"They're late." Anna checked her watch again and laughed at Taylor, who was becoming increasingly nervous. "I guess dinner ran later than Seth thought." Anna and Taylor had made plans to meet Ryan, Seth and Sadie later in the evening; the two Californians had arrived just that afternoon and Seth had been anxious all day about their arrival.

"You think I look okay?" Taylor was clearly interested in making a good impression on both Ryan and Sadie; she didn't want to be completely eclipsed by Ryan's new love interest.

"You look great—the guys are going to be drooling over you." They were all meeting up at the Local Bar and Grille and tonight, luckily for the girls, was ladies' night. "How about me? Hot enough for some lonely sea man?"

"You look amazing." Taylor laughed at her own nervousness and Anna's confidence. She was very nervous about this evening; how would it be seeing Ryan again? Would she get along at all with Sadie? What if, and this was a big if, Summer happened to be out and about tonight? She hadn't told her friend that Ryan was in town and no doubt Summer would be displeased if Ryan did not make a single effort to see her. Honestly though, Ryan had little to say to Summer and seeing the girl would only be a difficult and weird situation.

"I see them." Taylor looked in the direction that Anna's eyes were focused and took a deep intake of breath as she saw Ryan and Sadie approaching them. They walked, hand in hand and were obviously happy with one another. "You okay?"

"Yea I'm fine." Turning to face the three, Taylor plastered on her face the friendliest welcome she could force. "Hey guys." Ryan and Sadie smiled warmly at the girl and Sadie even went as far enough to reach out her hand and shake Taylor's.

"Hey—I don't know if you remember me?"

"Of course—we met this summer—briefly." Turning to Anna, Taylor introduced Sadie to her blonde friend. "Did you guys have a good flight?"

"Yeah it wasn't too bad—most of the time Ryan slept."

"Aww." The five of them went into the bar together and showed their ID's. "This is a pretty fun place—great virgin margaritas."

"Well I like the sound of that." Sadie took Ryan's hand and smiled at him; Taylor, standing next to Ryan, could sense his nervousness. It calmed her slightly to know that he too was less than comfortable with being around his former love. "There's a really nice place in Berkeley that we go to a lot."

"Yeah—they get some really good bands there."

"Kind of your own personal Bait Shop?" The hostess led them to a large booth and handed out the menus. Settling in next to Anna, Taylor found herself face to face to Sadie, Ryan to her left. "Where did you go to dinner?" She turned to Seth, who seemed pleased to have all these people together for him.

"Mario's." It was a nice Italian place that Taylor had gone to with Summer once—it had turned out to be a failed outing because Summer had issue with practically everything on the menu. It was becoming increasingly difficult to find any place to go out to except for the two vegan restaurants that smelt, in Taylor's opinion. Ryan chimed in and told Taylor how well he had liked it. At least he's talking to me on his accord, Taylor thought to herself. He looked very well and seemed very happy to be with Sadie. The girl herself was very pretty and seemed easy going enough; their happiness only increased Taylor's desire to find a man for herself that night.

"You guys know what you want to drink?" The waitress came by and took their drink orders, virgin margaritas all around. "I'll be right back." The five buried themselves quietly in their menus and Taylor looked intently through her menu, trying to ignore the sickenly sweet way Ryan and Sadie were interacting with each other. Taylor put down her menu, pleased with her decision of a hamburger, and looked over to see what Anna was doing. She too had put down the menu and the two girls exchanged a glance that seemed to say, so far, so good.

"So what are you guys planning to do while in Rhode Island?" Anna eyed Sadie intently, trying to see how Sadie stacked up when compared to Taylor; so far, Anna found the interloper lacking. "Tour of Brown maybe?"

"That might be fun—I think Ryan would get a kick out of that." Sadie seemed enthusiastic. She knew that Ryan had a love for architecture and she tried, desperately, to find a passion for all the things Ryan loved.

"You'll have to find another tour guide for that." Seth himself refused to set foot on the Brown campus; he might run into Summer or some of her environmentalist friends, the foremost being Che. "Get Townsend to show you around."

"Sure." Ryan and Taylor exchanged nervous glances and Taylor was about to excuse herself of the duty when the waitress came back with their drinks. She duly asked if they were ready to place their order, which they did, in turns. "You have time to show us around?" Taylor looked to Anna for help and then sighed in appreciation when her friend agreed to help share the tour guide role.

"You'll get a good tour with the two of us. Do you guys want to see the campus tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah that sounds fun." The music in the restaurant, which had previously been Duke Ellington, was replaced by some more modern and danceable. "Only if we can dance tonight though." Sadie tugged at Ryan's arm and he smiled shyly at his girlfriend's excitement about dancing. "You promised me at least one dance tonight remember?"

"I remember." Unwilling and unable to fight Sadie's desire, Ryan let himself be lead off onto the empty dance floor.

"Looks like it's almost mating season." Anna raised her margarita glass to Taylor's and they clicked glasses. "Here's to finding a hot man."

"Amen to that." Out of the corner of her eye, Taylor watched as Sadie danced closely to Ryan, moving her body along his.