Hey everybody! I was so happy to see people reviewing and actually liking the story. I was a little worried about the Ryan/Taylor relationship but everybody seems to be embracing it. Yeah!!! Well I have the next couple chapters already written but I'm going to wait and see how everybody responds to this one and then post them. :) So Read and Review please!!!

Disclaimer: I do not own The O.C.

Chapter 3

Taylor Townsend hated feeling sorry for herself. She usually never wasted her time because she'd learned at a young age that it never helped. So she'd built this wall where protecting herself from that certain emotion and she'd lived her life being confident. She'd never let anyone see that she hated not having friends, that she really cared that her mom spent most of her time hating her or that she'd never had a real boyfriend. If you let yourself care about those things then you opened yourself up to be hurt even more.

However, today having just left the only three people in the whole world who she considered her friends, made her realize how much she had let them in. Summer was the closest thing she'd ever had to a best friend and even knowing that she'd never replace Marissa, that she would never be Summer's best friend, she could pretend.

Then there's Seth Cohen, the nerdy, comic book loving, sailor freak that she'd once thought she was attracted too. Now she knew that she'd just liked having somebody be nice to her. Somebody acting like they really cared what she thought and felt. Seth had been one of the first people to introduce her to a life of having friends. She hated knowing she had to back off him too along with Ryan.

Last but definitely not least, there was Ryan. She'd never really thought of Ryan as anything other than Seth's friend for a long time. He was just there, as wallpaper or a fake plant used for decoration. But after that first kiss, after he'd rescued her from her own stupid mistake, she'd seen him in a different light. He wasn't the bad boy from Chino. He hadn't been Marissa's on again off again boyfriend or just Seth's friend. He was so much more than that.

But now that she'd pushed herself on him like she always ended up doing; that was her Ms. Pushy too shoes. She couldn't even hang out with him like a friend anymore. He couldn't even sit down with her for lunch. She'd wrecked a friendship with somebody who would have been one of the best friends she could have asked for.

So that's why she sat at the counter of the coffee shop, feeling sorry for herself for the first time. Because she'd wrecked something good for something that she'd known hadn't stood a chance. "I'm so stupid," Taylor mumbled to herself wiping away a stray tear.

"Taylor," Kirsten said walking over with a latte in her hand. "I never got to say thank you for attending our little party the other night. It was very nice of you to come."

"Your welcome," Taylor said quietly wishing she could just pour her heart out to Kirsten but she was Ryan's Mom or guardian. Whatever she was, she belonged to Ryan.

"Is something wrong?" Kirsten asked sitting down beside her. "Is it your mom again because I can talk to her…if you want?"

"No it's not my mom," Taylor said shaking her head. "For the first time in a long time, it's not my mom. It's nothing."

"Is it Ryan?" Kirsten asked softly.

Taylor looked at her and felt even more tears start to fall. For a girl who didn't cry all that often, she was really making up for it. "I can't talk to you."

"Why can't you?" Kirsten asked handing her a couple napkins so she could mop up her face.

"Because you're Ryan's…what exactly are you?" Taylor asked confused setting down the napkins.

"On paper I'm his guardian but I like to believe I'm his Mom," Kirsten told her smiling.

"Well that's why I can't talk to you," Taylor said wiping away even more tears that fell.

"Just because I'm Ryan's Mom doesn't mean you can't talk to me," Kirsten said shaking her head. "I may be more inclined to be on his side in most things but not when it comes to girls. He's a guy Taylor, girls have to stick together."

"It's not his fault though," Taylor said vehemently. "It's mine because I'm a pushy too shoes."

"A what," Kirsten said laughing. "Taylor, you aren't a pushy too shoes or whatever that is. You like him and you just want him to like you."

"I'm so stupid," Taylor said seriously. "I mean, I actually thought he could like me as more than a friend or more than somebody he has to rescue."

"He does like you Taylor," Kirsten said confused.

"Yeah that's why he's constantly running away from me," Taylor said shaking her head no. "But I shouldn't be surprised that he called me weird and that he doesn't like me. Nobody likes me; I'm like the town leper or something."

"People like you," Kirsten said smiling reassuringly.

"My own Mother doesn't even like me," Taylor said glaring down at her full cup of coffee that she hadn't even touched.

"Well I know Ryan likes you because he told me he likes you," Kirsten said making Taylor's head whip around to face her.

"He told you…when?" she asked hopefully.

"After the night of New Match's party," Kirsten said but looked confused again when Taylor's smile went away.

"While he doesn't anymore, he thinks I'm weird but how can I blame him?" Taylor said feeling even more depressed. He'd liked her before their one and only date but of course she wrecked that.

"He doesn't think you're weird," Kirsten said taking a sip of her latte.

"Kirsten, everybody thinks I'm weird," Taylor said staring at her as if she was crazy.

"So you are eccentric Taylor, the best people usually are," Kirsten pointed out.

"Well tell that to the businesses around town," Taylor said rolling her eyes. "Nobody will hire me because I'm too…well weird is what they were thinking but not what they said. I don't fit anybody's mold of an employee. I can't even get a waitress job at the local dive."

"Why do you need a job?" Kirsten asked confused again.

"I want to really be independent," Taylor said softly. "I just don't feel comfortable living off of my Mom anymore since she's made it perfectly clear I'm not welcome near her. I'd rather be living off my own money when she inevitably cuts me off."

"Well why didn't you come to me when you needed a job?" Kirsten asked smiling as she got a great idea.

"So I could be your housekeeper," Taylor said confused. What kind of job would Kirsten have to offer? "Or maybe your cook?"

"I meant come to New Match," Kirsten explained. "Julie and I were talking about hiring a secretary so we didn't have to take all the calls ourselves and we could work on just the matchmaking part of the job."

"Are you sure this isn't just a made up job that you are giving to me out of pity?" Taylor asked suspiciously.

"Well maybe we talked about it in the future kind of way but we can hire one now," Kirsten said truthfully. "C'mon Taylor, what have you got to lose?"

"Nothing," Taylor admitted sadly. "Okay I will but only on a trial basis. If you don't like me or how I do the job after two weeks, you have to fire me."

"Alright, but Taylor," Kirsten said standing up. "I already like you and I have a feeling you are just what New Match needs."

Taylor watched Kirsten walk away and she smiled. She'd solved one problem on a long list of problems she had to check off. Now if only Kirsten could go talk to her mother about getting her stuff out of her house. That would really take a load off Taylor's shoulders.

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"Boys!" Kirsten called as she walked into the house.

"There in the pool house," Sandy said from the kitchen. He smiled when Kirsten walked into the room and leaned in for a kiss.

"Why don't we do Chinese for dinner?" Kirsten said setting her purse down on the counter.

"Long day?" Sandy asked grabbing the Chinese takeout menu from the drawer.

"Not really," she said shaking her head. "But I do have to go talk to Ryan for a minute."

"Seth's there you know," Sandy teased. "You can't be the Seth replacement if the real Seth is already there."

"Haha," Kirsten said rolling her eyes. "No, I have to talk to him like a Mom would."

"Oh," Sandy said nodding. "Gotcha. I'll order dinner."

Kirsten made her way out to the pool house, knocked politely, and waited until Ryan said come in to open the door. Ryan was lying on his bed reading a book and Seth was on his cell probably talking to Summer.

"Ryan, can we talk for a sec?" Kirsten asked walking over to one of the chairs so she could sit down.

"Gotta go Sum, Ryan might be in trouble," Seth said hanging up the phone. He sat forward so he wouldn't miss any of the juicy details.

"Seth maybe you should go," Kirsten said wanting to laugh at the look of shock on his face.

"Mom, anything you have to say to Ryan you can say in front of me," he said looking at Ryan for support.

"He can stay," Ryan said setting his book down. He hadn't done anything wrong so it couldn't be that bad. Plus, anything she said, he'd just tell Seth about it later.

"Okay," Kirsten said before getting to the point. "What exactly happened between you and Taylor?"

Ryan froze and it was his turn to look at Seth for support but he just shook his head and mouthed I don't know. He sighed, "we hung out but it was too weird."

"So you did call her weird," Kirsten said surprised.

"No not her," Ryan said shaking his head. "I was talking about the da-hanging out thing, was weird. It just didn't feel right sitting there pretending like I was interested in her when I'm hung up on Marissa."

"Ryan you are interested in her," Kirsten said shaking her head sadly. She felt bad for both Taylor and him. Taylor because it was the worst time for her to fall for Ryan and Ryan because he's been so lost and alone since Marissa died. "You may not want to be interested but you are."

"Well I don't feel comfortable doing anything about it," Ryan pointed out.

"Okay then," Kirsten said standing up to go. "Oh before I go, I just thought I should tell you that Taylor is now working for New Match, so she might be around the house from time to time."

"Okay," Ryan said nodding his head.

Seth waited until his Mom had left before turning to Ryan. "How completely random of my Mom to come out here and ask you about Taylor huh?"

Ryan closed his eyes. "Not that random actually." When Seth just looked confused, he knew he was going to have to explain. "Kirsten actually was the first to know that I sort of like Taylor."

"You told my mom before me," Seth said shocked.

"Yeah and well Sandy," Ryan said softly.

"How could you tell them something that major?" Seth asked standing up.

"Well they came to me and wanted to each be the new Seth because the real Seth, you, was leaving for school soon," Ryan explained.

"They auditioned to take my place," Seth said opening and closing his mouth so he looked like a fish.

"I guess you could look at it that way," Ryan said shrugging his shoulders.

Seth just stood there before walking out of the pool house. He couldn't believe his parents sometimes. He had to go find them and tell them about this new invention called the telephone and that just because he would have been on the other side of the country, didn't mean he couldn't still be Ryan's wingman. His parents could be so…so…old.