Author Note: I am from Orange County so the details you read are real. So you might be confused about this chapter but I say go with it, If you hate it I'm sorry but my mind is flooding with ideas about Ryan and Taylor. Read and Review cause the next Chapter will come quicker.

Lex my beta you rock my socks…

Taylor drove east towards the 55 freeway, she had lost track of time but when the car took the north exit at Chapman Ave, she knew where she was going. Her mind was whirling with whys but her heart had another plan. It was an inner battle she had been fighting since leaving Orange County all those years ago.

She lowered the radio as she passed the local high school, which was caddy corner to the college. She parked the car in the last guest stop at the on campus apartments. Then grabbed a knit cap Summer kept behind the drivers seat and pulled her hair back into a bun.

Her heart was fluttering with every step she took towards the front gate. She had no idea which apartment was his or even who he was living with because she had spent the last three years shushing anyone who brought up his name.

She stopped dead in her tracks as she heard the voice of the man who had been haunting her dreams all these years later.

She threw herself behind the only thing available for shelter; a recycle bin four times larger then herself. She held onto the bin as he walked by talking into his cell phone.

"If you want to come over for dinner, I wouldn't mind cooking between studying… Yes I want to see you, too… Two-Buck Chuck is fine…. See you tomorrow night."

The apartment's front entrance door open and Ryan was gone.

Taylor sat on the ground next to the recycle bin for more moments then she would have liked too. Her lower body wasn't listening to the upper part. Being within 3 feet of Ryan had sent her over her daily amount of sane.

"What was I thinking?" she said standing up and brushing her jeans off.

Taking one last took at the door he had just walked into she again spoke out loud, "Of course he has a girlfriend,"

Before Taylor had time to move she heard the entrance of the apartment door open again.

She had no time to hide this time. He was walking towards her with a paper bag full of cans and bottles.

Ryan looked up to smile at the person standing in front of him but he was not ready for what was standing in front of him.

Her face was blank as she found the only word her mouth could gather up, "Hey."

"Taylor, I have something important to say to you," he said shifting his weight from one leg to the other. His hands were sweaty and his pulse was moving faster then usual.

Taylor looked up from her empty plate to meet Ryan's blue eyes. She was stunned by the fear in his eyes. He was also beginning to become pale with every passing moment.

As she stood to walk to his side he put his hand up in defiance, "I feel fine, I just have something to tell you, so please sit back down."

She nodded and took her seat again. She watched him take another sip of wine then looking at her.

"I have been thinking about us a lot in the last couple weeks, I want you to know how I feel. I need for you to understand how much you mean to me."

His hand extended to hers as he spoke.

"Taylor you came into my life at a time when I was rendered damaged goods, you never once pushed me into anything. You even let our relationship be called a non-relationship after six months. You held my hand every time we went to visit Marissa's grave. Your patience with me has been more then any man could ever ask for. You have never questioned my devotion to you even when I couldn't say it to you."

Her heart was pounding as he kept speaking. While her eyes welled up with tears.

" I need you to know I am in deep. I am in love with you, Taylor."

As he finished saying her name; she leaned into his face almost touch her nose to his.

"I could have waited forever just to hear you say that out loud because for me your it but I have known for a long time Ryan, you have to know that."

She kissed him quickly before speaking again.

"The way you kiss my shoulder when I'm nervous, to the way you wipe the top of the soda cans for me, to the way you rest your hand on my leg when I drive. That is love. For me, it's those moments only you and I notice. Our love isn't like others and that is why I can honestly say I am so in love with you, Ryan. "

He took her face in his hand and kissed her.

As he pulled back from the kiss he said in an amused voice, "Dude I have a girlfriend."

Taylor laughed at his attempt to be funny, "Stick to your day job, baby."

"And now your calling me baby?" he said standing up and taking her hand again

"It's a trial period, Ryan. I have 30 days to pick a suitable pet name for you, or I have to return you, and we don't want that do we?" she said with a silly grin.

"Is their anyway to negotiate the return policy," he said, watching her run out the kitchen door near the pool.

"Sorry honey, but your girlfriend already signed her name on the dotted line."

"Oh no. You're not calling me honey either," he said taking one large step towards her tiny body pushing them into the pool.

As she came up for air he heard her scream, "Ok, Cupcake."

"Hey."

"Taylor," was all Ryan could think to say.

He never thought she would show up at his apartment. Summer had been clear on the phone early that Taylor was not interested in seeing him and now she was standing in front of him.

She looked beautiful, he thought. Her hair was darker then he remembered and she was dressed different. Gone were the expensive cloths and accessories she once wore on a daily basis. The woman standing before him was clad in old Levi's missing the tags, and a ratty old t-shirt with Cal written in block letters. His Taylor wouldn't have been caught dead wearing this. Her new look only reminded him how much time had passed since he had seen her.

"You look good."

"You too", she said looking at her feet.

"Did you come by to talk, cause we can go inside," he said trying to get her to make eye contact.

"You know what, Ryan, this, here, you and me this is a, I just gotta go."

He watched her run to her car. He didn't understand anything that just happened.

He thought back to the first time she kissed him; the look on her face as she ran from the pool house, it was the same look he had just seen.

She was scared, but this time he was gonna go after her.