking about it. "Well..., I've kissed Seth, many, many, many times and I don't have feelings for him."

She glowered at me. "You're such a bitch, Anna Stern."

"I learned from the best," I laughed, bowing slightly at her.

We were still laughing when I noticed that she was looking behind me. I'd almost turned around when I sensed someone.

"Guess who?" he whispered. As if I'd have to guess. Waking up for two mornings in a row without smelling that distinct mix of him and Irish Spring felt really strange. And not in a good way.

"Orlando Bloom?" I asked Summer. She rolled her eyes and suddenly found the table top interesting.

I spun around. "So what's up?"

"Hey, so I was just wondering... What you are doing today?" he asked, his face revealing uncertainty. I was glad he understood that the kiss meant nothing - the body doesn't always do what the mind asks.

"Why?" I asked, looking away.

"I just wanted to hang out."

I didn't like what hanging out with Ryan had done to my psyche. "Yeah? Well I'm busy."

"Oh… I heard you were going back to Pittsburgh…"

"Yes."

"So let's hang out before you leave. How about tomorrow afternoon?"

"She's free," Summer screamed from behind me. I turned around and shot her the most evil look I could muster but she looked so glum it must have taken her a lot of energy to not stick her tongue out at me.

"Tomorrow's fine then?" he asked, looking directly into my eyes. God I hate those eyes. I nodded reluctantly. "Cool. How about I pick you up around noon?"

I shrugged. "Whatever." I turned back to my juice.

He hung around and, after exchanging a few words with Summer, walked back out.

The second he did, Summer started giggling. "You're so funny - you totally want him."

I gulped down my juice. "Yeah right."

"God, how I wish there was a camera on that boat. I need details because something obviously happened."

"Shut up."

She kept laughing. "I don't think I've ever seen you like this before - not even when you were trying to steal my boyfriend." When I remained quiet she said, "you know he didn't kiss her, right?"

I looked up. "What?"

"She kissed him, but he wasn't into it. He pushed her off him… see, she's my best friend and I love her but sometimes, she just doesn't get it." She'd begun to play with her nails.

"What do you mean?"

"Like, Ryan only called her once while you guys were on the boat and he even emailed me more times than he emailed her."

"Interesting." I wondered why he never felt the need to tell me this.

"Yeah. And before he left, he told her that it was over and stuff so I don't get why she did that. I guess she was hoping he'd changed his mind or something but she could have figured that out from the way he looked at her. But as I said, she just doesn't get it."

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Ryan POV.

"So where are we going?" she asked, shortly after she slid onto the passenger seat. The irritating frown only served to make her look beautiful in that untouchable way. Which sucked because I very much watched to touch her. She was wearing a loose dress that didn't accentuate the sexy curves that I'd felt and seen so many times before. And the fact they were hidden only made me think of them more. Which wasn't good because I was supposed to concentrate on the road.

"Ryan, are you going to tell me where we are going?"

"Oh... sorry. Yeah. Do you remember I promised to show you around Chino?"

She looked bored. "Really?" She didn't even bother looking at me.

"Yeah."

She reached down and turned the radio on. I wondered how long she was going to keep that act up. I was mad at myself for backing off her for the later part of our trip but I'd done it because I wasn't sure that it could have translated over to real life. But now I knew and felt like such a fool for ever doubting my feelings. I didn't like the way not speaking to her for two days felt.

I lowered the volume. "You still don't believe me about the kiss?"

She glanced at me. "Oh, I believe you."

That was good to hear. "Great - 'cos it's true. What made you change your mind?"

"Summer told me."

Fuck. She only believed me because Summer had confirmed my story? I wanted to ask her what I'd ever done to make her distrust me but I just couldn't get the words out.

"So this tour of Chino…?" she started.

"Yes?"

"You don't have better things to do today?"

"I decided to make time for it. Is that fine by you?" I sighed. I hoped she wasn't planning on doing her best to not enjoy the afternoon.

"Sure." I guess I must have said something interesting because she perked up. "So what's first on the itinerary?"

"I want you to meet my brother."

She was surprised. "He's out?"

"Nope."

"Ryan, you're taking me to a prison?"

I laughed. "Kinda, but we won't be indoors or anything… it's not maximum security. It's not like we'll be speaking through a phone or anything."

She giggled. "Damn. That would have been so cool. There'd have been some glass separating us then we could touch each other through it like they do in all those movies. "

I smiled. That's the Anna I know.

---

Trey sat on the bench. I was glad that he was looking healthy and well fed. It always amazed me that most people I knew got bigger behind bars. I introduced Anna to him.

"Wow, you've changed. When did you cut your hair?"

Anna was confused. She looked at me. "Huh?"

I frowned at my stupid brother. "This is Anna, not Marissa."

He laughed then slapped the side of my arm affectionately. "I should have known - you're an Atwood."

"Trey… don't… " I didn't even know what to say -I couldn't believe that he was being so tactless.

Instead of feeling insulted, Anna found it entertaining. "Ryan, let him say what he wants. I bet he's just excited because it's been a while since he's seen a girl." She leaned into him and whispered conspiratorially, "I bet your jailhouse girlfriend has an adam's apple. True or false?

He guffawed. "Hey, little brother, I like this one."

-----

By the time we left my brother, we'd reverted to our sailing days. She made comments as I showed her my old school, my old house and a bunch of other key locations in my town and I was pleased that she didn't once scrunch her nose or act snobbish. Not that I was surprised or anything - I didn't expect anything less from her. After we shared a late lunch with Theresa, I drove her home.

Just as she put her hand on the door handle, I commented, "so, you're really leaving?"

She nodded. "Yep. On Friday - two days after tomorrow," she said, looking up and mentally calculating it.

The empty feeling that had slowly been creeping on me was taking over my body. I wanted to somehow tell her to stay but all I could say was, "But I feel bad."

She looked at me strangely. "Why?"

"Remember our deal? I was supposed to teach you to make coffee." Goodness, why am I such a wimp? Why couldn't I just tell her that I wanted her to stay because I didn't want to have to miss her?

She smiled sadly. "You can send me a recipe."

"But it's not the same," I protested.

"Thanks but I'll find a way to manage," she said opening the door.

"But you could stay a little longer and you wouldn't have to manage because you'd have learned -from me, no less. "

"Ryan, I already have my ticket and everything. If I don't go, the ticket will go to waste - my parents are already spending money on shipping a boat that was supposed to be sailed back."

I nodded. "Six to eight weeks huh?"

"Yeah. And it had better be in one piece -my father loves that thing," she said, stepping out of the car. I got out as well.

I watched as she walked on the driveway. I wanted to tell her that I'd never met a girl like her or felt how I did when I was with her. I wanted to tell her that I found myself reaching across my bed, hoping that she's there. I wanted to tell her that from being with her, I'd discovered a side I hadn't even imagined existed but all I could say was, "It was nice hanging out with you today."

Wordlessly, she turned around, smiled appreciatively, then walked into her house.