Taylor Townsend sipped her coffee as she waited for Seth to appear in the café. It was a Friday night and Taylor had turned down an invitation to go dancing with Cordelia because she needed to firstly study, and secondly, she wanted to talk to Seth. It was a week into the new school semester and Taylor was sure that she had found the perfect girl for her friend.

She had spent the week, between classes and studying, getting to know Cordelia and Taylor was thoroughly impressed by the young woman. She was smart and funny and most importantly, shared many similar interests with Taylor and Seth. By Friday morning, Taylor thought their new friendship had been so well established she could ask the question she had been dying to since first meeting Cordelia.

"So I have a friend that I think you'd love—maybe I could talk to him about you?" Cordelia, when finding out that the friend in question was Seth, jumped at the chance. She had wanted to meet him from the first, and her interest in him had only grown as Taylor had talked about Seth more.

Now Taylor had to bring the situation to the attention of Seth. He knew vaguely of a girl Cordelia who had an interest in anime and Asian cinema, but had shown only a slight interest in actually meeting her. "I'm really busy with school." Seth had told Taylor, but she had a hunch there was more to the story than that; she was convinced that he was scared to take a plunge back into the dating pool as well as being very depressed about Summer having a steady boyfriend once more. Taylor just needed to give him a push and hopefully Cordelia would be good enough incentive for him to actually take the leap. Seeing Seth enter the café, she waved and smiled at her friend.

"Hey Seth." He raised his hand in welcome and silently took a seat next to Taylor. "What's new?"

"Not much—just getting started on an advertising project—we're supposed to think about a compelling design for gerbil food." His tone and face gave no doubt to his disdain for the project. "How about you—I thought you were going out dancing tonight?"

"Too much studying to do—I don't want to fall behind in my Islamic art class; besides, I'm all bloated from my…"

"All right—that's all the information I needed." Seth took advantage in a lull in the café to go to the register and order a cup of coffee. As he ordered Taylor watched him intently—he seemed tired and sad still—like he was in a constant daze. Summer probably had no idea how badly she had hurt her former love. Summer at least was happy, Taylor thought ruefully. She did not particularly like Summer's new boyfriend, but she put on a cordial face for the sake of Summer and her friendship with her.

"So I wanted to ask you something." He sat back down with a cookie and a small cup of coffee; Seth observed Taylor with his sad dark eyes and listened as she introduced the concept of Cordelia. "She's really awesome—I think you'd love her."

"So she can break my heart too?"

"Seth…"

"I don't know Taylor—why are you interested in hooking me up with someone?" She had tried to set him once or twice before since Summer had started dating again, but both dates had been quiet and awkward affairs.

"I'm worried about you Seth—you've been so sad and lonely since Summer broke up with you—I just want you to be happy."

"I really loved her."

"I know—and she loved you; she's just confused right now—she might always be confused. All I know is that I want you to be happy and I think Cordelia could really make you happy."

"You really think we'd hit it off?"

"Yes—she's pretty and sweet and funny—I know you guys would really hit it off." Seth sat in silence and Taylor watched as the wheels of thought started spinning. Taylor hoped—she wished—that he would take another chance and go out with this girl because Cordelia was just what he needed. She would take care of him and would help Seth become his old self again.

"I guess I could give it a try."

"So you'll do it—you'll go out with her?" He nodded yes and she squealed in reply, much to the embarrassment of Seth. "You're not going to regret this at all—I'll give you her number—call you tomorrow probably because she doesn't…"

"Take it easy there Townsend. I'm smooth enough to handle this on my own."

"Of course." She pushed a stray piece of hair from her face and smiled at her friend. "We can even make it a double date if you want."

"Maybe—that might be fun; a double date with Taylor and her frat boy boyfriend." Seth wasn't overly fond of Taylor's boyfriend, especially after his friend cheated on Anna. Gregg had sworn that he had no idea any of that was going on, but he had still kept up his friendship with Adam, much to the disappointment and annoyance of Taylor.

"Gregg's sweet." They were certainly having their problems now that Adam had cheated on Anna. Certainly both she and Gregg had to stand by their friends; Anna had been sad but not heartbroken and had made Taylor swear that Adam's actions and Gregg's loyalty to Adam would not affect Taylor's relationship with her boyfriend. The promise was becoming hard to keep. "We need some good nights though—he's taking me to dinner tomorrow night—something romantic he said."

"You guys doing all right?" Seth was not pleased with Gregg because a friend of his had hurt Anna, but he understood something about male loyalty.

"We're okay." She shrugged her shoulders. "I really like him and I'd be sad if we broke up—but it's not like it was with Ryan."

"You guys really loved each other."

"But I loved him more." They both sat in sad silence, the memories of the past temporarily overwhelming them. "How is he doing lately? I haven't heard from him in a few weeks."

"Ryan's Ryan. He doesn't really tell me much and tries to hide behind that macho Kid Chino exterior but I think something is up—I think he's been fighting with Sadie a lot lately."
"About what?" Her interest was keen whenever Ryan was mentioned. Her heart was over him but the love he had inspired within her still held a tight hold on her heart.

"He doesn't really say—the same crap they were fighting about last month—he not spending enough time with her, not being more open about how he feels for her. I think that she's in love with him but doesn't think that Ryan feels the same way—or ever will get there. He certainly hasn't told her that he loves her."

"I don't get it—he told me he loved her." She was flabbergasted. "Why would he lie to me about that?"

"I don't think he lied to you about it—Ryan's been confused about how he feels—I think he thought he loved her but figured out that he didn't"

"Poor Sadie."

"Poor Ryan." It was selfish and petty of her, but there was a part of Taylor that was glad that Ryan, in fact, was not in love with Sadie. She had thought of stealing him away, in the distant past, but those feelings had been put away when she had started Brown. Now, they were given the tiniest flicker of hope. "But anyway—what are you doing tonight—studying?"

"Yeah—I have a couple of chapters to read about early Arabic art and it's not the easiest thing to get through."

"Well you could come over and help me think of good ideas for the gerbil campaign."

"That sounds good." Taylor smiled brightly. "We'll think of the perfect double date."