I'm sorry it's taken so long guys but I've finally updated, yeah me!!! I loved all the reviews I've gotten and it makes me so happy to see people liking Ryan and Taylor together. Oh and did anyone think that Ryan and Taylor were adorable last Thursday night. Taylor stalking Ryan and then Ryan attempting to stalk Taylor. I loved it when she said that was the most romantic thing he could have done. Hilarious!!!

But back to the story!! R and R please!!!!!

Chapter 8

Ryan was walking along the boardwalk later that day Summer's words running through his head.

Marissa was my best friend, my very best friend. Nobody can take her place but Taylor…she's wormed her way into my heart now too. She's my best friend too now

God Summer was right about that. Marissa had been an amazing friend. She'd stood by Ryan even when she'd probably would have been better off steering clear of him. Their relationship had been a rollercoaster with way too many ups and downs for the both of them. Not that a relationship with Taylor would be nice and easy either. He had a feeling that a relationship between the two of them was bound to be interesting.

What he is saying is that is hanging out with Taylor really such a bad thing Ryan? She makes you laugh and you haven't been doing enough of that lately

Man did Taylor make him laugh. She could be so ridiculous and such a girl but then turn around and say something completely normal. He could honestly admit that the past couple days with Taylor had been like having a piece of himself back that he'd thought was gone forever.

Go see her today, talk to her, and see for yourself if you are just a tiny bit happy when you're with her.

Ryan could admit that he wanted to see Taylor. He wanted to hear her rambling on about nothing in particular. To see her smile and laugh when he attempted to crack another lame joke. He didn't have to spend time with Taylor to know that he was different with her. She made him feel special.

See for yourself what everybody else has been seeing. Just talk to her Ryan. Give her a chance.

Ryan leaned against the fence that separated the beach from the boardwalk. He knew Summer was right. He had to talk to Taylor. He didn't know what was going to happen between them but he had to at least see if they could have anything. Even a friendship.

It took him ten minutes to get to Summer's house. It was the longest ten minutes of his life. He rang the doorbell but when nobody responded in seconds he started banging on the door. He barely acknowledged Kaitlyn when she opened the door.

"Sorry I have to talk to Taylor," he said heading towards the stairs.

"Problem," Kaitlyn said loudly. When she finally had Ryan's attention she continued on. "She's not here."

"Where is she?" Ryan asked walking slowly back down the stairs.

"She's at her Mom's place," Kaitlyn said shuddering at the thought of being in Victoria Townsend's presence. "Something about picking up the rest of her stuff."

"Great thanks," Ryan said jogging back out the door.

"Your welcome," Kaitlyn said rolling her eyes. But she was smiling as she headed back to her room. Maybe Taylor was going to get her happy ending after all.

Ryan barely remembered how to get to Victoria Townsend's house but he sighed in relief when he saw Taylor's car in the driveway, he'd remembered. He rang the doorbell but this time held himself back before he started banging on the door. He prayed that Taylor answered the door but groaned when Victoria stood before him.

"Mr. Atwood," Victoria said crossing her arms over her chest. "To what do I owe the displeasure?"

"Ms. Townsend I'm just here to talk to Taylor," Ryan said pleasantly. He mentally patted himself on the back for not saying something sarcastic.

"She's busy," Victoria said moving to shut the door.

"I think I'd like to hear her say that for herself," Ryan said sticking his foot in the doorway so she couldn't shut the door all the way.

"Excuse me but this is my house," Victoria said glaring at him.

"I just want to talk to Taylor," Ryan said again this time not so pleasantly.

"And I told you she's busy," Victoria said trying to push the door closed but Ryan wasn't moving his foot.

"Taylor!" Ryan yelled into the house.

"You need to leave now," Victoria said really trying to shut the door now.

"Taylor!" Ryan yelled again.

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Taylor looked around her old bedroom at all the trophy's and awards that meant next to nothing to her now. Her life was so pathetic that instead of having pictures and inside jokes decorating her room she had meaningless trophy's for competitions she didn't even remember. She didn't even stuffed animals or posters of an old teen celebrity crush hanging up. Her life was pathetic.

She went to her desk and saw her last yearbook sitting on the top of a pile of old notebooks and smiled sadly. She was in the yearbook, probably had the most pictures in it to tell the truth but only because she was a member of every organization known to exist. There wasn't a picture of her posing with a friend or even a picture of her having actual fun. She tossed the yearbook into the trash can beside her desk and started throwing the notebooks in there too.

Taylor was wiping away a stray tear that she wasn't capable of holding back when the doorbell peeled. She shook her head as she pictured her mother's latest conquest coming to pick her up for whatever. At least she'd be leaving her alone.

Taylor walked over to her nightstand and set the only picture she had in the box she'd brought with to collect her things. It was from when she was a toddler, she was holding a sunflower and smiling cheesy for the camera. That was the last time she could honestly admit to being truly happy. It was only a few weeks after that when her dad had left them and never looked back. There weren't many pictures being taken after that.

"Taylor!"

Taylor looked toward the door expecting to see Ryan standing in the door but was confused when she didn't see him. She was making her way out of her room when she heard him call her name again.

"Ryan?" she asked confused. She hurried down the stairs and saw her mom trying to shut the door but Ryan was holding it open. "What are you doing here?"

"Kaitlyn told me you were here," Ryan said relaxing when Victoria quit pushing against the door.

"So," Taylor said still looking confused.

"I need to talk to you," Ryan said after a moment of silence had gone by.

Taylor stared at him for a moment. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear what he had to say but she didn't run from things so she wasn't going to start now. "Okay," she said simply. She looked at her mother and could see the indecision in her eyes and she wanted to believe that she was trying to protect her but in reality she probably didn't want Ryan in her house. "Let him in, we'll be gone in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes," Victoria said before striding away.

Taylor rolled her eyes but she turned and headed back towards the stairs. "You can talk while I pack," she said over her shoulder.

Ryan took a deep breath before following her up the stairs. He stepped into Taylor's room and froze in the doorway. "Whoa," he mumbled looking all the trophy's and awards.

"Yeah I know," Taylor said making a face. "Somebody was obviously an over achiever."

"You should be proud of them," Ryan said walking over to the wall that had awards in place of posters and pictures. "You're really smart."

"Real proud," Taylor agreed sarcastically. She opened her closet and looked at the few meager possessions she had in there. She pulled out the few clothes she had left and tossed them on the bed.

"Where's the rest of the boxes?" Ryan asked after he watched her throw some things on the bed.

"Why?" Taylor asked whipping around so she was facing him.

"I'll help you pack," Ryan said motioning to her room. "If you only have ten minutes we have a lot of work to do."

"Oh I'm not taking most of this," Taylor said shaking her head. She turned back to the closet to grab the few things left. "All the furniture is my moms."

"But what about the rest the stuff," Ryan said confused.

"I don't want it," Taylor said quietly but loud enough so Ryan could hear. "It's not something I want to look at every day and all of it was won for my Mom. She can have it."

"Taylor…" Ryan said slowly trying to find the words.

"No Ryan," Taylor said before stopping so she could take a deep breath. "I know you don't understand. But I don't it. All of this stuff just reminds me of a time in my life that I'm trying to forget. I'm not proud of them."

"You should be," Ryan insisted.

"For being a freak," Taylor said facing him again. "Do you even know what it took for me to win over half this stuff? I was reading books in French at the age of 5. I took summer school ever year of my life. I didn't do anything except study and read books about things that don't even matter now. I didn't have friends and I wouldn't have known what to do with friends had I had them."

"You are not a freak," Ryan said walking over so he was standing in front of her.

"Ryan you didn't even know me for most of my life," Taylor said knowing she looked pathetic. "I was a freak. But I'm working on it, I have been since I saw what having friends and a life looked like."

"Us," Ryan said referring to Seth, Summer, Marissa and himself.

"You don't even realize how lucky you are," Taylor said shaking her head. "But now that I know what having friends is like, I'm never going to revert back to that pathetic excuse for a person I use to be."

Ryan watched as Taylor started folding the clothes and setting him in the single box in the room. He looked around her room one more time before he decided to take that chance he'd been thinking about.

"Do you know why I'm here?" he asked.

"You wanted to talk to me," Taylor said not even looking at him.

"Summer told me you were backing off," Ryan said before mentally slapping himself. That might not have been the best opening.

"Doesn't surprise me," was all Taylor said.

"I don't want you too," Ryan finally said getting it out. He watched as Taylor turned to stare at him. "I don't want you to stay away from me and leave when I enter a room. I want us to hang out. I want to explore this thing."

"What thing?" Taylor asked softly.

Ryan closed his eyes. She was going to make him spell it out. He opened them to find Taylor hadn't even moved, it didn't even look like she was breathing. "This thing where I think about you constantly. Where I can't imagine going to another boring Newport Party without you. Every time I picture you you're wearing that red dress that damn near gave me a heart attack." When she just stared at him he smiled self consciously. "I just want to spend some time with you."

"Why?" Taylor asked looking genuinely confused.

"Because you make me laugh," Ryan said walking towards her. "Because you are beautiful. Because I'm sick of just existing. I want to be happy and I want to live."

"I'm not Marissa," Taylor said quickly before Ryan could touch her. "I'm never going to be Marissa."

"You could never be Marissa," Ryan said shaking his head. But quickly added, "but that's a good thing. You could never be Marissa because you are Taylor. I like you just the way you are. I don't want another Marissa."

"Are you sure Ryan because I can't do this two steps forward and ten steps back anymore?" Taylor asked before Ryan shut her up with his lips. She froze but was quickly drawn into the kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck and turned her head so they had better access.

She hadn't been kissed like this ever in her life. Her ex-husband could kiss but Ryan could have given him lessons. She finally pulled away because she needed air and was surprised to find her knees weak. "Oh wow," she mumbled laying her head on Ryan's chest.

He smiled into her hair. "You can say that again."

"Oh wow," Taylor said before she looked up at him with a small smiled on her face. "Did that really just happen?"

"Yeah, it did," Ryan said giving her one last kiss. He pulled away this time and rubbed his hands up and down her arms. "Now how 'bout we finish packing your stuff up and then we'll go hang out."

Taylor couldn't help but remember the last time they had hung out and she was a little afraid to have it end the same way. But if Ryan was able to take a chance than she had to take on too. She finally nodded her head and watched as Ryan started tossing the stuff on her bed into the box and took a deep breath before helping him finish up the last of it. She looked around the room one last time before nodding her head. "That's everything."

"Lets go," Ryan said picking up the box. He followed Taylor out of the room and down the stairs. He looked around for Victoria but she was no where to be seen. He carried the box to Taylor's car and set in the trunk. He grabbed her arm gently before she could get into her car. "One for the road," he mumbled against her lips as he gave her another heart melting kiss.

"I don't know if I can drive," Taylor teased after they both pulled away. She couldn't stop staring at him. When she woke up that morning she never would have thought that Ryan would be kissing her. She had thought they were over…before they even got started. She watched as he jogged over to his car and got into hers. She didn't know what they were or if they even were anything. But she was content to know that Ryan wanted her, Taylor Townsend, and that was enough to put a smile on her face for the rest of the day.

Now this could be the end but I'll let you decide. Do you want me to end it here or continue on and make it longer with Ryan/Taylor moments. I have ideas for more but I also think it could end here. So let me know what you think!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!