It was late in the evening and Taylor sat in the apartment reading a magazine. Anna was still gone and Taylor hated the lonely feeling in the apartment. The entire day had felt surreal to her; she had gone to dinner with Seth and Summer and it had startled her to see how affectionate they were with each other. They had certainly not tried to be overly affectionate but a bubbling happiness within Summer had crept to the surface as the evening had progressed; even Seth had been taken in.

Things would be coming to a head soon, Taylor thought to herself. She had felt herself saddened at dinner and hadn't really enjoyed herself; Summer of course had been very sweet to Taylor and had apologized but they both knew that it would take time for their friendship to recover. Summer had kept so much from her for so long and had done things that she had promised Taylor she wouldn't do. Taylor knew in her heart that one day they'd be fine again, but it was still very sad for her to think that there had been time wasted in rebuilding their friendship.

There was a knock at her door and Taylor tossed the magazine to the side as she rose.

"One second." She stride to the door and smiled a confused greeting towards Summer.

"Hey." They both were being cautious around each other and Summer made sure not to appear too happy. As Taylor invited her in she noticed that Summer indeed seemed less happy as before.

"What's going on?"

"I just wanted to come by and talk."

"Oh yeah—about what?"

"I don't know—things just have seemed awkward lately between us." Taylor watched towards the kitchen and Summer began to follow.

"We hardly ever fight."

"I know and I hate it—but it feels like we've been like this for awhile, off I mean." She sat down at the kitchen table and nodded in silent agreement as Taylor offered her a glass of water.

"I felt hurt."

"Why?" Summer's dark eyes were large with a mixture of sadness and hope.

"I felt like you were keepings things from me—I mean about you and Seth. I could see you guys getting close and I had no idea what was going on." She laughed softly to herself. "I missed having my best friend telling me things."

"I wanted to but I felt bad about it all because of Cordelia." Summer shrugged her shoulders. "I know you guys are really close and I was just scared it would come between us." She looked off for a moment and played with her hair in silence before continuing. "It's kind of funny because we're at this point because I didn't say anything."

"It would have been bad either way."

"Yea I guess so." They stood in silence, neither knowing really what to say next. "Seth's at Cordelia's right now."

"What's going to happen?"

"I don't really know for sure." She shook her head and took a drink of water. "After dinner we just talked—I don't know what you said to him Taylor but he was very open and honest about things—he told me how he was worried about the future because of the past; that he was scared to commit to anything because I might leave him again. What did you say to him?"

"That if he really wants to be with you he needs to take a chance."

"I guess he listened because he seemed to really want to give it another try." She looked up at Taylor and there were tears forming in her eyes. "I know I hurt you but I really want this to work for us—I know I fucked it up before but I really do love him."

"Summer." Taylor couldn't stand to see those tears. She hugged her friend tightly.

"We're going to be okay aren't we?"

"We will—it just takes time." She held her a few moments and then pulled away, smiling down at Summer. "He's going to break it off tonight?"

"I think so yeah." Summer watched Taylor, seeming to gauge her reaction to this bit of news.

"Poor Cordelia." The girl would be heartbroken no doubt. She had put so much stock in the relationship and it was so saddening to Taylor that it was about to ripped away from her. "He's doing the right thing at least." Taylor hated it but he was doing the right thing.

"Yes—we'll be okay to start again." Taylor suddenly realized as Summer spoke those words that no doubt Cordelia would be coming straight to Taylor's. There could be nothing worse in Taylor's mind then Cordelia coming over and having to see Summer.

"Summer—I just thought of" It was almost as if fate, or bad timing had been reading her mind. Almost on cue there was a knock at the door. "Oh god."

"You don't think?" Summer seemed to be reading Taylor's mind; they both looked at each other with eyes large in fear.

"I hope not." Again there was knocking at the door; the knocking was loud and rushed, as if there was someone anxious and frantic behind the door. She glanced at Summer once last time and rose to answer the knocking; there was truly nothing else to do.