As the night wore on, the five found themselves at the bar. Their waitress had gone home for the evening and the five friends thought it would be fun to sit at the bar for the rest of the evening. They were all having a good time, including Seth, who seemed to be happier now that Ryan was here.

"They seem happy." Taylor and Seth watched Sadie and Ryan slow dance and as Taylor said those words, she felt her heart sink a little.

"Has it been hard?"

"Seeing him so happy—yeah, a little. I loved him."

"He loved you." Seth wanted to make sure that Taylor knew that; she shook her head. Obviously he had not loved her enough.

"We had a good time together though." Taylor wished she could have a legal, alcoholic drink, because she was starting to feel depressed. The evening had been a good one so far, but now, suddenly, the crushing truth that Ryan had moved on and was so very happy in his new relationship was pressing on Taylor. It was one thing to imagine Ryan with another girl, it was completely different to see him with another girl, and so happy. "It's definitely time to move on." Seth only smiled at his friend and as she took a sip of her soda, she eyed the bar and dance scene, trying to notice any good looking men.

There was one rather cute guy at the end of the bar by himself, and Taylor felt the temptation to go and talk to him. Would that be too forward, she asked herself? In her mind she knew that going home alone tonight, without at least getting a number, was not an option.

"Where's Anna?" She had gone to the bathroom a few minutes ago but had not returned. Seth and Taylor both rose from their bar stools and took notice on the couples on the dance floor; they found her rather easily, dancing with a rather cute looking young man with sandy blonde hair. "Looks like she got diverted."

"Not a bad choice though." Anna seemed to be enjoying herself; Taylor watched as she waved and gave a wink to Sadie and Ryan.

"Maybe he has a friend."

"Maybe." Taylor smiled at her friend, hoping that he was enjoying himself. "I hope that you're having an okay time?"

"Sure." Taylor really wanted to set Seth up with someone, but she didn't know many girls that would be a worth match for him, and besides, he was far from ready. "I wonder where Summer is." He looked at her pointedly, knowing full well that Taylor knew exactly where Summer was.

"She's out at a Green Party meeting." Summer was highly involved with the Brown Greens—so far she had dragged Taylor to a few meetings—but radical politics weren't really her thing. "She's not dating anyone if that's what you're wanting to know."

"Whatever she wants to do is fine by me." Taylor laughed at Seth's attempt at bravo; he was obviously not fine with what she was doing. "Do you like her friends?"

"They're nice." They were nice enough for Taylor, but she did feel resent towards them because Taylor believed they were leading Summer down a bad path. "I don't always have a lot to talk to them about." She knew they weren't really crazy about her, but so far Summer had shown solidarity to her oldest remaining girlfriend.

The song was over and Anna managed to separate herself from her dance partner.

"Why aren't you guys dancing?" Anna wiped sweat from her forehead and took a drink of water. "They're actually playing some good music tonight."

"Maybe. Who was your friend?" Taylor gave the blonde a knowing look. "He's kind of cute."

"And available—and he has a friend." She pointed down to the end of the bar, where the lonely guy had been sitting earlier. Now he was joined by Anna's dance partner. "We should go say hi." Taylor giggled; she liked the sound of that. "Do you mind Cohen?" Anna hated to leave Seth by himself but it would be doubly weird if they brought him along as well. "We won't be too long."

"No—you guys go ahead."

"You sure?" Taylor took a glance at the dance floor; Ryan and Sadie seemed glued to it. "I don't want to abandon you."

"I'll be fine Taylor—I'm a big boy." Anna took Taylor away and they approached the two young men; Taylor took another look at a sad looking Seth and sighed to herself. She hated seeing him so miserable.

"Hey Anna." The shorter of the two men, the one with sandy blonde hair, gave her a large grin as she led Taylor up to them. "How's it going—I'm Adam." He reached out his hand to Taylor and as he shook her hand, his eyes were warm with interest.

"Taylor—how's it going?"

"I'm good." His friend, taller and in Taylor's mind, better looking, turned around and took notice of the two young women. "This is my friend Greg."

"Hey." The girls chimed and accepted the two seats offered to them. "You guys having fun?" Anna was good at this whole small talk thing, and as she listened, Taylor was duly impressed. She was always nervous at first meeting someone.

"It's getting better now." Greg was obviously attracted to Taylor and showed his interest by offering to buy her a drink.

"Thanks but I'm not twenty-one." She really needed to work on getting a fake ID.

"But I'm friends with the bartender." He called over the bartender, whom he called by name. "What would you girls like?"

"A glass of wine." Anna told him to make it two. "Thanks—even though I'm not sure how impressed I should be that you know the bartender on a first name basis."

"Well we come here a lot." Anna and Adam had paired off by now and had taken back off to the dance floor; her glass of wine sat on the bar unattended.

"Students?"

"Yeah—at Providence—you?"

"Anna and I go to Brown."

"Well I didn't realize I was in the presence of such geniuses."

"You aren't—but thanks." His gaze unsettled her; she used the opportunity of sipping her wine to see how Seth was fairing. There he sat, looking furlong out onto the dance floor. .

"You know him?"

"Just a friend." Greg was pleased that it wasn't someone else that appealed to her sense of aesthetic more. "He's been kind of down since his girlfriend broke up wit him."

"Yeah—I know how that feels." Greg finished his beer and asked if Taylor wanted to dance.

"No thanks—not really in the dancing mood—I'm more of a talker." The wine tasted good; it was strong and warm and it made her head feel a little weak. "You just get out of a relationship?"

"A couple of months ago—it was pretty rough."

"Welcome to the lonely hearts club." She clinked her wine glass to his empty beer bottle and told him that she had had her heart broken over the summer.

"Amen to that." He ordered another beer and watched Taylor as she finished her glass. "You want another one?" She mentioned Anna's lonely glass and thanked him as he handed it to him. "You're really beautiful." Greg smiled as she laughed and blushed. "You want to go out sometime?"

"Don't you move fast?" She liked his audacity; it was so different from Ryan's slow pace. He apologized but Taylor stopped him. "No—I like it; believe me, it's nice when a guy goes after what he wants."

"Let me get your number." Without a though, Taylor reached into her purse and pulled out a pen. "I promise to make use of it."

"You better." She flashed him her gorgeous smile and scribbled down her number. "You seem sweet."

"I am."

"Good—so I can't wait to hear from you." Taylor looked back at Seth and felt anxious to get back to him. "Call me." She rose to leave and smiled when Greg tried to stop her. "I want to get back to my friend—but I can't wait to talk again." She leaned into his hug and waved goodbye as she walked away.