Hey everybody! So there is going to be one more chapter after this one. I really liked writing this chapter and I hope you do too. Thank you for all the reviews.

"You told her I planned the dinner!" Summer exclaimed pacing back and forth in front of Ryan and Seth who were sitting on the Cohen's living room couch staring at her. "Why would you do such a stupid thing?"

"You did plan the dinner," Ryan told her.

"She didn't have to know that," Summer said whipping around to face him. "God Atwood, I thought Seth was the relationship retard."

"Hey, I resent that," Seth finally said. He crossed his arms over his chest and pouted as he stared at his girlfriend.

"Seth," Summer said staring at him until his face flushed and he quit pouting. "I thought so. Now it was obvious that Seth had planned the comic book thing but the dinner, that could have been all you."

"Really Summer," Seth said smirking. "You think Taylor would have honestly believed that Ryan spent hours slaving in the kitchen making a complicated pasta dinner?"

"It could have happened," Summer still insisted.

"No Seth is right," Ryan said standing up. "Taylor never would have believed I cooked that dinner."

"Well than what are you going to do then?" Summer asked sitting down beside Seth.

"Honestly," Ryan said staring at them. "I don't know." He turned and walked out the patio door and headed towards the pool house. He'd finished cleaning up after the so-called romantic dinner, came home and been ambushed by Summer who couldn't believe her fool proof plan didn't work. He walked through his bedroom door and froze in the doorway.

Kaitlyn looked up from her position on Ryan's bed. She had the TV on and she was watching one of those reality shows that was supposedly about the real Orange County except it wasn't. Nothing could really capture how weird Newport Beach really was. She loved making fun of the show. "Hey Ryan," she said turning down the volume.

"Kaitlyn," Ryan said looking behind him making sure he'd entered the right pool house. "What are you doing in here?"

"The better question is," Kaitlyn said sitting up facing him. "Is what are you doing here…so early?" She looked at the clock and then looked back at him, arching one eyebrow.

"The dinner didn't go exactly the way Summer planned," Ryan admitted walking towards her.

"I could have told you that," Kaitlyn said moving over so he could sit down beside her.

"I should have known you'd say I told you so," Ryan said chuckling.

"Look Ryan," she said turning her body towards him. "Over a week ago you gave me some good advice and told me that you'd always be my brother. Well, as your 'sister'-she used air quotes- "I need to tell you that you have been going about this whole Taylor thing all wrong."

"Is this where you tell me your big plan," Ryan said laying back so he could stare at his ceiling. "Because I gotta tell you, I don't think any of these plans are going to work."

"You haven't heard my plan yet," Kaitlyn pointed out.

"Okay," Ryan said taking a deep breath. "What's your grand plan?"

"Do you love her?" Kaitlyn asked staring at him.

"What," Ryan said momentarily confused. "Of course I love her. I love her more than I've ever loved…" he trailed off uncomfortably.

"Marissa," Kaitlyn finished for him. She nudged him with her knee and gave him a smile. "It's okay Ryan. I already knew that. Taylor's much better for you anyway."

"I know she is," Ryan said sitting up again. "If you would have told me two years ago that I'd be in love with Taylor Townsend and having to fight to keep her…I don't know what I would have said."

"I would have said you were crazy…then," Kaitlyn said chuckling with him. "But now, you two fit Ryan."

"Yeah," Ryan agreed. But then he sighed and looked at her. "But she doesn't see it that way." He paused a moment before adding, "so what's your great plan for getting Taylor to listen to me. Hogtie her and duct tape her mouth shut so she can't interrupt me?" When Kaitlyn glared at him he smiled at her. "Just seems like something you'd think up."

"No Ryan, my advice has nothing to do with Taylor actually…it has to do with you," Kaitlyn said standing up. "Do you know why Seth and Summer's plans failed? Because they didn't come from you. Taylor isn't an idiot, she knows when you've thought something up or when somebody else has."

"But I don't have any good ideas," Ryan said softly. "If it was up to me I'd just ask her to come over so we could talk…no lying saying it's to meet Seth or Summer. I'd order dinner in and just talk."

"That's what you should do then," Kaitlyn said smiling. "Taylor will love it."

"It's so simple though," Ryan said thinking of how un-simple Taylor was.

"But it's coming from you," Kaitlyn said walking towards the door. "That's all that matters."

Ryan watched Kaitlyn leave the pool house and he looked down at the phone in his lap. He didn't think she'd answer if he called, he was positive she wouldn't answer but he still had to try.

"Hey Taylor…it's me…Ryan," he said softly.

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"I know I'm the last person you want to talk to but…there's some things I need to say." Taylor sat in her bedroom listening to the voice message that Ryan had left moments earlier. "I've been trying to say them for days but…I just wanted to ask if you could come over…when you get this. To the pool house. If you don't like what I have to say then you can leave and I'll give you all the time and space you need…I swear. I just…I need to see you Taylor. Please, come."

Taylor closed her phone slowly and set it down on the bed in front of her. She stared at it as she tried to think of what to do. She'd just gotten home from the non-girl's night turned out to be a romantic dinner that wasn't. The whole ride home had been silent, Taylor having warned her Mom that she didn't want to talk. She'd wanted complete silence and as soon as they'd gotten home she 'd hobbled to her bedroom and hid herself away so she could cry once again.

Except, Ryan had called before she could start her crying fest and now she was keyed up again. Should she or shouldn't she go meet him again. There wasn't any lying this time. He'd been up front that he needed to see and talk to her.

"Are you okay?" Veronica asked from the doorway.

"Ahhh…no," Taylor said honestly. She looked down at the phone and then back at her Mom. "Ryan called…he wants me to meet him at the pool house."

"Pool house," Veronica said confused.

"It's his bedroom at the Cohen's," Taylor explained. "He has something he has to say…to me."

"So…what do you think?" Veronica asked walking into the room.

"I think…I don't know what to do," Taylor said. "How can I have all the answers for everybody else but when it comes to my own life I don't know what to do?"

"Answering other people's problems is easier," Veronica said sitting down beside her daughter.

"It's just…he hurt me…a lot," Taylor said softly speaking from her heart. She'd never really told her Mom the whole story, having lived through it the first time was bad enough but now she could use her Mom's input. "He told me he loved me and then basically took it back the next day…on my birthday."

"Asshole," Veronica said wishing Ryan was in the room right now so she could yell at him.

"Hey at least he was there for my birthday," Taylor said automatically defending him. She closed her eyes and her face flushed. "Sorry…I've been defending him since I started chasing him, it's a hard habit to break."

"You chased him," Veronica said shaking her head at her daughter. "Didn't I always tell you to make the guy work for it."

"That only works if guys are interested," Taylor said rolling her eyes. "Besides, if he hadn't kissed me I'd never have known that we had something."

"Wait," Veronica said confused again. "I thought you chased him but now you're saying he kissed you."

Taylor explained to her Mom about her French husband and how he wasn't going to grant her a divorce until Ryan. "He just showed up and pushed between me and Henri-Michel's lawyer and kissed me." Taylor smiled as she touched her lips with her fingertips. "I think I started falling for him at that moment. The man can kiss."

"So then you started dating," Veronica said drawing her own conclusions which were wrong like usual.

"No," Taylor said laughing. "I don't think you could say we started dating until after New Years and even then I'm not sure you could call it dating." She frowned as she thought back over their complicated relationship. "I don't know if I was anything more than a rebound thing for Ryan."

"Now that's not true," Veronica stated loudly surprising Taylor. "That boy that brought you to the hospital after having saved you from that car crash. That sat in the waiting room knowing I wasn't going to let him see you no matter what. He's in love with you Taylor…or at least in the process of falling for you."

"I don't know," Taylor said softly. "If anything that whole night probably reminded him of every time he saved-"

"Marissa Cooper," Veronica said for her. She looked down at her hands before she continued. "I don't know Ryan but I do know you. And he could never for one moment confuse you with Marissa."

"I know I'm not like her," Taylor said sitting up straighter. "I like to think that I'm a little more grounded in reality." When her Mom just stared at her she sighed. "So okay, my reality isn't exactly normal but at least I don't drink and do drugs."

"You better not, I would kill you," Veronica said making them both smile. "I know you probably don't care what I have to say but if you want my advice…I'd go."

"But Mom," Taylor said softly but she was cut off.

"I'd go and hear what he has to say," Veronica said standing up. "If you don't, you're going to wonder what he would have said for the rest of your life." When Taylor closed her eyes she smiled knowing she'd won. "I'll be in the car."