Keeping Sanity through Blogging

The Ring

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 19:02:24 GMT

So I decided last night while sitting on my bum and staring at the wall aimlessly that I should do one of brandywine421 's 15-minute fic challenges because I she had such great prompts and its better to write something than stare at a wall and aimlessly let brain cells die. So here is the story.

Title: The Ring
Fandom: The OC
Character: Ryan
Disclaimer: If I owned it, The OC would be borderline porn.
Beta: None... my mistakes are my own
Summary: I wish I could describe her without sounding like an idiot.
A/N: Fifteen minutes is a good motivator to continue writing because hell no is this done in 15 minutes.

Ryan sat typing away on his laptop when the young girl he has seen in his previous two Architecture classes came and sat next to him. Smiling he glances at her curvy body and bright blue eyes. Her jet black hair catching his attention with the one streak of red in her bangs. She smiled back and opened her own laptop waiting for the monotone hum of their professor’s voice to begin.

45 minutes into the class, Ryan’s eyes were starting to get heavy listening to the professor go on about the different types of shingles that could be used in roofing construction. Hearing the clicking away on the keyboard next to him he glances over to see what was so riveting about this lecture that the girl next to him felt the need to take notes. Looking over, he was amazed by the image on the screen. She was designing a beach front home on her computer screen.

Ryan couldn’t help the words that escaped his lips, “Woah”.

Startled by the comment, she turned to him slightly embarrassed. “Hi”, she whispered, then turned back to the computer screen.

“That’s amazing, did you just do that now?” Ryan couldn’t help but ask.

“No, I have been working on it since the last class but can’t seem to find a decent place to put my back door”, she looked slightly frustrated and he could see the wrinkle lines in her forehead.

“Why not have two doors, one under each of those archways”, he replied after close examination of her design structure.

Her eyes lit up at the prospect and she went back to typing vigorously on the computer and moving her mouse to position the doors. Turning back she smiled and put her hand foreword, “Eva”.

“Ryan”, he responded shaking her outstretched hand. Looking her in the eye, Ryan saw a glimmer of something before his thoughts were interrupted.

“Alright class, break off into pairs, and please answer questions three through eleven in your work books please, turn in only one sheet with both partners names on it and then you may be dismissed”, the Professor announced.

Eva smiled letting go of Ryan’s hand, “partner?”, she asked holding up the workbook.

“Sure”.

Working vigorously on the assignment in front of them, fifteen minutes passed before Eva went off topic with another question, “So the ring on your finger, gay, virgin or memory?”

Ryan couldn’t help but snort at her question before asking, “What?” his smile curious at what she was entailing.

“The ring”, she pointed out, “it’s on your right ring finger, plain gold band, you’ve obviously worn it for a while because of the wear and tear on it, and the T engraved is fading, rings on that finger only mean three things, you’re gay and taken, a choir boy and sworn to god your virginity, or someone important to you died and passed that down, which is it?”

This girl was simply something else in Ryan’s opinion. Chuckling at her choice of answers he looked up into her curious eyes, and then down to his ring. Thinking of the reason he wore it. “I’m not gay…”

“Thank god”, Ryan heard her say under her breath. Laughing to himself he looked up at her smiling face and continued.

“I am definitely not a virgin, and nobody so far that would leave me a ring to wear has died, so I guess I fall out of the normal reasoning for wearing the ring”.

Cocking her head to one side Eva gave up and just asked, “So is there a reason for that ring?”

Ryan twirled the ring around his finger once thinking of the reason before smiling and looking into the shiny blue orbs of hope he knew he was about to shatter, “Yeah actually, my girlfriend gave it to me.”

For a split second he saw her eyes flash before composure came over her not unlike the girlfriend he knew would be waiting for him in just a few minutes outside the walls of the lecture hall.

“Oh, girlfriend”, he could hear the slight disappointment in her voice, “that’s sweet, how long have you guys been together?”

Ryan thought about it for a moment trying to calculate for himself before answering, “Almost five years”.

He could see the unhidden shock on her face before she asked the next question, “Is she out of high school?”

Ryan laughed finally putting two and two together with her questions of territory markers, “Yeah, yeah she is, she’s a linguistics major here are Berkeley actually.”

He could see Eva wracking her brain for information before looking up at him with another question, “Really? So am I, other than Architecture that is, maybe I know her, what year is she, I mean the major isn’t really that big here.”

Ryan was a little shocked at her confession of double majoring, “She is finishing her last year, she just transferred from France last semester”.

Eva was a little taken aback from the newest piece of information, and started to wrack her brain for any resemblance of who this girl could be before Ryan continued.

“She is studying French, Italian, Greek, Korean, Japanese, Spanish, German, and some sort of Chinese.”

Popping her head up as the person concluded in her mind she cocked an eyebrow towards him before turning her questionings toward the new subject, her new interest, “Taylor something right? She is like the new prodigy of the language department here. Professor Grayson is my mentor and all he talks about is her.”

Ryan chuckled as he nodded his head, “Yeah, Taylor, that’s her. I can barely speak English properly and she is on language 9 or something.”

“Wow, how is it dating her, the prodigy of the school and all.”

“It’s interesting, I haven’t picked up any new language, but things can get interesting.”

“I bet, she’s written 2 books, worked in DC translating for the President, and I always see her eating lunch with a couple of Professors at school, always with the bushy eyebrow one from the law school.”

Ryan laughed as he scribbled the answer to the last question of their assignment and then signed his name at the top of the paper, sliding it to Eva, “You sure know a lot about her.”

“Well she did get the Coleman Grant, everyone who’s in the program knows her, we were all going after that Grant.”

Ryan could sense the bitterness in her voice as he watched her scratch her name out on the paper.

“I’ve never met her, but she must be something special, she seems to have it all.”

Ryan laughed inwardly at the bitterness that was weaved in Eva’s comment but let it go as he put his bag over his shoulder and stood up ready to leave, “I wish I could describe her without sounding like an idiot. But I can’t, I’ll see you next week?”

Receiving a silent nod, Ryan could see the annoyance that flashed in Eva’s eyes as she looked up from packing her things and acknowledged him, but forgot about it as he walked out of the lecture hall to the awaiting arms of his indescribable girlfriend.

Pay It Forward

Tue, 07 Aug 2007 18:05:08 GMT

So I commented on missmara page which means it is now my turn to follow threw with paying it forward the way she did.

Pay It Forward meme: I will send a handmade* gift to the first five people who leave a comment requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don't know what that gift will be yet, but you will receive it within 365 days. The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making a similar agreement on your journal.

Now the only thing to figure out what to pay forward. Copies of all 6 OC Soundtracks? Stories? (stealing that from missmara) A really awesome picture of your landmark of choice in San Francisco? I suck at anything on the computer, but I am all game for writing a story, or making a handmade collage of your favorite couple, or schedule board with quotes, give me some ideas after you comment and we will playoff from there.

No anonymous comments! I need to know who I am sending this too.

If Only...

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:35:45 GMT

There are like a million moments in life that get passed by and we are constantly wishing that something we did changed the course of history or if we could of done something else we wouldn't be regretting what life has handed us... but life goes on and you just have to continue with it. So maybe wishing if only we did something is pointless after all...

Always that saying when it is Clearly to late...
Always wishing that a moment took place...
If Only I said this...
If Only I'd done that...
But guess what...
If only is not going to turn time back...

Why did you have to ruin my plan, why did you have make me loose the bet with my friends. Cali always said that it wouldn't last, Kia rolled her eyes when I suggested the idea. Yvonne I knew thought I was crazy, but she agreed, Kaitlyn just giggled because she new 7 months was far to long for me. I remember announcing that I was shunning boys, going to go all nerdfest through august.

I was really doing well, until you came along you know, I was really doing well ignoring your woahs. For some reason though you decided we should mix, for some reason you thought we could make a friendship out of this. I thought it would be fun to have some new friends, especially one with different interests. Not to mention I kind of liked the surprise, of not connection dots with you or any of my friends or your guys. There was something different in your eyes those first weeks. I laugh really hard when I think about it.

I learned so many things about you, and about me, I learned the F word makes me flinch really quickly. I think you figured it out because by week three you stopped saying it, too me anyways, and I kind of appreciated it. We both hate kung pow, and you really love meat, I prefer veggies with everything.

You do some weird things, that weren't so foreign 3 years ago, but now to me they are long lost forgotten. I thought it was weird how strong my mentality is, and I thought it was funny how I would fake it with you. You really thought I drank, and you really thought I got wasted, but honey the truth is, I didn't touch a drop of it. Yours was vodka, mine was sprite, your large margarita, mine limeade with lots of crushed ice. I wouldn't smoke, and you totally understood, I wouldn't do coke, and neither did you.

But there were some nights when we didn't go to visit those friends, there were a couple of nights when you were sober till the end. Like the night we all went to the lake and ran around the forest, playing tag, hide and seek, and disappearing into the forest. I remember the moment when you chased after me. We ran down a hill, jumped off a pitch, you grabbed my hand and then pulled me back. I tried to escape your wrath of tickles and laughs, but you wanted to make it a point of getting me back. I think all your friends heard me scream and say 'crap' when you said 'haha guess what.. your it'.

The game ended there though because we never left that spot, in that moment the game turned to hide and seek, because your friends thought we were lost. We weren't lost though, it was just that you pinned me to a tree. You looked me in the eye and then kissed me. It was weird at first because it was in the moment, but when you pulled away, you took my breath with you. You started to frown when i didn't say anything, then you noticed that I wasn't breathing. You thought you killed me, but honey trust me it wasn't that great, it was just kind of breath taking and surprising.

You frowned and then asked me if I was okay, and then it hit me that I needed oxygen to survive. You asked me if it was okay that you did what you did... but you never got an answer because your friends all showed up.

We split into cars, heading in search of junk food, for the friends of yours with munchies from smoking weed too much. I sat with the girls, half alive, half dead, because I wanted to talk to you instead. I laughed and I joked and we girls pointed to your car, full of boys making noise and blasting music.

It was such a fun night the girls rambled on and on, and then the car went silent when jen asked me what went on. I smiled when i thought of the kiss you gave me, and then I remembered, crap, I didn't tell you it was sweet. I figured the moment we got back to the place, i would tell you the truth, and then everything would be okay. Gosh it was happening, I was dancing in my mind, all the girls gushing about what would happen in time.

My mind went to fantasy land of what would have happened, if only i breathed a little sooner than that moment. I would of smiled, I would of kissed you, i would of told you it was perfect. If only i wasn't so stunned at what happened.

But all the gushing and ooo's and ahh's, turned to screams of terror when we saw 'the guys' car. We watched some idiot slam into your guys car, we dialed 911 and then everything became a blur. How did it happen the one night you were sober, all those nights you drove drunk or high, you turned out fine but the night you were sober, and sitting on the passenger side, was the night you got in a car wreck that took your life.

Gosh darn you for dying, gosh darn you for doing that, because i never got to tell you how i felt or kiss you back. Now I have to live with the moment of If Only, because maybe I could have changed you and made you perfect in my sense, maybe just maybe, if only breathing was apart of my two cents. I guess it was fair that you a Dylan had died, because you two wouldn't be leaving any 'real girlfriends' behind. Mike, Adam and Danny needed to survive, they had girls who needed their smiles.

I wonder sometimes if I had told you what was on my mind, would you be sitting beside me right now, all mine? Cause then you would have a girlfriend and maybe god would have given you a chance, because you would know you had someone who needed you in their love life.

If only and maybe's won't turn back the clock, they are just like bad candies and rotten nuts. So I guess it's good that I never told you the truth, well in person anyway, because it doesn't leave a notch on my heart.

You said life is too short not to get high and drunk, and I guess you were right for once. It's not going to change my decision to be good, I am not going to question no matter my mood. I take this lesson as a lesson of life, don't if only the moments or take for granted your life.

What If Oneshot: Our Last Sleepover

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:03:48 GMT

Another story in the What If’s one shots collection. Summer and Taylor have a sleepover before they part their separate ways in the finale. Will secrets pour or just tears… mostly fluff… enjoy.

A/N: I don’t own the characters, I just share a name with my favorite character. This is another piece in that string of one shots (called the WHAT IF one shots) that I said I would write, they come out as they come out, I haven’t planned, I just need to fill my OC void because I already learned every line since the Summer Bummer and everyone thinks I need to get out. Some may even be M stories so make sure you check out the M section for more one shots.

Summary: This story has background in it, but most of the story is told through the conversations that Taylor and Summer have at the sleepover.

WARNING: There is smuttiness mentioned, at some graphic level, but not graphic descriptions or anything, just talk about them.

***

Our Last Sleepover

It was two nights before Summer would have to leave on that big cross country tour with G.E.O.R.G.E. and everyone was starting to feel the kick of change that was about to take over everyone’s lives. Two weeks ago, Summer and Seth were playing old married couple, Ryan was wallowing in his self pity of “I miss Taylor”, Taylor was having a neurotic break down about seeing Ryan, Kirsten and Julie were baby shopping, a wedding was in the works, and Sandy was happily schmearing bagels for everyone huddled in the Robert’s Mansion.

Then it all came tumbling around them. Better yet, a tornado came in, picked up everyone’s lives, mixed them together and set them all down on the path that was supposed to make the world right. The Cohen’s are moving to their new old house in Berkeley, Summer is going to tour the country with GEORGE, Seth is leaving for RISD, Ryan and Taylor are back together, kind of, and Julie doesn’t have a new last name, although Kaitlyn does have a new connection to Ryan. And most importantly, there is a new addition to the Cohen-Atwood-Roberts-Cooper-Townsend mix, Sophie Rose.

Taylor and Summer were sitting in Summer’s newly cleaned, sterile, Seth free bedroom. All of the girly charms were back and Summer was showering again. After returning from Berkeley, Seth moved his things into the guest room where they belonged; the lazy boys were in the living room downstairs, and the only thing that was the essence of Seth in Summer’s room are his photos in her purple frames, and him sleeping in her bed beside her at night. Tonight however was a girls night, Taylor and Summer’s last sleepover together, done the official way without boys.

Taylor being Taylor, thought that as the second the last night of Summer’s leaving, they should have a nostalgic sleepover, boys free, and just spend time together like best friends should before they depart on their new journeys apart from one another. Seth whined, Ryan brooded, and Summer happily agreed. So here they were, door locked, floor covered in junk food, new sheets on Summer’s bed courtesy of Taylor, a stack of magazines and dvd’s, two pajama clad beauties, and not to forget, a camera for the memories.

The boys had whined on the other side of the door at 6 when their sleepover started but by 7 with Taylor’s no sex threat to Ryan, they were gone on their own boys night adventure. So now, Summer and Taylor were sprawled out on the floor staring at the pile of suitcases by Summer’s closet and sighing.

“It’s really happening huh Taylor”, Summer sighed as she stared at the suitcases in silent oblivion.

“What do you mean Sum”, Taylor said as she turned toward Summer.

“We are all starting new lives, apart.”

“Summer, we did the same thing a year ago, differently then this but still the same.”

“Yeah, I went to Brown, you were married and in hiding in Newport, Seth worked at a comic store and Ryan was cage fighting, that was really starting something new Taylor.” Summer replied sarcastically.

“I know everything seems different Summer, but that’s what happens, we have to grow up sometime, and it just happens to be now, four different people in four different places, no matter what though we will always be friends, best friends.” Taylor said as she pulled Summer into a hug, “Now can we stop staring at the suitcases and have some fun, the boys finally left 15 minutes ago and we have been sitting here in silence after spending an hour fighting them off.”

“You’re right Taylor, we need to have some fun, and no matter what, Best Friends forever”, Summer smiled, “now who do you want to read about first, Bradgelina or TomKat?” She said as she held up the magazines.

“Brad, definitely hotter”, Taylor beamed.

2 hours later after they had run out of gummi bears, read 2 magazines, and watched The Notebook, Summer and Taylor were lying next to each other looking over Taylor’s scrapbook on the floor while dipping veggie sticks in everything from ranch to cheese to chocolate.

“Aww look Summer, its new years eve at the gas station, that was one heck of a trip.” Taylor said pointing at the picture of the two in the car.

“Gosh that day sucked, but you were there, and I thank you so much Taylor.”

“That’s what friends do Summer.”

“Yeah but you almost lost Ryan over that.”

“But I didn’t and that’s what counts, we addressed a lot of issues that night.”

“Eww, I don’t want to hear that you two filled your sex starved voids that night.”

“Summer! We did not have sex that night, I am not a sex starved divorcee whore”, Taylor responded slapping Summer playfully as the two burst into giggles.

“Really?”, Summer asked as their giggles dies down.

“Yeah, why?” Taylor asked quizzically.

“I don’t know, I just always figured that was the first time you had sex with Ryan, I mean with the lingerie and all...”

“No, we didn’t that night, we fooled around don’t get me wrong, but we didn’t have actual sex, it was everything but sex.”

“Oh.” Summer said as she let the info sink in.

“Yeah I know, weird huh, all this drama over us actually having sex, all this worry, and then nothing, not nothing, but not actual sex.”

“Wow, I am just surprised that’s all, you guys seemed so ready to go, not to mention, we share a bathroom Taylor, Seth and I heard some serious laughter and a couple of moans, and Atwood isn’t exactly a laugher or well all that verbal so anything out of him, well you know.”

“I know, I find it so funny that he is a little more verbal in bed, and afterwards, who new Ryan Atwood was a pillow talker”, Taylor smiled at the memory.

“Weird”, Summer said as she sat up and stared at Taylor, “So if it wasn’t that night, then when did it finally happen?”

“A weeks later, two weeks before Henri’s book came out and sent everything down the drain.”

“Before or after Frank?”

“After, I think it was dinner with Frank that made us solid, after that whole fiasco, we kind of figured we could handle anything.”

“The night after Seth and I tried going to Vegas.”

“Yeah, it was so cute, we went to Harbor’s Spring Carnival, we rode the Ferris wheel, which was kind of weird because that was like disaster the last time he was on it, and it was my fault, but then we went to the Pier, and then back to the pool house, and I don’t know, it just kind of happened.”

“At least you didn’t try to seduce him this time.”

“I know, for the first time I didn’t do anything and it happened, no seduction schemes, closet kisses, or lingerie, it was all in the moment”, Taylor thought dreamily, “and it was the best first time ever”.

“What do you mean by that Taylor?” Summer ask confused.

“Like every person you sleep with there is a first time, and each is different you know?”

“No, Seth is the only person I have ever slept with and I plan on keeping it that way.”

“Wow Summer Roberts, tying yourself down forever?”

“Yes, I don’t plan to catch anything if you know what I mean.”

“Summer I am not a whore, I practice safe sex with each of my partners.”

“Eww, gross.”

“Whatever Summer, but anyways, each person you sleep with, it’s usually awkward the first time, but with Ryan, it was just like magical, he really knows how to…”

“Okay, stop, enough, no details.”

“Fine. But yeah, after that we just did it a lot, even took some scenes from Henri’s book, apparently it’s a motivator for Ryan.”

“Again Taylor, stop.”

“Okay, okay, oh look Summer, it’s Kirsten’s birthday party. That was such a fun night.”

“I know, I can’t believe all that happened that day, we both dressed up like groundhogs, Seth got arrested, and Kirsten found out she was pregnant.”

“I know god, that day was almost as awful as New years, Aww, and look, Valentine’s day. Look at Julie and Frank, they were so cute that night. Poor Kaitlyn though, I know how excited she was about Bullit being her step dad.”

“I think she is adjusting well though, she has really grown up, she is nothing like Coop was.” Summer sighed in memory.

“What are you talking about Summer?”

“It’s just weird, I never thought I would be here today, right now. When we graduated, if you would have told me then that I would loose my first best friend, become an environmentalist, get engaged because I thought I was pregnant, become best friends with Taylor Townsend, get kicked out of college, then forego college for a year and get a new Coop, I would have slapped you.” Summer said as she pulled her brunette locks back into a messy ponytail.

“I don’t know what to say Summer”, Taylor responded feeling a little hurt.

Summer looked over at Taylor and guilt instantly struck her, “Oh Taylor, I didn’t mean it like that, it’s just, wow you know, life changes, and I couldn’t think of life without you Taylor, you are like the greatest friend I ever had. And I am just sad that I never noticed it before it was almost too late.”

“Aww thanks sum”, Taylor gushed as she hugged her best friend.

Both girls leaned against the end of Summer’s bed in a comfortable silence before Taylor broke it.

“Do you miss her Summer?”

“Who? Coop?”

“Yeah, like I mean, are you upset that you are going through all these things with me instead of Marissa?”

“NO! Of course not.”

“Really Summer? Cause I can handle rejection, I have survived 19 years of it.”

Summer looked at Taylor before sighing and bowing her head, “Taylor, look, sometimes I wished that Marissa was here for things, and then I see you and I don’t wish for it so much. And then sometimes it angers me that Marissa isn’t here, sometimes I get so mad I wished she was never around to begin with.”

“Oh my gosh Summer, why would you wish that, Marissa was your best friend.”

Summer sighed as she allowed one single tear to fall, “Because Taylor, sometimes Marissa sucked as a friend, I never wanted to admit it but Marissa seemed to be missing when I needed her most sometimes, and it made me mad because everything was always about her. I am horrible aren’t I?” Summer sniffled as she let everything out.

Taylor wrapped her arms around her best friend, “No you’re not Summer, you are great, you’re a great friend, a great girlfriend, role model, you are you, Summer Roberts, and that should be enough for the world, and for you.”

Summer leaned into her best friend and sniffled some, “Thanks Taylor”, she said above a whisper and the girls just sat there in complete silence.

A few minutes later, there was a knock on door followed by Kaitlyn’s voice, “Seth called and wants to know if you’re done with your sleepover yet so he can come back.”

Summer and Taylor groaned.

“Tell him if he doesn’t leave me alone for the rest of the night I am going Atwood on his ass.” Summer yelled from her spot on the floor.

“Okay”, Kaitlyn said as her voice drifted away in conversation.

“Gosh, I am not going to miss his whininess.”

“You so are Summer, it’s his charm, you love him for that”.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

“Aren’t I always!” Taylor piped.

“Eww, drop the ego”

Both girls looked at each other seriously before breaking into fits of giggles. After things died down, Taylor leaned her head against Summer’s shoulder and they once again sat in silence as Summer leaned her head upon Taylor’s before the silence was interrupted once again, this time by Summer.

“Everything is going to change isn’t it?”

“What do you mean, I thought we already talked about this new life starting over stuff.”

“I know, but everything is going to change, just not our lives but us.”

“I guess…” Taylor said as she pulled away from Summer slowly to look at her best friend.

“In two days we start something new, and in a year, we are all going to come back different people, what if we don’t fit anymore, what if Seth and I aren’t meant to be after all?”

“What are you talking about, you and Seth are like the epitome of love, you guys are the next Sandy and Kirsten.”

“But what if it changes, what if we change, I am going to be stuck on an icky bus, traveling the country with the same people, half of which are gay. Seth, he is going to RISD, he is going to be surrounded by people just like him, a bunch of emo artists who love the same music and comic books and drawing and stuff, what if there is Seth’s Kirsten Cohen out there, what if he forgets about me.” Summer’s eyes started to get hot and cloudy as she let the emotions flow.

“I don’t know how we are all going to change, or how we are going to fit together but I know one thing, Seth Cohen has been in love with you since the fifth grade, he loves you more than anything, he gave up RISD for you last semester, he talks about you constantly, he asked you to marry him, he figured out you needed to go to GEORGE, he broke up with you because he wanted you to go to Brown, the guy will forever love one girl, and it’s pretty much you, you’re destined to be with each other.”

Tears started to fall from Summer’s face, “But what if we’re not”, she stood up from the floor and walked over to her desk drawer, pulling out the frame with the mermaid poem in it and walking back to where Taylor sat confused. Sitting down and handing the frame to Taylor she sat back and huffed.

Taylor held the frame in her hand and read over the poem, “Summer, this is my poem, this is the one you took from me in fifth grade, why do you still have it”?

Summer wiped her eyes, “This is the poem that Seth fell in love with, he based his whole entire love for me off of this poem, he fell in love with the girl who wrote this poem, and the whole time it was you.”

“Umm, wow, okay”, Taylor sat their stunned at the piece of information.

“What if you are supposed to be his Kirsten Cohen, what if I am his Jimmy Cooper”?

Taylor put the frame down on the floor and turned to her best friend with a whole new wave of confidence, “Okay, hold up right there, first of all, I love Ryan, and Seth was like a phase gone bad, and second of all, a poem isn’t the foundation for a relationship, you and Seth didn’t build your whole relationship on this stupid fifth grade poem. Seth may have built his crush on you from this poem, but you two built a relationship on so much more, you didn’t even know about the poem before you dated him, probably didn’t know about it when you fell in love with him, but you still did, and that’s what matters. Seth loves you and you love him, so many things happened to the two of you in the last four years, and here you stand together again, I mean not now, but you know what I mean”, she flustered.

Summer smiled slowly through her tears as she sniffled some, “Yeah I guess you’re right, again, but don’t go building a Cohen ego”, she joked.

“I won’t but you have got to stop questioning these things, especially you and Seth, if there is one stable thing in the world it’s the two of you.” Taylor said satisfied.

“Yeah I guess I am being all nostalgic and emotional, but I don’t get it Taylor, why aren’t you worried, I mean you are leaving for France, at least Seth and I will be in the same country, Ryan and you are continents away”. Summer said wiping her eyes.

Taylor sighed, shrugging her shoulders as she let the answer form completely, something she wasn’t used to doing before the last couple of weeks, “Well, I don’t know, I guess I just love him, and with that love it gives me faith. I may be agnostic in most things, but when it comes to Ryan, I just want to believe someone put him in my life for a reason, and even though we’re going to be apart, our love will last.”

Summer’s eyes widened at Taylor’s words, her best friend made sense for once, and it had to do with Ryan. She whispered in astonishment, “Really Taylor?”

“Yeah I know it sounds crazy since the first time I left it was horrible, but I don’t know, Ryan makes me feel safe, and if he is willing to let me go, then I am going to go because I don’t think he would do it just to get rid of me. He really loves me, and I know it.”

“But what do you want?” Summer asked taking Taylor’s hand and squeezing.

“To love him, and be with him. He makes me happy, and I would love to stay here and be attached to him at the waist, but I am not going to crowd him to keep him, I am going to allow destiny to dictate us, and if I am supposed to be in France, then I will be in France.”

Summer hugged Taylor tightly and whispered, “It’s already happened, we’ve all changed a little already”.

Taylor hugged Summer back with equal force and whispered back as tears started to fall from her eyes, “Yeah, but I think we are going to be okay.”

“So do I.”

The girls held on tight to each other as the tears continued to stream from their eyes, continuing to whisper “Best Friends Forever” back and forth between them. They were so wrapped up in their emotions they didn’t hear the sound of the lock clicking to Summer’s room and the door opening until the sound of Kaitlyn’s voice erupted with laughter.

“Gosh you two are such sap balls. Stop crying and lets have a real party, I brought booze!” Kaitlyn said holding up two bottles of wine with a smirk.

Both girls looked at each other and then at Kaitlyn before screaming simultaneously, “Kaitlyn!”

Some things would never change… or would they?

A/N: I know this story wasn’t the super best, but I liked it at the beginning and then it just kind of went on and on. Please review… I am working on something right now which I won’t post until I am finished because it is going to be long and I have a track record of not finishing things unless its planned out. So look out for that. Enjoy you guys and please review… I got a couple more one shots in the works of this What If’s collection.

New Series of Ryan/Taylor Stories: First Day of School

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:13:01 GMT

I have decided to write a bunch of one shot stories that are the what if's from the finale. What if Ryan was walking toward something at Berkeley that would bring a smile to all of our faces. What if Ryan and Taylor got off the train together. What if France was forgotten forever. These are a bunch of missing scenes and twists that I would have liked to happen or see in the finale. So they are going to be a few one shots in the series called what ifs. Please Enjoy and Leave comments. I have concluded that I am better at writing one shots. There will also be summer and seth stuff here and there but I am more known to write ryan taylor stuff.

Here is the first of the series. The First Day of School. Its a Ryan Story.

First Day of School

He stood there on the campus of Berkeley in his new sweatshirt as the morning hustle and bustle of the first day surrounded him. There were students all around and signs welcoming the freshman on their first day of classes. He stood in the middle of the courtyard and just took in his surroundings. Staring around he took a deep breath, this was his life now, he was going to Berkeley.

Looking down at his map, he tried to figure out where he was before turning to the left and going down a walkway toward a beaming figure. He had 2 hours before his first class started but there were reasons why he was searching around with his map now, and that person was holding coffee.

Folding the map up and putting it in his pocket he walked over to smiling figure, a wide grin across his face also. “Hey you”, Ryan said as he kissed the vibrant girl in front of him, “are one of those for me.”

“Yep”, she said handing him over a steaming cup of coffee.

“So what are we doing up this early Taylor? I mean we could just go back to our dorms you know, make use of the time at hand before classes”, he said with a mischievous grin on his face.

“No Ryan, I want to compare schedules and what time we have between classes and maybe see when we could spend time together.”

“Taaaaylor, do we have to?” he whined.

“Yes, now don’t whine, you sound like Seth”, she said as she looped her hand in his and started guiding him toward the center of campus, “now I know on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday we have calculus together at 10, but what other classes are you taking?”

Ryan let go of her hand and dug into his pocket for the schedule before handing it to her.

“Let’s see, you have Calculus, Physics, Design, English, and History of Architecture. No foreign languages Ryan?” she teased as she read over his schedule, “well, we have two classes together, Calculus and English on Tuesday and Friday, and both are before lunch everyday of the week, so now we can have lunch everyday, how does that sound.” She said in her overly cheery attitude.

“Perfect”, Ryan said as he thought of other things and how the last week they hadn’t spent any “quality” time together.

Taylor noticed his distant look and decided to play with his mind a little, “we should try eating at every dining room on campus the first couple of weeks so that we know which ones are best.”

Ryan snapped his head at Taylor quickly, “What?”

“You know, eating lunch at the different places on campus?” She smiled back.

“Well I was thinking since you had a private room and all we could do lunch there, like today maybe?” Ryan asked, lowering his tone as they passed by a large group of students.

Taylor stopped mid step and gasped, “Ryan! We can’t skip lunch, that would be horrible, remember the orientation yesterday said we need at least three balanced meals to keep us going through our everyday studies.”

Ryan furrowed his eyebrows as he started to get frustrated with his girlfriend, “Taaylor…” he began to whine again.

Taylor smiled, knowing she got him where she wanted him, she ran the few feet toward him and pecked his lips quickly before pulling away with a giggle, “I was just kidding Ryan, lunch in my room today sounds good, how about today?” She said with a smile and a twinkle in her eye.

“Hiding from your fellow student body already you two, its only day one, go out and make some friends, none of this lunch in the dorm room thing.” Sandy Cohen’s voice broke into their conversation as he walked down the steps of Boalt Hall.

“Hi Sandy!” Taylor responded in her chipper attitude as she turned to her right to watch him descend the building stairs, “How is your first day on the job?”

“Hey Sandy”, Ryan said as Sandy engulfed him in a hug.

“It is a good first day, I get to see my son wearing a Berkeley sweatshirt, on his first day of school, no father would be happier, now if I could show you two the way toward the environmental clubs table, it would be even better. You know I met Kirsten while trying to get members, and since you two are already a pair, its easy, you just have to join, how about it?”

“Um, maybe after we settle in Sandy”, Ryan said as he tried to find an answer to his father’s impending question.

“Okay, well at least you are thinking about it”, Sandy said before turning to Taylor, “Now you, I was going through my roster for my Juvenile Justice class and look who’s name I came across, one Taylor Townsend.”

Taylor beamed a smile, “Really? You are the staff teacher they put on the Monday, Wednesday class?”

“A last minute addition, now Taylor, how did you get into that class as a freshman?” Sandy asked, “It’s an upper level class.”

“Well I did spend two semesters at the Sorbonne so technically I am not a freshman but not all of my classes transferred so I still am a freshman in a way, but I met all the prerequisites for the class and I thought I would take it, and now I am glad I am because I get to have Sandy Cohen as my professor, how fun is that Ryan?” Taylor rambled on.

“My dad and my girlfriend, interesting”, Ryan said once again at a loss for words.

“Well I have to get to teaching my first class, but I will see you two later, Kirsten wants you both home for dinner okay?” Sandy said more than asked as he retreated away.

“We will be there”, Taylor responded for the both of them before turning to Ryan, “this is going to be the best four years ever Ryan!”

Ryan could only smile as he watched her grin wider at the prospects of their years at Berkeley, “Yeah it will be”, he said as he took their empty cups to the trashcan before retreating back to her and taking her hand as they walked toward wherever Taylor was leading them.

As Taylor rambled on and on about the school, and their classes, and things they should do, Ryan let his mind drift to how everything fell into place, and how they all were now living at Berkeley, starting new lives.

It had all started on the train when Ryan continued from Newport to San Bernardino with Taylor, after spending some quality time in Taylor’s sleeper car, Ryan held Taylor in his arms and thought about how he wasn’t ready to get off the train in 10 minutes, and how he never really wanted to let go of her again. As she nuzzled in closer to his naked body, Ryan looked down and into the large hazel eyes of the girl he loved and simply asked, “Stay, don’t go back to France.” She had been a little confused at first but after a minute of him just throwing the idea out, of her staying in California and going to Berkeley with him, she simply agreed, it was all Taylor ever really wanted from him, to ask her to stay. After getting off the train and getting all of her luggage, they took a taxi back to Newport and discussed how Taylor was going to get back into Berkeley for the fall semester in 3 weeks. The answer was Sandy Cohen, who had called Paul Glass in excitement about moving to Berkeley when Paul offered him a position to fill the missing Professor of Law position that they were trying to hire for. It had worked out perfectly for everybody now that they were moving to Berkeley, and so they called Sandy from the cab and from there he called Paul and asked to re-instate Taylor’s spot at Berkeley. Taylor went back to her mom’s house, packed up as much as possible, then shipped everything to Berkeley, and after a plane ride, she arrived on the Cohen’s front door step, ready to start her college adventure with Ryan. Everything seemed to work out in the long run for everybody, even Seth was getting along well at RISD. Ryan smiled as he thought of how everything had fallen into place, and how lucky he was to be surrounded by the people he loved when a voice called out to him.

“RYAN, RYAN, are you even listening to me?” Taylor said as called out to her distracted boyfriend.

Ryan woke out of his memory and turned to her, “Sorry, I was just thinking.”

“About what?” She asked with a twinkle in her eye.

“How lucky I am to be here, going to school, having my family close by, and with the most amazing girl ever.” He said as he held Taylor by the waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Yeah? Are you talking about Sophie Rose or me Ryan Atwood- Cohen.” She joked.

“Sophie is cute and all, but she hasn’t quite started talking, so I am going to say you”, and with that he kissed her in the middle of the courtyard. Pulling away slowly he looked at her suspiciously, “Why did you just call me Atwood-Cohen?”

Taylor smiled mischievously before responding, “Okay fine, I snooped and saw the applications for name change on your desk, it was such a large pile of papers and envelopes I couldn’t help myself.”

Ryan laughed as he kissed her forehead softly, “It’s fine, I am not surprised, you’re Taylor Townsend, I expected I can’t hide a secret, but you can’t tell anyone, it’s going to take a while, and I figured I would announce it at Christmas.”

“I can keep a secret Ryan, but I know of a way you can make sure I keep my mouth shut”, she said as she raveled her arms from around his neck, “but you’ll have to catch me first”, and then she took off running through the courtyard.

Stunned for a second, Ryan snapped back and ran after her thinking, things were going to be great if every first day of school started off this way.

*** I know that this story is kind of open ended right now but there are more one shots that will fill in the other parts for sure. Remember to review!

R/T Fiction- Golden Confessions

Mon, 28 May 2007 06:29:12 GMT

This is my story that I wrote for the OC Fiction Challenge, it wasn't the most well written piece out there but I have heard some good things and some bad things, so I am going to post what I originally wrote and then rewrite it into a chapter story that elaborates everything that happened in between that was missing in the story. So please enjoy this, or better yet, wait for the longer better written one.

Golden Confessions

Taylor sipped her coffee as she walked to her next class, the cold air was nipping at her nose and turning it a bright pink color as she walked. She pulled at the scarf around her neck as she dodged students running, biking and skateboarding to class. The trees were bare as she walked through the campus of Berkeley, she smiled as she came upon Le Conte Hall for her physics class. She was well into the second semester of her second year at Berkeley and still she felt as if something was missing from it all.

She had graduated from Harbor, valedictorian of her class, and with friends even. Her proudest moment being the summer vacation she took with the fab 4 that had now including her making it the fab 5, road tripping to all the weird and quirky landmarks of America.

Marissa had decided to stay back from her summer with her father and spend it with her sister and mom. Things with Ryan were a spur of the time thing, the summer being together and yet not breaking her heart. Starting at Berkeley with him and Taylor had been fun and Ryan and her eventually hooked up again to agree once again to stay friends. Luke she had even reacquainted with and dated once again now that he had changed. Life seemed to be flowing well for her, but a piece of her was missing to, and she wondered, if it had to do with Ryan.

Ryan, Marissa and Taylor, had a rough time saying goodbye to Seth and Summer as they headed their way over to Rhode Island. Seth deciding to just move over and live in an apartment with Summer and work while he waited for his semester to kick start at RISD. Their relationship was strong and going well for them, and they tried to see Marissa, Ryan and Taylor as often as possible along with the everyday phone calls. The separation of the core 4 and now fab 5 showing no rifts. Luke had even become a part of the Berkeley gang.

Newport left open doors for everyone during holidays and breaks, Kirstin and Sandy missing their children but allowing them the opportunity to grow, with an attempt not to call everyday. Julie and Neil ended up getting married at the beginning of August and returning in time from their honeymoon to help their children move into new schools and new lives away from home.

Kaitlyn had laughed at the tears that were streaming at that last dinner with everyone before they shipped off to college, but when the morning came, a tear actually fell as she said goodbye to the 5 people who had become staples in her mischief and entertainment on a daily basis. Even if joining them on their summer road trip was nothing more than lame in her opinion, she wouldn’t have traded it for the world.

It was now two years later and everyone was beyond settled in their new lives, but for Taylor there seemed to be something missing and Marissa wasn’t sure what she was feeling anymore.

Taylor smiled and let her empty feeling disappeared as she chucked her coffee cup into the trashcan and entered into her physics class. Taking a seat next to Ryan her smile brightened ten fold as he moved his stuff out of the way for her. They had gotten used to this routine the year before when their majors seemed to intertwine with one another, and since they figured that out their first semester, they had chosen to sign up together for what ever classes they both needed. Marissa and Luke had even joined them in their basic classes and they had become a new core four. Ryan and Luke had decided to be roommates again after their first year together and stayed at the Foothill Dorms right next to Marissa and Taylor’s single dorms in Stern hall.

Their lives at Berkeley had settled well and now all Taylor had to worry about was clearing up that empty feeling. As the class closed up for the day, Ryan and Taylor walked out and headed to their dorms together discussing their upcoming project and when they should meet up to finish it together. The banter changed back and forth from school, to parties, to Seth and Summer, as they entered upon Stern where Luke and Marissa were sitting on a bench in the cold waiting for them. Ryan and Taylor dropped off their books in Taylor’s room as they headed to the cafeteria for a late lunch with Marissa and Luke.

The conversation had leaned toward the Golden Bear Ball that was coming up in a week. The girls were gushing over shopping for dresses on the weekend but the date situation had not been settled, and the girls were hoping to rely on Luke and Ryan if nobody else asked them to the dance, but neither were going to admit it. For Luke and Ryan, this was an eye rolling conversation that they weren’t interested in, and they figured if they were needed as white knights for the girls their suits were ready, or else they would stay in and play video games, saving each 100 bucks for the tickets.

After lunch Marissa and Luke went their separate ways as Taylor and Ryan headed into her dorm to continue studying and working on their project, Taylor’s room being the prime place since it was a single. Ryan watched as Taylor took off the layers of clothing that kept her warm in the early February weather, and for the first time noticed her figure as she stripped down to her sweater set and shorts. Ryan starred at her legs in the white Bermuda shorts and laughed as he saw her take a seat on the floor next to him.

“That’s what you wore under all of those layers?” Ryan chuckled.

“What? You have to be fashionable even if nobody sees it under all the winter wear.”

“Taylor you are definitely a newpsie in training.”

“Hey! I take offense to that!”, Taylor replied with a playful slap to Ryan’s arms.

“Who wears shorts in February? Especially if you are only going to hide them under a pair of snow pants?”

“I like to be fashionable, even if it’s only in my dorm okay?”

Ryan just shook his head and laughed, “Sure Taylor, that would explain why it’s so hot in here, did you have to bring the Newport heat with you geez.”

Ryan then took off his layers of clothing, stripping down to his jeans and Berkeley t-shirt. Taylor couldn’t help but glance at his abs as his shirt rode up as he removed his hoodie, Ryan definitely was working out in his spare time.

Trying to keep her hormones under control Taylor moved onto the subject of weather, “Don’t you think it’s weird to be getting this much snow Ryan? I mean last year, we only got dusting on the hills, this year, we actually have snow on campus.”

Shrugging his shoulders as he opened his book, “I don’t really know, rain is a rare occurance in Newport, snow is like foreign in my opinion even if it is Berkeley.”

The small conversation didn’t last very long as they moved onto their homework and began building their physics tower. The talk did eventually move to Marissa and Luke though.

“So what is going on with Luke and Marissa, they seem to be spending a lot of time together lately, and I don’t mean studying.” Taylor asked as she glued the wooden piece onto the tower.

“I don’t know really. Luke hasn’t said anything. But I don’t really ask either, I just figure he will tell me one day soon, why?”

“I just noticed it you know, they are together a lot and stuff.”

“I guess.” Ryan’s tone had gone lower with his response.

“Does it bother you Ryan? That they might be something more than friends”, Taylor asked cautiously.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think so, it’s been over a year since Marissa and I broke up”, Ryan responded holding the tower in place for Taylor.

Taylor stopped what she was doing and looked up into the deep pools of Ryan’s eyes, “Are you still in love with her Ryan?”

Ryan’s stopped holding the tower and pondered the question as he furrowed his eyebrows. “I don’t know.”

“Oh”, Taylor didn’t know how to respond to his answer and it confused her why she suddenly lost all capabilities of forming sentences.

An awkward silence overtook the room, and Ryan took it as a cue to check his watch, “Hey, I am going to go put my stuff back in my dorm and head to dinner”, he then started to gather his stuff together and pull on his snow cloths.

“Okay, we can finish this tomorrow; I’ll see you in class Ryan.”

Ryan turned back confused, “You aren’t coming with me to dinner?”

“Um no, I am not that hungry, go on ahead, I have a French test tomorrow to study for, have fun.”

Ryan gave her a questioning look as he opened the door but shrugged it off because simply it was Taylor. “Bye Taylor”, and with that he shut the door and headed to his dorm.

“Bye Ryan”, Taylor whispered to herself as the door clicked shut.

Taylor watched as the tower fell over on her desk and she simply just sat there and stared at it. Her eyes fell over the framed picture on the desk of the past Christmas in Newport. Luke had even come home to see his brothers and mom and everyone looked so happy to be together. It was of everyone around the pool or in it. Summer upon Seth’s shoulders, Marissa upon Luke, Kaitlin upon Brad, and Taylor upon Ryan’s in an all out brawl at chicken champion. The smiles glowed brighter than the California sun.

Taylor missed moments like that and she was starting to miss the feeling of being that close to Ryan. She knew deep down she liked him, she had always liked him. She remembered the first day he walked into Harbor with Seth. She remembered everyone giving him dirty looks, and unwelcoming glances. She remembered wanting to reach out to him, but never doing so because of her mom, because of Marissa, because she was Taylor Townsend. She remembered being jealous of Marissa when they were together, and upset with her when they broke up. She hated the way Marissa strung him along and the way he went back to her over and over. Taylor hated the way he went after her, and saved her, and sometimes, she just wished he would come and save her from her mom. Taylor thought that if she got rid of Marissa her senior year, maybe Ryan would notice her, but he didn’t and once again things back fired. She had always wished for him to come to her, but nothing was ever going to happen because Ryan had Marissa, and Taylor was always going to be the great friend, the perfect lab partner, the great buddy. She would never be Marissa, because she was so much more, and she cared about him so much more, but he would never know, because she was Taylor, and he was Ryan and he had Marissa.

Taylor let a tear slip from her eye as she let the feelings run over her. She had always known deep down she like Ryan, loved him almost. But she also knew that she would rather live in denial for the rest of her life than loose his friendship by being forward the way she almost lost Seth. Their friendship and partnership was perfect and even if she couldn’t have Ryan as a lover, she would be okay, as long as he was her friend forever.

She pushed the frame down so that the photo was parallel with the desk and she wouldn’t have to look at it, she then did the same thing to all the pictures of him in the room. Closing her eyes, she curled up into a ball in her bed and breathed deep breaths to try and relieve the pain that was coursing through her. She wouldn’t cry, not for Ryan, not when he wasn’t in love with her, not when she loved him.

Taylor fell to sleep that night curled in her bed and ended up sleeping into the next morning. Waking up early, she decided to take a run before breakfast. Throwing on her workout cloths she headed out of the dorm and ran around the Berkeley campus. Her i-pod blared the latest mix from Seth as she ran through campus on the cold winter morning. Many other students were just rising and some were even running like herself but to classes and not just because. She ran back to her dorm and grabbed a shower before heading to class. Her run had gone on longer than expected and she was now running late, and for her, not being ten minutes early meant she was late. Grabbing her stuff and opting for another sweater set and jeans, she booked it out of her dorm room throwing on her winter coat as she exited the dorm. Scurrying across the campus, she was surprised to see Ryan standing outside of their calculus class with two cups of coffee.

Ryan handed her the coffee with a smile, “I saw you running this morning and figured you were probably going to miss breakfast. Oh and I brought bagels too.” Ryan then pulled out a paper bag from his backpack.

Taylor beamed at the thought, “Thank you Ryan, you are so thoughtful.” And on impulse she kissed him quickly on the lips.

Pulling away, Taylor looked at the ground, “Oh my god, I am so sorry, I don’t know what happened”. Then she suddenly just entered the classroom, not waiting for a response from Ryan, or especially a rejection.

Ryan looked around stunned for a second at what had just happened. He wasn’t sure what he was suppose to say, or do , or even how to react. Then she had just run into class, so he followed a few minutes later. The class started immediately after Ryan entered, leaving no moment empty for him to talk to Taylor and 2 hours later when the class ended she packed up and left in a hurry. Ryan knew she was avoiding him but thought for sure he would be able to catch her in their later classes.

However, Taylor continued her silent charade the rest of the day, ignoring Ryan and finding any way to not be around him. Luke and Marissa had finally noticed her absence at dinner when they were sitting in the dining hall.

“Hey, where is Taylor? I haven’t seen her all day.” Marissa asked as she sipped her soda.

“Yeah, it’s been eerie quiet all day, is she sick or something?” Luke asked through bites of his pizza.

“I don’t know, she didn’t eat yesterday either, maybe she is.” Ryan lied.

“Aww, I better bring her some soup or something. Remind me to get some before we leave guys.” Marissa stated.

“Sure.” Ryan answered half paying attention.

Their dinner continued with a withdrawn Ryan trying to process what happened earlier in the morning and self indulgent Luke and Marissa discussing the Ball a week away.

Taylor was hiding out in her dorm room, just finished ordering a pizza on the phone and was working on the tower she ruined earlier when she threw her books on her desk in anger at herself. She had let all the emotions of the night before seep out into the open when she saw Ryan and she kissed him. Even if it was only for a second, she had still done it. And she loved it. She loved the feeling of his lips and the electricity that flowed through her, but she didn’t love the look of confusion on Ryan’s face afterwards.

Taylor had avoided everyone and was now glad that it was Friday and she had the weekend to herself. Taylor had decided that she was going to go home for the weekend and see her mom, she bought her ticket, was leaving in the morning and was probably going to pick up her dress down in Newport. She had even called Marissa and left a message that she wasn’t going to be able to go shopping with her the following day. Really, Taylor knew she was running, but she couldn’t help it, and since Monday was a day off from school, she was going to take advantage of all the Ryan avoiding time possible.

Marissa didn’t remember the soup until she said goodbye to the boys, headed back into her dorm and checked her voicemail. She was surprised to get the message from Taylor and mad at herself for forgetting the soup. She was starting to suck as a friend. Checking her clock, she wondered if Taylor was still awake and decided to go check even though it was a little after midnight. Walking over, she noticed through the crack under the door that it was dark in her room, and the door was locked, so Marissa didn’t bother to wake her. She figured Taylor would explain the next day.

Taylor left the next morning before the sun rose and was crawling into her bed in the Townsend house for another few hours of sleep by eight in the morning. She knew her mom was in Cabo for the weekend from the email she received about her mom’s where bout’s and not to call. Taylor milked the time in the empty house with the maids and just relaxed that Saturday, doing her homework and watching TV. She was doing anything to relieve herself of the thoughts of Friday. All the while everyone at Berkeley wondered about her where bout’s. Ryan knocked on her door for a half hour, trying to see if she was in there before the RA came out and told him Taylor left notice about being away for the weekend. Ryan was starting to get worried, that what happened was becoming a bigger deal to her, than he thought.

The weekend put everyone on edge, instead of relaxing them, and the following week didn’t fare well either. Taylor returned late Monday night and went straight to her dorm, nobody knowing anything, until Ryan noticed the light turning on from his dorm window. He tried calling her cell phone like he had done dozens of times the weekend before but once again she didn’t pick up and then the light flicked off in her room. Ryan sighed as he tried to figure Taylor out, and eventually it just gave him a headache.

The rest of the week went on exactly as Friday had with running, ignoring and silence. Taylor didn’t say anything to Ryan and as much as he wanted to say something to her, he didn’t know what. He figured she had to talk to him eventually, their project was due the Monday after the ball. Saturday rolled around and it was the night of the Golden Bear Ball. Taylor got ready and decided to just go stag to the event, figuring she needed to get out and hopefully she would meet someone to take her mind off of Ryan. Luke, Marissa and Ryan had decided to go together so that nobody was left a third wheel even though Luke and Marissa were hooking up, even if they weren’t admitting it yet.

Luke headed over to the bar to grab drinks for everyone as Ryan and Marissa shared a dance. It was midway through the dance when Taylor entered into the ballroom to see the two of them dancing. Her heart broke instantly, and reeled back to that night when Ryan couldn’t answer if he still loved Marissa. She watched as they laughed and smiled and danced, no Luke in sight, and then she figured they were there together. The ball didn’t seem like a good idea anymore and Taylor turned and left. Just as Taylor turned around, Ryan saw her and watched as she left the ballroom in a hurry.

“Marissa, you mind go looking for Luke, I have to go somewhere.” Ryan stated as he stopped dancing.

“Um, yeah sure, is something wrong?” Marissa asked confused.

“I’m not sure, but I got to go”, and then Ryan ran off after Taylor.

“Okay.” Marissa said confused as she watched him hurry out the door.

Taylor was already half way across the Berkeley Main Lawn when Ryan spotted her from the entrance of Leigh Hall.

“Taylor! Taylor wait!” Ryan yelled as he ran after her.

Taylor tried to ignore him and walked as fast as she could in heels across the half frozen grass, holding her dress up in the process.

“Taylor stop! Tayloooor!” Ryan yelled louder as he approached her.

Taylor’s breaths were getting shallow as she tried to hold herself together, keep her dress off the ground and run in heels.

“Taylor would you stop and talk to me!” Ryan said as he grabbed her arm and turned her around to face him.

“What Ryan?” she asked annoyed and scared.

“Taylor, why are you running from me, better yet, why are you ignoring me?”

“I’m not Ryan.” Taylor stated.

“Then what do you call the last week Taylor?” Ryan asked frustrated.

“Nothing, I just needed some me time okay.” Taylor tried to pull away from his grasps.

“Taylor, that’s a lie. Now talk to me, is this all about that kiss?”

“No”

“Then what? You haven’t been yourself, you’ve been distant, silent, you ignore everyone, you don’t pick up calls. I feel like I don’t even know you anymore.”

“Maybe you never did Ryan.” Taylor stated as she stared at the ground, and allowed her dress to fall out of her hands and rest on the frozen ground.

“What are you talking about? You’re one of my best friends Taylor, I know my friends, and I especially know you.”

“What do you know Ryan? My favorite food, my favorite color, that I slept with the dean of discipline, stalked your brother, got one of our friends kicked out of school, and then you? Is that what you know Ryan?” Taylor said frustrated with the situation and his grasp on her.

Ryan saw the frustration in her eyes and the emotions she was trying to hide, “No, I mean yes I know that, but I know more too.”

“Like what?” She half yelled in his face.

“I know you love pizza even though you won’t admit it, that you listen to every one of Seth’s emo mixes even if you don’t like it, that you check up on everyone once a week at least to make sure they are okay, that you get sad when your mom puts you down, that you have never had a birthday party, and that you feel like you owe the world something. I know everything about you Taylor, you are one of my best friends.”

“Fine Ryan, you know some stuff, but you don’t know everything.” Taylor said, as a tear threatened to fall from her hazel eyes.

“Fine then Taylor, tell me, what don’t I know about you.” Ryan yelled as he ran his hand through is hair in frustration.

Taylor was scared at his tone but was now mad that he was angry at her and so she yelled back at him as the tears began to fall, “I bet you didn't know that I'm terrified of the dark and every time I think of you, I smile. I bet you don't know that I hate thunder storms but love dancing in the rain or how much I love laughing with my friends and how much I truly enjoy being happy. I bet you don't know how many tears I've cried just for you, or how much I doubt myself every day. I bet you don't know how ticklish I am... or how I can't make decisions and how it drives me crazy when you look into my eyes. I bet you didn't know that I would do anything to be with you, but mostly, I bet you don't know how much I love you.”

Ryan was stunned at her outburst, but took her into his arms and held her sobbing body close to his as he ran his hand through her hair, “I am so sorry Taylor, I didn’t know, you’re right I didn’t know.”

Ryan and Taylor stood under the full moon in silence as Taylor cried her tears and let Ryan’s warm arms hold her close.

Finally when the tears subsided, Taylor pulled away and tried to wipe away the mess that was probably her makeup. “It’s okay, Ryan it’s not your fault, you just didn’t know.”

Pulling her hands away from her face and holding them in his he looked into her eyes and asked, “Why didn’t you ever say anything Taylor?”

Looking at the ground again, “Because Ryan, you were always with Marissa, what am I suppose to say, hey, I like you, even though you like her, or miss her, or love her. I was just giving you space. I don’t want to loose you.”

“Taylor look at me”, Ryan said as she looked up to meet his eyes, “I don’t love Marissa, once upon a time maybe, but it’s been over a year, we are just friends, and we are never going to be anything more again.”

“How do you know Ryan? You guys go back and forth like a pendulum.” Taylor said on edge again.

“Because Taylor, We are different, and we’re older, and I don’t see her like that, but most importantly, I like you.” Ryan said, a smile forming on his lips.

“Wha… what?” Taylor croaked out.

“I like you Taylor Townsend, more than a friend.” Now his smile was a full grin.

“But, but, why?” She managed to get out as she furrowed her eyebrows trying to process what he was saying.

Ryan laughed lightly, “what, now I need a reason to like you?”

“It’s just, it’s, I’m not Marissa.”

“That’s exactly what I like about you, you’re Taylor, you’re smart, you’re beautiful, you’re complicated, and yet you know exactly what you want, you’re confident in yourself, and you’re just you.”

“But, it’s just…” Taylor had become speechless.

“Look, I might not love you yet, but maybe one day I might, and I probably don’t know everything about you even though you just blurted a bunch, but I want to at least get the chance to try. A week ago, I was confused about what I was feeling, but that morning, when you kissed me, everything became clear, what I was feeling, it was for you.”

“ Rea… Really?” Taylor asked, her eyes big in surprise.

“Yeah, Really.” And then Ryan reacted on his impulse and leaned in to kiss Taylor, this time making it slow, long and passionate.

Pulling away breathless, Taylor let out a sighed, “Wow”.

“You can say that again”, Ryan whispered under his breath as he kissed her softly on the forehead.

“Wow”.

They both erupted in light laughter.

Taking her hand into his, Ryan started leading her back toward their dorms, forgetting the ball and their wasted tickets.

“So since we have covered, confessions, getting to know you’s and kissing, do you think we could go out tomorrow?” Ryan asked.

She turned to look up into his crystal blue eyes and smiled, “Yeah, I would really like that.”

“Good.”

And so they stopped in the middle of the empty courtyard, in the shadow of the clock tower, as Ryan kissed her once again, the bells chimes, a symbol of celebration to their confessions under the moonlight.

Please Review if you Read, it greatly appreciated

The Love Links to Life Chapter 2

Fri, 25 May 2007 18:57:55 GMT

Here is the latest chapter in the Love Links to Life story, that take off after everyone leaves for college. It fills in all the missing gaps that lead up to the wedding of Summer and Seth. Enjoy Part two!

School had been in session for 6 weeks at RISD for Seth and for Ryan it was 5 weeks at UC Berkeley. That meant that this weekend, Ryan, Sophie, Kirsten and Sandy would be on their way to Rhode Island for Parent’s Weekend and family weekend if you think about it logically. It was Thursday night Ryan was back at the Berkeley house playing with Sophie in the nursery while Sandy and Kirsten ran around packing everything and making sure their huge care package of all the things Seth asked for is packed together for their plane ride the next day.

Ryan was glad that he had been smart about not taking classes on a Friday so he would have this time to travel with his family to see Seth. Seth had been talking about this adventure for weeks and couldn’t wait to show off his new school to everyone. Ryan was glad to be able to see his brother and best friend also. Since they had all moved into the Berkeley house everything was unpacked and the house was fully furnished except for Seth’s room. Ryan had the room and adjoining bathroom next to Seth’s while Sophie had the room across the hall and next to the Master. There was an office for Sandy at the end of the hall and downstairs there were two more guest rooms for when Julie and anybody else wanted to come and visit. Every room had been unpacked and even Ryan felt at home in the new house now when he came home on the weekends. Seth’s room though was nothing more than boxes and an empty bed, and it felt as if he didn’t exist when Ryan saw into his room from the bathroom. However, that would all change the following week when Seth flew home for Ryan’s Parent’s Weekend at Berkeley which didn’t count since one of his parents worked for the school.

Ryan had been adjusting well to going to school and had come home every weekend for dinner and to spend time with Sophie who was now two months old. She would smile all the time, and Ryan would listen to the noises she would make when he would play with her. She was easily soothed when he read to her and Sandy and Kirsten loved that Ryan and Sophie got along so well.

Seth had been missing Summer over at RISD and made sure everyone knew about it when they talked to him. He although was getting along really well at the school. His Atomic County drawings had been a hit in the classroom and his professor told him to keep elaborating the story so in hopes that one day it would be picked up and turned into a comic book. Seth had been receiving emails full of Sophie pictures and the webcam was turned on every Saturday night when they all had a dinner together at the house so that Seth could feel like he was still in the family. All in all the boys were adjusting well to their new school and new worlds, both missing the girls in their lives.

Ryan was sitting on the floor of the nursery surrounded by fairytale books and little squeaky toys as he held a smiling Sophie. He was reading to her the story of Pinocchio at the moment and he could see her look at him with her big blue eyes as he read. He knew she had no idea what he was talking about but at least having this time to spend with her meant he spent less time thinking about Taylor. Suddenly he heard a bubbly tune go off in the room and knew that was his text message alert. Sophie started to giggle softly when she heard the sound. Looking down at her as he pulled his phone from his pocket he said in baby talk, “You think that’s funny Sophie Rose? Well when you get old enough I will play that tune all the time to bug you, the way Taylor makes it her tone to bug me. How you like that?” Sophie just giggled more as bubbles started to form and pop in her mouth. Ryan couldn’t believe how having a baby sister could change him from brooding tough Ryan to soft lovable baby voice Ryan, but only Sophie would ever see that side to him and it was only until she could talk, once the secret could be spilled, he would stop. Laughing at his baby sister, Ryan pulled out his phone as Sophie was now amused by the lights flashing on the phone.

The text message was from Taylor, surprise, surprise since it was her message tone. It read: Have a safe trip to RI, I miss you, im getin ready 4 skool rite now and thought id tell u i luv u and tell sophie i miss her and Kiki and Sandy. Tell seth to stop emailing me about how much he misses summer, I KNOW! Luv and miss u. <3 Taylor.

Ryan laughed at the quirkiness of Taylor, he loved her and missed her so much. They had been apart for 6 weeks and it got hard to only live off of emails, webcam chats, phone calls and text messages. He missed her touch and kissing her and couldn’t wait until Christmas when she would make the long voyage back to California. Taylor would have come home for Thanksgiving but they still hadn’t figured out why she couldn’t fly and the chances of her finding out by Thanksgiving and fixing it would be near impossible. Sending her back a quick text: I love You Taylor, have fun at school. Call me if you need anything. He snapped his phone shut and placed it on the floor next to him.

Looking down at Sophie again he smiled at her as he relayed Taylor’s message, “Hey Sophie, Taylor says she misses you. You probably think I am nuts huh little girl?” Looking into her eyes, Ryan smiled as Sophie just stared back into him, he then started to talk to her as if she was really listening and could respond, “You know Sophie, Taylor really liked you from the beginning, she thought you were so cute and wouldn’t stop cooing about you, I was starting to get jealous of you cause you took her time away, but don’t tell anyone okay? I know you didn’t mean it. She gets pictures of you just like Seth and Summer and she always talks about how you are changing, I never stopped loving her. I probably never will. Did I ever tell you how special Taylor is to me?” Ryan stared at the little girl again as he stood up and sat in the rocking chair and starting rocking her.

As he looked down at Sophie he starting talking about Taylor, finally having someone who would just listen, occasionally he would tickle her stomach but eventually his mind wondered as he kept talking, “ Taylor is like this roller coaster ride that never stops going in loops, and I don’t like heights, but for some reason I like her. Just like you, she is beautiful and has this infectious smile; I can’t help but smile when I am around her, just like when I am around you. She saved me you know, she helped me get over Marissa. She showed me love again, and I think I might love her more than Marissa, but she is still apart of my heart don’t get me wrong, but with Taylor, it’s different. Do you get it Sophie?” He looked down at her again as she was looking intently at him, her eyes getting heavy. Continuing, “She gives me life again, and it’s not the way Seth thinks it is, she is like this wave of sunshine, she does talk a lot though, and that may be why I feel like I am spinning when I am with her, but I think it’s because I love her. It’s hard to be away from her, and I sometimes am scared of loosing her, but I know, now don’t tell anyone okay Sophie?” He looked down at the slowly fading baby as he whispered, “I will one day marry her, one day, no matter what, I am sure.” As he said that, he noticed that Sophie was already asleep, and yet he felt a calm feeling come over him as he got to express his feelings, even if she couldn’t retort it back to him, at least it came out. Saying a few more things to the sleeping baby as he got up and proceeded to put her in the crib, “I really love her Sophie, but don’t worry, you’ll always be number one in my heart, and I will always protect you okay? Don’t ever worry, you are always going to be Princess Sophie, and I will always protect you, because Seth, well, he might loose you in a mall if he gets distracted. I love you little girl.” And with that, he kissed the little girl on the head as she lay in her crib sleeping, turning around he saw a teary eyed Kirsten in the doorway to Sophie’s room.

Startled that his secret was out, he started to pick up the books and toys from the floor as he asked Kirsten, “Umm, how long have you been standing there?”

Kirsten laughed as she noticed the embarrassment in Ryan’s voice, “Just long enough to know that Sophie here is your number one girl and Taylor is going to have to learn to get used to it, oh and that Seth might loose her in a mall one day, remind me never to allow Seth to take her anywhere alone.”

Sighing in relief and laughing softly at Kirsten’s comment he walked out of the room toward her and gave her a hug, “Don’t tell Seth or Taylor anything, or else I will tell Sandy about those new dresses in the back of Sophie’s closet.”

Laughing, the two of them made their way down the stairs to the kitchen where Sandy was making smoothies. Sandy looked up to see who entered the kitchen, “You all packed Ryan? You’re bags next to the door with everything else?”

Ryan taking a seat on one of the stools at the breakfast bar laughed, “Yeah Sandy, they are buried under all of Sophie and Kirsten’s bags, who knew a baby would need so much stuff?”

Pouring the smoothies into glasses and handing one to Ryan, he patted him on the shoulder, “One day you’ll understand Ryan, one day.”

Ryan looked from Kirsten to Sandy and said, “Uh, no, not anytime soon if that’s what you are thinking.”

Laughing, Kirsten and Sandy toasted their glasses with Ryan to a safe and fun trip this weekend as they sat around the kitchen talking and enjoying some family time before heading to bed and on their journey to Rhode Island.

Please leave comments!

OC Fiction: Love Links To Life 1

Sat, 19 May 2007 00:51:06 GMT

I have decided to post my Love Links to Life story on here since I think it would get more response, but I am still going to continue posting it on fanfiction. So i am going to take it slow and see how people like it and then continue on. Hope you guys enjoy.

Title: Love Links to Life
Pairings: R/T, S/S, S/K, J/B
Set: Right when they enter college at Berkeley and RISD.
Plot: Its the story from when they started college to hopefully past the wedding of Seth and Summer. Its what happened when they were away, how the family developed, how sophie and josh grew, and what happened to everyone though that time.
A/N: I don't own the OC, just enjoying the personalities of the characters and expressing my creativity and trying to fill the void I have from not having answers to the missing pieces and years of the show.

Chapter 1: The New Life

Ryan stood there in his Berkeley sweatshirt ready to take on the school, but yet he hadn’t moved since Sandy had dropped him off an hour before. Kirsten had made it a point to make sure that Ryan got the whole experience of leaving his parents, even if they only lived 10 minutes from the campus and his dad was a professor. He had stayed the night at the Berkeley house and then had woken up to breakfast and Sophie crying only to leave a happily crying Kirsten at the door as he hopped in the car with Sandy. Sandy dropped him off in the front plaza and then drove around to the staff parking lot. He appreciated the whole nuttiness that was Cohen now that his transcripts officially said Ryan Atwood- Cohen, but sometimes he couldn’t help but laugh at their antics.

It had been a week since they had moved to Berkeley and he had moved into his dorm two days before. Even though the Cohen house was in walking distance, they wanted Ryan to have the full college experience which meant without the nagging parents and Sophie keeping him up at night. Ryan stood their in the middle of the courtyard staring as the students around him bustled their first classes. He had class at 10 and then lunch with Sandy at 11:30 to return to two more classes and then back to his dorm. His excitement was unapparent but it was there. He checked his watch once more and then saw that he had another 45 minutes before he would start his first class. He decided to return to his dorm which was about a 5 minute walk across campus. As he started his journey he felt a rumble in his pocket and pulled out his phone, checking to see who it was he answered with a smile, “Hey Seth, how’s R-I-S-D treating you?”

“Pretty good, but no brooding leather jacket clad guys walking around campus, how’s Berkeley? Did mom and dad do the whole first day of school routine?” Seth replied with a laugh.

Ryan remembering with a smile the events of this morning, “Yeah, your mom cried when I left, no surprise there. I am actually not going very far at all from the family, been gone for 4 hours and I am already having lunch with Sandy.”

“Thought so, get used to it, and look at it this way, you never have to use your own cash for food.” Seth smirked.

“Not like its my money anyways Seth, they give both of us an allowance, I can’t believe Kirsten put her foot down about working, I can’t even get like a weekend job, my only option is babysitting Sophie and I am willing to do that for free.” Ryan said with a twinge of pain in his voice.

“Dude, I don’t see why you want to work, enjoy getting drunk and punching faces without having to worry about getting up to work the next day, you don’t see me complaining do you? What do you need extra money for anyway, the parents cover everything, just ask, you know that.”

Ryan rolled his eyes even though Seth couldn’t see it, “Seth, you are you, I am me, I prefer to not sponge off my parents, especially when they adopted me, put designer shirts on my back, paid for Harbor, and gave me a future; at some point I want to do a little on my own, I did it when we were in Newport, I don’t see the difference in Berkeley.”

Seth giving up trying to argue with Ryan, “Dude, whatever, mom is stubborn anyway, give up the fight, cause I am, sooo…. Heard anything from Taylor lately?” trying to change the subject.”

By this time Ryan had entered his dorm room and was just shutting the door. He turned around to see the photo of Taylor and him with Summer and Seth at the almost wedding of Julie and Bullit. Smiling, “ Actually she woke me up this morning to wish me well, she is about 2 days from arriving in Paris. She says hi by the way and hopes you are having fun at RISD.”

“Thanks man, tell her I say the same, has she figured out why she can’t fly?”

“No, but Sandy is going to look into it for her.” Ryan said with a smirk.

“That’s cool, how are you guys doing this whole long distance thing anyways?” Seth asked as he sat on his own dorm room bed and stared at his mural to Summer.

“We are just going to take it as it goes pretty much, if someone comes along or if it gets to hard we are just going stop until we see each other again.” Ryan sighed as he hoped it didn’t ever come to that.

“Yeah I can see the no string attached clause to that one, man, this sucks, we are both away from our girlfriends and we can’t even see each other to complain face to face, this is to much change.” Seth was now lying on his bed staring at the ceiling in grief.

“Yeah I know man, but we can fly to each other, and maybe you will make friend with other people and can complain to them Seth.” Ryan laughed at the last part of his comment.

“Whatever man, look I need to class and then cry to Summer about how much I miss her, but I will call you back later, thanks for removing Summer from my head for at least 5 minutes.”

“Alright Seth, whatever you say, later.”

“Bye Ryan.” And with that Seth hung up with a click and Ryan checked out once more the few frames that Taylor had put pictures in for him and the then flipped through the recently updated scrapbook that Taylor had given him before Valentine’s Day. There was a picture of Him, Marissa, Summer, Seth and Taylor on the way of the senior class picture, it had meant a lot of him when Taylor gave it to him because it showed that she wanted him to remember all five of them together and not completely cross out Marissa. Another picture was at Sandy’s benefit of them dancing, the night Taylor kissed him in that red dress and blew his world. One frame was from the almost Julie- Bullit wedding of the Cohen family with Taylor and Summer and brand new baby Sophie. And the last picture was his life rolled into one, as it is now, Seth, Sandy, Kirsten, Sophie, Summer, Julie, Kaitlin, Bullit, his bio dad Frank, Taylor and himself right before they all went their separate ways a week ago. He smiled at how different his world had become, but how happy he was in it, even if everyone was every which way. Sitting down on the bed with the scrapbook Taylor had updated recently he laughed as he saw the older photos from before they first broke up and smiled at the latest pictures she had put into the scrapbook before leaving for France.

Looking through the pictures of them together at the beach, packing up the pool house, and other various activities made Ryan miss her even more, and knowing he wouldn’t see her again until Christmas almost broke his heart as he thought about it. As he heard a key in his door he shut the book and placed it back on his desk, not wanting his roommate who already thought he wrapped around Taylor’s finger to see him as a sap looking at a scrapbook. Just then his roommate Alex stepped into their room. Throwing his things on floor nonchalantly with the rest of his two day mess, he turned and spoke to Ryan.

“Hey man, what happened to you last night? You like disappeared and never came back? Bang some girl before the first day?” Alex laughed guessing it was probably a no, since Ryan had Taylor and even he wouldn’t want to cheat on Taylor if she was really as hot as she was in the photos of Ryan’s desk.

“No, I went home last night to get a couple things and decided to stay for dinner and then that led to staying the night.” Answering as if it were no big deal.

“Cool man, well I am going to head down to the café, you want to join?” Alex said as he dug through vicariously strewn jeans on his side of the room for his wallet.

“No, sorry, I got a class in…” checking his watch, “15 minutes, damn, I have to go. Later.” Ryan then ran out the room on his way to his first class, hoping he wouldn’t be late. Leaving Alex behind shrugging it off as nothing as he kept digging through his pile of jeans.

Ryan thought about how right Seth was about his roommate before he had arrived at Berkeley. He wasn’t the same as Seth, he was messier than Seth and was different, almost weird in Ryan terms since he was Seth’s brother and Seth wasn’t weird, but Alex was still basically average. He didn’t care much about his side of the room, while Ryan’s was always organized, and they had only been in school for two days. Alex hailed from San Jose which was about 45 minutes away and had never even heard of Chino or Newport. He didn’t pry much into Ryan’s life, and only really knew the basics; Ryan was dating Taylor, he came from Newport where he lived with the his parents Sandy and Kirsten and brother Seth. He had never even wondered the whole age thing with Seth, asking if they were twins or something. He didn’t really seem to care and that was okay with Ryan cause he didn’t really feel like explaining. Through and through they got along pretty well and if this was the way it was going to continue, Ryan would be happy. He entered his lecture 5 minutes early and sat down ready to learn as the minutes ticked by and the professor entered the room. Life was starting over again for Ryan and he was ready and sitting in the driver’s seat.

A/N: Please review, tell me if you want me to continue, or if you don’t or just want to add suggestions. Hope you guys liked, sorry if there are errors, geographically I am correct though cause I actually know where everything is in California city wise and Chino is not even close to Berkeley, its south with Newport. Berkeley gets snow.

The Past Doesn't Dissapear but Brighter Futures Do

Sat, 14 Apr 2007 12:44:02 GMT

I was studyng for my calculus class today and it sucked as usual but I remembered that I had to get ready for one of my mom's parties and as much as I hate going to them I enjoy the getting dressed up for them. Well this new party that I went to and rushed home from included half of the towns people, and it sucks. It sucks because for the first time in a month, I have had to address the ex fiance situation.

I have been so happy making new friends and being with Kia that I almost forgot that I handed my virginity away to my ex fiance and that his family lives in the same place that I do. Not to mention that we all share the same social world. Well the social world has discovered the fun of making me squirm, especially all these who plastic surgery queens who want a newly wed memeber to join their shopping and starving/ surgery brigade. I call them the barbie band, cause they all stick together and can't move all their parts.

Well this is the first time that I have really been back in the social world and everyone has finally heard about the whole break up engagement thing. I entered the party tonight because I had to more than i wanted to, and low and behold, at the bar was Mrs. Livingston. She was of course getting herself a martini before the main course was served. The entered the building, subjectively after my mother did because I went to pick up Kia from her house so we could drudge in together. I felt like all eyes were on me when I walked in, because the Livingston Family gave me the dirtiest looks ever. The worst part of it was that after the initial shock of seeing flowed through the room, and everyone had finally gotten their "Rumors" addressed to the point that they were satisfied, Matt came in with his new fling. He is home for break I guess, not chasing after anymore ballerina's I noticed when i saw the new girl but she was alot more "vibrant and easy" than I ever was.

My mother believe it or not, went over to Matt and gave him a hug and almost like threw him over in my direction as if I was prey or something. I think she was more excited to see him than me. Which doesn't surprise me in the tiniest bit because she despises me right now for not going back to Juilliard and choosing to go to Berkeley instead.

Matt thank god did not head over to me and Kia right away, I am not sure how much he knows about me right now, but he kind of gave a smirk while looking me up and down like I was meat or something.

Sometimes I wished I didn't have this complex where I feel like I owe my mom something for giving me life because if I didn't then I would probably be happy living with my dad and not my mom. I mean, it really isnt a big deal because really, they live in the same town, in the same general area and I have my own room and stuff at my dad's compound, but I spend more time then not at my mom's place because well, most of my crap is there, and I feel obligated to almost because 1, she is my mother and she kind of has that control over me, and 2, my dad and stepmom are used to living life without kids around most of the year so, even though they love and me stuff, I know that they would forget that I were there when doing inappropriate things. They have problems adjusting in the summer's when we kids are home. They just arent used to it and I don't feel like imposing and at least at my mom's her guys change so often, and she is used to having kids around more than not, she has learned to bring to the bedroom, and its my mother, I am just used to her bullshit and stuff, I kind of like thinking of my dad and stepmom in the they are still great people idea.

Needless to say, my step mom was at the party and she gave me a hug when my mother was being a bitch, and even though they are friends I think she sides with me more in situations because I mean in a way i am her daughter, step anyway, and the closests thing she has to one, and she is more sympathetic than my mother. Sometimes I wish she were my actual blood so that I know I have a mother who would offer me a kidney if need be it.

Needless to say, appetizers, mingling and dinner went without a hitch. Granted, dinner isnt much of anything but play food, I mean dinner was like appetizers. They have this new in thing going around a lot of parties, where they have different sections set up around the room where you can choose different small portions and they serve it in these like bite size portions, well you can pretty much eat them standing, and they have tables and stuff but since everyone likes to mingle, they are used more to sit your purse down. The cocktail tables however are the ones that are used, they are standing tables that you can mingle around and stuff. This allows you to invite more people than seating allows and nobody would ever know. Also it allows you to make use of the 2k you drop for a dj. They DJ is working all night long. Well the first hour I was there with Matt being there also with his new barbie, we avoided each other very well, if I had not seen him earlier, i would have never known that he was there. But I guess he really is a hawk because, as soon as i was vaulnerable he showed up to abuse. He came over with a smirk, and totally called me out, telling me that mommy's little girl comes second place even to him. That I shouldnt have left him because I was never going to find a guy to look like he did again. Nobody wants a drop out ballerina, who is nothin more than a stick. I was kind of crushed, I don't know why I let him get to me, but I do, and it sucks. After about 5 minutes of the me standing there shrinking by the minute and him totally being an ass, he started the rampade about me being alone forever and that I the whole nobody wants you psychobabble that guys go through, thank god for Kia though, I think, anyway, she got somebody to come to my rescue, Devon Atwell. He is quite a cutey. Tall, built, but apperently really quiet mostly. Total gentleman. He knows how to save a girl. He is friends with Kia apperently and can talk when prompted or comfortable, he is also a true romantic. I guess we went to school together when we were little, but as if I am going to remember. He said he thought I dissapeared when I moved to NYC to go to SAB. He said he never saw me again, and apperently he invited me to his 11th birtday that year but I never went because I had already moved to start school at SAB.

Well Devon came to my rescue and pertended to be my date for the night, I totally didn't even know who he was, But I m greatful for Kia and being my total best friend and knowing when to send a guy to my rescue and one that would piss my ex off too. Well he came over and took my hand into his and totally stood up to Jerkoff Matt. He came over kissed my cheek, then turned and was all, "hey tay, are you okay? You looked kind of out of it babe." then he totally turned and I had to play it cool as Matt gave me this look and was all who is this. Needless to say, Devon introduced himself because obviously I couldnt, and if I had to, i would of been screwed. Matt being civil shook Devon's hand and then Devon asked me to dance, we went to the floor to dance, and I totally saw matt stalk away angry. I was all smiles lets saw when Kia and her boyfriend Kyle came up to dance right next to us, and she was all, "Oh by the way Taylor, this is Devon, he knows you from school, friends with Kyle, you don't mind entertaining him do you? While i spend some time with Ky here?" How could I say no, this guy totally just saved me from my ex.

To be continued it next part called... dancing with devon.

New OC Oneshot- The Family Tree

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 17:45:15 GMT

This is a future fic, it spins off from the series finale, i needed closure so I wrote it. It is known as Love Is Easy, Presenting It Not So Much on Fanfiction.net but I renamed it because this name sounds better. All the people who are important or alive in the series finale are in this.

Title: The Family Tree
Characters: R/T, S/S, Kandy, J/B, Kaitlyn, Josh, Sophie, other minors
Rated: G
A/N: Please leave feedback
Summary: What happened between the move and the wedding, and what might have happened after. What did everyone do, and what were those glances, hopefully this answers it with a little family tree fun. The complicated web called Atwood-Cohen-Cooper-Bullit.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the characters, if I did, the show would still be on.

The Family Tree

2014

It had been 7 years since they were on that train and so many things have changed. Taylor had ended up attending Berkeley after being away for a year. She came back and started her sophomore year with Ryan at Berkeley. She was already 2 quarters ahead of him but with Ryan’s adjustments and her taking a quarter to move back and spend time with her mom, Ryan and her started at the same pace by their junior year. Their love got stronger and stronger as the time went by and during their senior year they had moved into an apartment together just off of campus. Ryan never went without telling Taylor he loved her again, and she tried to not ramble as much. They had their occasional fights and arguments but things never were aloof for long, their love was pure and everyone loved that they loved each other.

After the pain of not having Kirsten around, Julie had moved to Berkeley right before Joshua Atwood- Bullit was born to be with her best friend. Kaitlin not caring so much ended up attending Prodigy Academy a prestigious school in the Berkeley area to graduate and move cross country to attend Williams College. Bullit never did get over Julie, while Frank did. Frank loved his son, and had a deep part of his heart for Julie but they just didn’t click on a more intimate level. Bullit gave Julie time and she eventually found the man for her, him. Their love was strong and this time there was no baby rushing them, nothing but time to figure things out and fall in love the easy way. He finally asked her to marry him and this time it wasn’t like nailing jello to a wall, instead things were steady. Joshua was born into a loving family and Frank was willing to allow Bullit to attach his name to Josh’s since he would be around more. Frank had ended up staying in Newport while Bullit moved with Julie and supported her in every way possible with her decisions with life. A year after Josh was born; Julie and Bullit had gotten married. Bullit was known as Papa in the house and Frank when he was around was daddy to Josh. Even though there was a distance, Josh got to see his dad for a weekend at least every other month if not twice a month. New- Match became New- Match Berkeley with a branch still in Newport, surprisingly being cared for by Frank since Kirsten and Julie were in Berkeley. The business was a success and this time amd there was no pimping of men. Kaitlin did eventually learn all of her step brother’s names and had a great relationship with all of them. Keeping her school work alive and staying out of trouble came easier when she had 13 brothers supporting her and a step dad who made sure she was happy everyday. Life was going well and love was in the air for the Cooper- Bullit family.

Sandy and Kirsten were living the life they always dreamed of having in Berkeley with a little more running around than planned. Sophie was now 7 years old and running around with Joshua everyday after school at the office. They had set a playroom up in the New Match Berkeley office so both Kirsten and Julie could raise their kids along with a few other women who worked there. Sandy got to eat breakfast with his favorite ladies everyday and mini bagels were of the plenty for Sophie to be just like her dad. Through the years, Sophie was regularly babysat by Ryan and eventually by Taylor to, which gave her an excellent vocabulary with great pronunciation by age two since it seemed that Taylor never stopped talking, which for once was a good thing. Kirsten loved having big holidays in the house, and since Julie only lived 7 houses down it made it easy for them to do big meals together without the crowded living arrangements. Sandy and Kirsten’s love was kept alive no matter what, and having Ryan and Taylor around to baby sit meant that they could go on dates once a week and double with Julie and Bullit without having to worry. As the years went on, they were the prime example to Seth, Summer, Ryan and Taylor and one day they would be thanked for it.

Seth and Summer lived in their little 1 bedroom apartment in Rhode Island this time with a kitchen and not a toaster, a couch and not two lazy boys, and with a closet full of more than bathrobes and soap that actually ran out. Summer was high fashion with activism and Seth, well he was still Seth, except now it was less about what Seth needed and more about supporting Summer. Atomic County was popular world wide and Seth was making money off of something he enjoyed. Summer was also getting the attention of many students at RISD whenever she visited Seth on campus. Their love was strong, they had their fights and Summer had her rage black outs but yet they still loved each other. After they both graduated from college, Summer and Seth moved back to California and ended up living in San Francisco where Seth went on with producing Atomic County at the Marvel Studio Headquarters and Summer ended up going to grad school at Golden Gate University. They had just gotten married a year before, Taylor being the Maid of Honor and Ryan the Best Man. The Wedding was held in the Cohen’s backyard two weeks after Julie graduated from Berkeley and Ryan from Berkeley’s School of Architectural Design. Frank came up to support Julie with Kaitlin, Josh and Bullit, wearing matching Team Julie shirts. Sophie and Joshua walked down the aisle together as ring barer and flower girl. They were now living happily together in their town house on Notting Hill in San Francisco while Summer started the Cohen Save the Sea Otter Foundation. The foundation was booming and helped relocate hundreds of otters and doubled the state’s otter population while educating many children. Their life had fit into place and their destinies were fated to be the way they were, together, happy, saving the world, in reality and fictionally.

Ryan and Taylor were one week away from their wedding which would follow in the new tradition of the Cohen Berkeley backyard ceremony. The day of Summer and Seth’s wedding, after everyone had been seated and just minutes before the ceremony, Ryan had pulled Taylor to the front porch and got down on one knee to ask for her hand where she agreed gleefully. During the whole entire ceremony their loving glances at each other were hiding the secret they hadn’t wanted to ruin Summer and Seth’s moment with. Almost ten months later and they were finally down to a few days before the wedding. Ryan had been working at the Phillips Architecture Firm in Berkeley where he was designing hospitals and the new Sandy Cohen Law Building at Berkeley. Taylor on the other hand had been working as a lawyer for Summer’s Cohen Save the Sea Otter Foundation along with representing kids in need of a new life and guidance in juvenile detention facilities. She had finally put those linguistic skills to use in a place where her rambling would be useful. Living together in Berkeley in a dream home designed by Ryan with Taylor’s design input, they were happy to start life as Mr. and Mrs. Atwood Cohen, making their loving relationship even more unbreakable by sealing it with rings for eternity. Living close enough to their family and far enough away to not always run into them.

Sophie and Josh ended up going to school together at Prodigy Academy where they got to spend time together and today they had the opportunity to make a special presentation for their class. The assignment was to make a family tree, but instead they made more of a family map together. Their teacher had approved of them to make this complicated map for the big presentation together instead of separately. All of the parent’s, and the whole Cooper- Bullit- Atwood- Cohen gang came to see the children present their projects. Sophie and Josh stood together in front of their Second Grade Class along with all their family and other parent’s and spoke together as they started.

“My name is Sophie Rose Cohen,” Sophie said with a smile at the large audience that was mainly her and Josh’s family.

“And I am Joshua Atwood Bullit.” Josh spoke with glee.

Together they started the explanation, “And this is our mixed up, but happy family tree. The Cohen- Cooper- Atwood- Bullit Family Tree, So let’s start out with the oldest parts of the tree.”

Sophie went on, “Caleb Nichol is my grandfather, he married Grace, my grandmother and now they are both in heaven. They both had my aunt Hailey and my mom Kirsten. Then there is my Grandma Sophie, and My Grandpa Seth who are in heaven too, they both had my daddy Sandy, and my aunts Sarah and Sandra. My mommy and daddy met and had my brother Seth, then they adopted my brother Ryan, then they had me. But Grandpa Caleb also had another baby, she is my aunt Lindsey.” She ended with a deep breath and a smile.

Josh picked up from there, “Then there is my family and we are starting at my mommy. My mommy Julie was once married to Jimmy Cooper who is daddy to my sisters’ Kaitlin and Marissa, who is in heaven with Sophie’s grandparents. Jimmy then married Hailey who is Sophie’s aunt and they live in Hawaii together. My mom then married Caleb before I was born and after Lindsay was born and became Grandma to Sophie, Ryan and Seth, which made Kaitlin, Marissa, and Aunt Kirsten sisters. But then Caleb went to heaven and my Mommy met Mr. Roberts and they almost got married.”

Sophie picked up almost in interruption, “But instead Mr. Roberts’s daughter married my brother Seth and now she is my sister in law, Summer Roberts Cohen. Then Mr. Roberts moved to Washington and…”

Tag teaming from Sophie, Josh picked up his end, “my mommy met my daddy Frank, and they had me. Daddy Frank is also Ryan’s biological daddy, Ryan is Sophie’s brother now though, and everyone is okay with that since he acts like a Cohen, but that means that Ryan is also my brother, even if he is also Sophie’s brother. But my mommy and daddy didn’t get married, instead my mommy fell in love with my Papa Bullit, and I then became Joshua Atwood Bullit. And then we have my 12 brothers from Papa Bullit, Austin, San Antonia, Houston, Dallas, Hanoi, Spencer, Lubit, Odessa, El Paso, Amarillo, XR County, and Corpus Christy. And Daddy Frank also has another son named Trey who is also Ryan’s brother but not Sophie’s but he is mine, and Ryan and Trey have the same biological mommy named Dawn but she is in New Mexico so she really doesn’t count.”

Picking it up with a smile toward Ryan and Taylor in the back, “Ryan though is now engaged to Taylor Townsend and marrying her next week so Joshua and I are getting a new sister in law, Taylor.”

Together they tried to close the presentation, “And that is our family.”

Sophie continued, “The Cohen’s have my mommy and daddy, Seth, Summer, Me, soon to be Taylor, and Ryan who is also in the Atwood Family with Trey, Frank and Joshua, who is also in the Cooper Bullit family.”

Josh almost out of breath, “Which is my mommy, my Papa Bullit, my sister in heaven Marissa, Kaitlin, Me, and my brother’s Austin, Dallas, San Antonia, Lubit, Odessa, El Paso, Amarillo, San Antonio, XR County, Corpus Christy, Hanoi and Spencer. And Kaitlin’s daddy Jimmy who married Sophie’s aunt Hailey who is also now kind of my aunt.”

“Along with Aunt Lindsey.” Sophie added in really quick.

Together after hours of rehearsing they said it without a hitch, “And even though we aren’t all biologically related, we learned that word from Taylor, we are one really big family, because we are all linked to each other somehow, and just because we don’t have the same mommy’s and daddy’s doesn’t mean we aren’t family because we all love each other and we all care for each other and it doesn’t matter who is in your family or how your family works, it only matter’s how you love each other.”

The whole entire Cohen- Cooper- Atwood- Bullit clan stood up and cheered at the end of the presentation, claiming many laughs from other parents, students, a teacher and proud principal who had never witnessed a presentation like this before.

R/T Fanfiction Oneshot: Sophie's Essay

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 23:36:30 GMT

here is another one shot for everyone to enjoy. I hope you like, it took me forever to write it.

Title: Sophie's Essay
Characters: Seth/Sum, Sandy/K, J/B, R/T, Sophie, Joshua
Summary: Sophie's Essay sparks alot of different things
Set in 2017 when Sophie and Josh are 10
Then rest will unfold
A/N: Please leave comments and review, I am posting more fanfiction on here than my account on Fanfiction.net because that one sucks.

“My family might be a map and it might be all over the place, but it is mine none the less. My mom and dad still love each other after all of these years, and they still kiss every morning and every night, and whenever they think I am not looking. They argue sometimes and they disagree a lot but every night no matter what, they fix things, and have long talks, right before they say they are sorry and “I Love You” all over again. They found each other on the same school that my brother and sister and law graduated from and the same school I will one day attend, Berkeley.

My mom and dad love each other a lot but so does my Aunt Julie and Uncle Bullit. They took a long time to find each other and they took forever to admit their love for each other. Actually, my uncle Bullit has loved my aunt Julie forever, but she needed to have my best friend Josh before she could finally admit she was ready to love again. Aunt Julie has taken a long time to find the perfect husband, but eventually she did find him. Now they are happily living down the street from me and my best friend in the whole in tire world is happy with them.

The grown ups have all found the perfect love, but so have my brothers. My brothers are grown ups to but they are still my brothers so they don’t count. Seth is my oldest brother, only by three months but still, he is older, even if he doesn’t act it. Seth grew up with very little friends, he didn’t have a best friend until we got my brother Ryan, but he did have a love of his life. My sister in law Summer Roberts has been my brother’s love since he was in the fifth grade like I am in now. Seth fell in love with her but he never told her until they were in tenth grade. Luckily Summer did finally fall in love with him. Seth and Summer are perfect for each other because they balance each other out. Summer is loud, and controlling, and she can get really, really mad, but no matter what she loves Seth more than anything, even if she doesn’t want to admit it. 4 years ago they got married and it was amazing because they were funny and in love at the same time. Seth is funny, cause he is weird like that, they like different things but they love each other and that is all that matters. Summer saves the rainforests and the world, while Seth draws comics about it, in the real world and the comic world they match each other.

My other brother Ryan came into our family when he was 15 and he is the example of real love and real families. He might not have the same blood as Seth and me but he is still a Cohen no matter what because he fits in perfectly to our life. Our parents love all of us the same and it’s the truth, sometimes I wonder if they love Ryan more because he grew up different and is smarter than Seth, but I know no matter what we are three’s company, the Cohen kids. Ryan is my brother because he acts like it, and because we love like it. Ryan has gone through a lot in his life, he had a hard time with his first parents but then found our parents and then he was loved. Ryan once upon a time thought that he would never find love in a girl, but he was almost okay with that because he found love in a family and he says that sometimes that is enough, to just have a brother, sister, and parents that love you. Ryan did find a soul mate though, and she talks really fast and is really organized but is more fun than anyone I know. Ryan found Taylor right before I was born and they didn’t know how much they loved each other until I was born. It took them a year to finally admit that they only loved each other and my sister in law Taylor had to move back from France and go to Berkeley with Ryan. It was fun because Ryan lived at school and Taylor lived with me at first so everyday she came home from school, I got to play with her. And since she lived at home with me, Ryan came home more. Taylor is crazy but Ryan still loves her, and even though Ryan sometimes is quiet, Taylor can make him talk a lot. They make the perfect couple too because they love each other more than anything. Ryan doesn’t know how to say I love you really well, or at least he didn’t, but now he does, and he talked a lot at his wedding, more than I have ever heard him say at one time. Ryan made Taylor cry that day, but these were happy tears. Taylor was even silent when Ryan talked and that made me laugh because she is never silent.

Everybody always wonders if Summer and Ryan should marry each other and Seth and Taylor marry each other, because they are the same almost, but if they did that, things wouldn’t be love because love is the way they are now and the balance they are now. Ryan and Taylor love each other so much because they had to fight for it, and because through all the things they have been through in their lives apart from each other, they have found each other and now go through everything together.

My brother’s love me like nobody else. I think they love me more than they love their wives, but in a different kind of way. They always protect me and they call when they can’t see me and they make sure I am protected from Mom and Dad’s affections. Even though they don’t protect me from their affections with their wives. Nobody has brother’s like mine because they are different, one look likes me but isn’t from the same blood, while one looks different and we share the same blood. Seth makes me laugh and he makes sure I am happy playing, while Ryan protects me from everything in the world he can. Seth can never take me out by himself because Mommy is afraid he will loose me because he doesn’t pay attention when there are comic books around. Ryan can take me anywhere because he protects me, and even though he won’t sing to me in public or tell me a fairytale that I now understand is about him and Taylor, he will do it when nobody is watching or listening. That’s how they show me they love me, and that’s how I know I am important to them even if they have new families of their own.

My sister in laws are crazy but also amazing. They are wild and opposites but they are best friends. They have been through a lot together and they used to hate each other but now they love each other. Summer found Seth first, but then became friends with Taylor, and that made Ryan find her. They are the Fantastic Four, even thought there are two girls. Even though they are best friends with each other and they are girls, they say there is nothing wrong with having a boy best friend like I am with Josh.

Everybody wants to be doctors and teachers and veterinarians, but I don’t know what I want to be yet because I am good at lots of things. My daddy is a teacher, my mommy a matchmaker, my brother Seth is a comic book drawer, Ryan is an architect, Summer is a environmental lobbyist, Taylor is a lawyer. Everybody has different jobs and they all teach me different things so I am good at lots of things, and I think that since I am only 10, I shouldn’t have to know what I want to do with my life just yet. All I know is that I want to find love the way everybody in my family has. I want to grow up and help people out who need help even if they aren’t family the way my family does. I want to grow up and be happy all the time the way everybody in my family is. Even my cousin Kaitlin is happy now. She used to not be but now she is. She hasn’t found love but she loves Josh and Aunt Julie and Uncle Bullit. Even though she is far away, I know she loves everybody.

I know this essay is suppose to be about what you want to be when you grow up but I am not sure what I want to do as a job. All I know is that when I grow up I want to be happy and in love. I am not sure I even have to have that because right now I have more love in my family than anybody really needs. I just want to share the love I get and hope that I have the love I see around me.

The End.”

Kirsten finished reading from the paper and had tears streaming down her face. She looked around the room and smiled as she saw Bullit comforting Julie, Seth crying just Summer, Ryan rubbing Taylor’s back and Sandy coming toward her ready to wrap her in his arms.

Taylor finally spoke up through the silent tears, “Sophie is such a smart girl, I can’t believe she wrote that, it was amazing.”

Everyone nodded as the tears subsided in the room. Finally the front door opened and two rambunctious ten year olds bounded through, throwing their backpacks on the floor as they headed into the living room and stopped when they saw all the tears.

Joshua spoke up quizzically, “Who died?”

Everyone laughed as Kirsten went over and hugged Sophie, “Sweetie, why didn’t you tell us about your essay? It is amazing, I am so proud of you. We all are.”

Sophie blushed as she looked around the room, “Thank you, I didn’t want to say anything because this happens. I love you guys but you are all really big babies, bigger babies than Cooper.” She said referring to Seth and Summer’s son.

The truth of the answer caused an eruption of laughter that echoed through the room. Joshua picked up a cookie from the table and fell onto the couch next to Ryan who was holding Taylor in his arms. Ruffling his hair, Ryan asked Josh, “So buddy, since Sophie wrote that essay, what was your essay about?”

Swallowing the bite he had taken form the cookie, he said nonchalantly with a shrug, “I just followed the assignment, I want to be a food critic so I can eat all day.”

Ryan and Julie shook their heads at the boys obliviousness to insightfulness of Sophie’s essay. Getting the hint, Josh replied to the shakes, “What? I am not a suck up like Sophie, I just want to finish school so I can go and get paid to eat all day.” The room once again erupted in laughter.

Sophie had a frown, “Hey, I am not a suck up, I just enjoy using the brain I have unlike you, who’s brain is the size of a peanut. Cry me a river that I got an A and you got a C.”

Josh threw a pillow at her as Julie and Bullit gave a frown to the news of Josh’s C. Bullit became serious, “Joshua Bullit, why did you get a C on your paper?”

Glaring at Sophie, Joshua turned to his parent’s, “I don’t know, I did the assignment, not my fault the teacher doesn’t like me.”

Sophie butted in with a smirk, “You got a C because you wrote it in pencil and didn’t do it until ten minutes before class, duh.”

Josh glared, “Shut up Sophie, you are such a little snitch, no wonder Jessica hates you. You ruin the fun for everyone.”

With that Sophie looked at her best friend with tears in her eyes, “I am not a snitch, you are just stupid”, as she turned and ran away to her room.

All the eyes in the room fell upon Josh, as he smirked, not thinking twice about what he had just said to Sophie. Julie finally stood up and towered over Joshua, “Joshua Dean Atwood- Bullit, you march and get that paper for me this instant, and we are going to go into the kitchen and talk about this.”

Joshua’s smirk turned into a frown as he looked over at Ryan for help, Ryan just shook his head as he was about to get up and comfort Sophie. Joshua huffed and got up to get his backpack. Ryan got up stopping Sandy and Kirsten from leaving the room, “Hey let me talk to her, I think I can fix things.”

As Ryan took his first step, Taylor stopped him with her foot, “Hey Ry, let me talk to her, I know the feeling of being side stepped because you are the smart one. Once upon a time I was geekier than Seth”, she said with a slight smile toward Summer and Seth and a knowing one toward Kirsten and Sandy. Getting up, she kissed Ryan really quick as she headed out of the living room.

Everyone was silent as the sound of Julie’s raised voice scolding Joshua was heard from the kitchen, Bullit then stood up, “That’s my cue to save the boy from having to write I will not be mean a hundred times over”, and with that Bullit exited the room as Cooper’s cried were heard from the guest room down the hall and Summer and Seth headed out to see what was going on with their 2 year old son. Summer waddling her 8 month pregnant belly with her. Kirsten sat down with Sandy right next to Ryan. Sandy patting Ryan on the shoulder, “You have been really quiet lately Ryan, what is going on?”

Ryan just shrugged as he thought through his words carefully, “ That essay, it just really hit close to home, I could have never written something like that when I was 10.”

Kirsten hugged her blonde son, “Sweetie, you weren’t unintelligent as a child, why don’t you think you could have written that?”

Ryan looked at Kirsten, “It’s not the grammer, it’s the story and what she wants, I could have never written that all I want is the love that I get right now. Her essay it just makes me so grateful for all that I have, because when I was 10, there was nobody for me to turn to, I would have just written I didn’t want to end up in jail.” Ryan’s eye was brimming with a single tear as he thought of how his life has changed.

Sandy put his arm around Ryan’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze as Kirsten kissed him on the cheek, Sandy finally speaking, “Ryan, you know you are a Cohen, forever you will be a Cohen, we know that was your life back then, but think about how your life has been the last 13 years, that is who you are now. You are an architect, you have a loving family and a crazy wife and someday soon you are going to bring a kid into the world that will be just like you and hopefully not like Taylor. That kid is going to have all this love, and yours, you may not have written that essay, you might have never wished for it, but kid, you lived it.”

Ryan smiled as he agreed and hugged both of his parents back. Finally deciding that needed to go join Taylor and see how the situation was unfolding as Kirsten and Sandy went to check on Cooper.

Taylor knocked softly on the door before entering the fluffy pink bedroom. Looking around the room before spotting a curled up Sophie in the corner cuddled in the massive pile of stuffed animals, clinging to an old teddy bear. Taylor walked over to the pile that included Sophie and took a seat next to the little girl in the pile.

Sophie looked up and sighed, “What do you want Taylor? Want to tell me all about how popular you were in school and how I can be just like that? Because it isn’t going to help, I might look cool like Ryan but I am a dork like Seth.”

Taylor laughed softly at the young girl’s words as the memories flooded back to her, “Oh Sophie, why would you ever think that I was popular?”

Sophie looked up, sobs subsiding as she looked quizzically at her sister in law, “You are beautiful Taylor, everyone loves you, you might talk a lot but you are like the other girls in school who are always dressed nice and they have lots of friends and talk to everybody, not like me.”

Taylor took the young girl into her arms, “Sophie, I wish that were true, but I was not like that at all, when I was 10, I had stringy hair, and these huge glasses, nobody wanted to be friends with me, I was alone every year until I was in the 12^th grade, even when I became like this, nobody was my friend.”

Sophie shook her head in aw, “No way, you were dorkier than Seth and me?”

“Sweetie, you are lucky, you are beautiful, you are like the mini version of your mom, and I idolize your mom, and to be honest, I wished Seth would be my friend and even that didn’t happen, that was how bad it was.”

Sophie smiled as she looked up from Taylor’s arms, “Wow, I can’t believe that, you are like the dream girl, how did things change? Or what happened?”

“Well I just tried less to be cool and was more me, you have friends sweetie, and you are smart, you have Josh and you have all of us, you aren’t a loner, not like me, just breath a little and don’t make fun of anybody or judge anybody, do well in school for yourself and let the other kids take care of themselves, how does that sound?”

“That sounds okay, I guess, but what about Josh, he is my best friend, how can he be mean to me like that?”

Taylor smiled thinking about Ryan and herself, “Well Sophie, I think he just got mad at you, boys are just like that, want to know a secret?” At this time, Ryan was standing outside the door listening in.

Sophie nodded enthusiastically as Taylor continued, “Well, when I was in high school, I got your brother Ryan kicked out of school, and then after that I made him do everything I wanted just because I could. He hated me more than anything I think.”

Sophie had a look of shock on her face, “No way! Ryan could never hate you, he loves you, he tells me all the time. Why would you kick out your own boyfriend?”

Taylor frowned at how little this little girl really knew about the past, “Well at the time, his wasn’t my boyfriend Sophie, he didn’t even like me back then because I was really bad, I ruined a lot of fun for him by tattle tailing. Boys are just like that though sweetie, they are always going to get mad when you make them look bad, they always want to look cool.”

“I know, me and Josh used to be best friends, and now when sixth graders come around he makes me feel invisible. I just want my best friend back, what do I do?”

Taylor smiled a sad smile at Sophie as she thought about the answer, “Sophie, why don’t you just tell him that, Josh is a good kid, he will understand, he is just a boy, they don’t see things the way we do right away so shove some light his way.”

Sophie smiled brightly as she hugged Taylor, “Thank you Taylor, for making me feel better. And telling me about you being a total dork.”

Taylor laughed, “No problem sweetie, my humility is worth your smile, I will do anything for you.”

Sophie beamed, “Really?”

“Of course, what else do you need?”

Sophie blushed as she asked, “The school is having this dance for the 5^th and 6^th graders, and I really want to look pretty, but Summer is to big and I don’t want to ask her, and mommy is just mommy so I don’t think she knows what’s cool, could you maybe help me find a dress and get ready?”

Taylor smiled at Sophie’s red cheeks, “Of course, I am honored that you would ask me to help you get ready, I just hope you don’t think of me last when I am as big as Summer one day.”

Sophie’s eyes got big as she thought she was being called out, “No its not because she is big or anything, its just she is tired a lot and Summer can get really cranky. Plus, I give up waiting for you and Ryan to have a baby, you guys take to long.” Ryan laughed to himself outside the door as Joshua bounded up the stairs. Ryan shushed him as he gave him the sign that they were eavesdropping.

Taylor looked shocked at Sophie’s words, “Hey Sophie, that is not fair, Summer and Seth were married way before Ryan and I were.”

Sophie just shrugged, “yeah and how many times do you guys sneak away to Ryan’s room when you are visiting”, Sophie said with a proud “I caught you” look. Ryan thought about it to himself outside of the room, yeah, why weren’t they pregnant yet.

Taylor just shook her head, “Promise you won’t ever say that again, and I will tell you a secret not even Ryan knows yet, and you can’t say anything until I say you can, promise?”

Sophie looked up proudly waiting for the secret, “I promise I won’t tell anybody about you guys sneaking to Ryan’s bedroom, or about the secret, ever, I swear, not even Josh.”

Ryan covered Josh’s ears and mouth from protest as he eavesdropped carefully, trying to keep Josh from hearing the secret himself.

Taylor looked at Sophie who made a scouts honor with her hand and laughed as she started, “Well Sophie, you don’t have to give up on me and Ryan anymore or wait, I am pregnant, we are going to have a baby.”

Sophie made a big dramatic sigh, “Finally, geez, take you long enough?”

With a mock face of hurt, “Hey! That’s not nice, it takes a long time to get pregnant, you can’t just pick babies off of trees.”

Sophie just shrugged her shoulders, “I guess”, but a thought just rang through her head, “you didn’t even tell Ryan yet? I am the first to know about the baby?”

Taylor just laughed at the change in expression on Sophie’s face, “Yes, and you are going to keep it a secret right?”

Sophie sat up straight, “Yep, but why doesn’t Ryan know yet? Isn’t he supposed to be the first one to know?”

Taylor’s smile turned into a frown as she answered hesitantly, “Well, I just found out, but I am not sure how Ryan is going to take it.”

Sophie asked an innocent question with innocent eyes, “Why, he’s not going to be mad, I don’t think.”

Taylor sighed, “Well we haven’t really talked about having a baby, we just kind of said a couple things here and there, this is official, there is no turning back. I am not sure if Ryan wants to be a dad yet.”

Sophie just looked at Taylor with bright eyes, “Take you own advice Taylor, just tell him, he’s a guy, he just needs the light in his eyes”, she recited, way out of contexts.

Taylor just laughed, “Okay, I will go blind my husband. Thank you sweetie.”

Sophie just shrugged it off, “No problem, that’s what I am here for.”

Taylor just hugged Sophie once more, “so are you good? Should I go send Josh up here?”

Josh peeked his head around the door at that moment, “Don’t bother Taylor, I am here, I am sorry Sophie, can we talk?”

Sophie just nodded as Taylor kissed her forehead softly and got up, passing Josh as they switched places. Taylor left the room, closing the door softly before turning around and jumping in surprise as Ryan wrapped her in his arms and kissed her. Ryan pulled away, putting a finger to keep her quiet on her lips as he dragged her into his old bedroom. When the door finally clicked shut and was locked, Ryan turned to look at Taylor, still holding her hand as he leaned against the back of he door, “How did it go?”

Taylor just shrugged it off, “Pretty good, she is good now.” Taylor dropped his hand as she tried to get out of the room.

Ryan just shook his head, “Spill Taylor”, Ryan led her to the bed, “what happened?”

Taylor tried to play it cool, “Oh nothing, she just talked about school, and I told her how to be better to her friends, and that she is beautiful and to never doubt that. Nothing other than the basic Sandy Cohen pep talk.”

Ryan gave her the once over glance, trying to guilt her into spilling her secret to him, “Are you sure? You were in there a long time for a pep talk. Anything else you want to tell me?”

Taylor shook her head, trying to restrain herself from telling him, “Nope nothing else.”

Ryan gave her strict tone, “Taylor”, she turned to him immediately, “any secrets?”

Taylor knew she was caught, “You already know the secret don’t you? You were eavesdropping.”

Ryan just nodded for her to continue.

“It’s not that I wasn’t going to tell you, I was, I just wanted to make sure, and it’s not even a hundred percent that I am, I mean I just found out, and I wasn’t sure if you wanted a baby, because we never have really sat down and talked about it, we just kind of run over the topic once and while, so I am not sure if you are going to hate me, or something, but I am pretty sure that I am cause I have been feeling kind of like I am lately, but I wasn’t sure, and I don’t want you to hate me, cause this hasn’t been set in stone yet, I mean are we even ready to have a baby? Financially we are but emotionally, I want one, I really do and Seth and Summer are on number two and I just would kind of like it, and since I thought I was pregnant, I have been imagining the feeling of a baby, and I am hoping I do have one inside, but if I don’t I mean we could try right, but we still need to figure out if we want kids right now and….” Finally Ryan just cut her off with a kiss from rambling even further in her nervousness.

Finally pulling away, Ryan stroked Taylor’s cheek with his thumb, “I think having a baby is a good idea, I would love to know that all that sneaking away has led to something more than our own personal pleasure.”

Taylor finally dropped her shoulder, relaxing at Ryan’s words as she looked at him with gleaming eyes, “Really? You want a baby?”

Ryan kissed her temple with his reply, “Yeah I really do, now more than ever, why didn’t you tell me you thought you were pregnant? When did you find out?”

Taylor stood up and went into the bathroom to retrieve her purse from where she had put it earlier when she had taken the test, coming back out she pulled out the box and pulled the test out of the box, “I found out when we got here, I just took it today, and it’s not a hundred percent sure, but I pretty sure it’s telling the truth, I am sorry.” Taylor looked at her feet once again.

Ryan placed the test on the nightstand beside the bed as he pulled her to sit in his lap and kissed her, “It’s fine Taylor, I see your point of view, I am actually really excited now, when do we know for sure?” Ryan slipped his hand under Taylor’s shirt, running his fingers lightly over her flat stomach as if waiting for it to move or kick or something.

Taylor smiled as she leaned her head into Ryan’s shoulder, placing a hand over dancing fingers, “Friday, I have an appointment, can you come with me?” Her eyes asked with anticipation.

Ryan smiled, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Taylor sighed in relief as she snuggled closer in Ryan’s arms, “Wow I can’t believe this is happening, all of this is crazy, and it all started with Sophie’s essay.”

Ryan closed his eyes with Taylor’s, tightening his grasp on her a little more as he sat there content and thought about it, this whole day started with a phone call from Kirsten to come to lunch and listen to Sophie’s Essay. And he was glad because he was leaving with so much more.

A/N: The ending isn’t amazing, but the story was nagging in my mind, so I had to write it, please review.

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 03:28:22 GMT

Kia and I were sitting out on my balcony today and i was nice to enjoy some best friend time with her because we really havent done much of that since she and kyle got back together which is normal I guess if you really think about it, but yeah, we have been spending alot of time together in the last week and it has been nice. We are going on spring break together to disney land because its kind of our place and we want to enjoy the whole thing. Its kind of my time to get over the whole ex thing while we get to celebrate time together being best friends with summer. The three of us are going to rock the disneyland. We are spending time at the beach also so that is going to be awsome so we can tan and scope for boys, kia can obviously look but she cant touch while summer and i totally can. We want to visit south coast plaze and stuff since it is on the oc and that is totally awsome since we dont have a place like that here in norcal. We are going to have so much fun and we are so excited about that. I cant wait to buy tons of stuff. We are going to redo my room which is kind of cheesy if you think about it because we are way past the frilly princess stage but a bit of disney never killed anyone.

We talked alot about boys and it was fun to do that, Kaity has been having boy craziness lately and it was kind of funny to hear her gush about this guy named jerimiah that just got kicked out of her college and how she is totally in love with him now and they have only known each other for six days and we discussed about how she was once in love with skyler, then ben, then davey, then ben again then josh, then ricky and then david again and then luke and now jerimiah, she jumps head first into these relationhips and she asks why she gets her heart broken all the time. its kind of obviouse.

Kia and I were discussing our friendship today and it was kind of nice because I really felt like I was best friends with her for the first time in a long time and it was because she has made other friends since I left, and really she is the only close friend I have. Like I have really good friends but we have always have some kind of thing tht keeps us slightly seperated like competition, but with kia, we have never had that.

We met only a year ago but I trust her more than anyone and even though within that year we have been away from each other more than six months and I have had my "issues" we have been good through it all. And now that I am home, we are even happier than before because we spend tons of time together. She a got a new boyfriend six month ago while I was away and they are really in love and stuff and it is so sweet to see them together and happy because she deserves to be happy. She had a kind of bad break up with brian and itkind of sucked of her and then after that her old best friend totally was jerk and then it was just a long string of troubles and I kind of felt bad for her that I was leaving her after spending time with her the year before.

What is best about her is that she has supported me through everything that I have been through and she has never judged me for anyhing that I do, which kind of makes me grateful because all everybody else does is judge me and it kind of sucks sometimes. I am this and I am that and I never do anything rite. She has supported me with every decision even though she has had her objections like breaking up with matt. She was still there no matter what and she laughed and was all like why didnt I marry the guy who had it all. We

Engagements, Sex & Heartbreaks Full Circle

Thu, 05 Apr 2007 07:44:08 GMT

tidbit about sex and relationships and the whole ordeal of the situaton....

.......This night though, he totally took my virginity, which I was kind of proud of keeping since I never wanted to risk loosing my spot at SAB or getting into Juilliard. It hurt alittle that night, but I totally understand the whole concept of an orgasm now though. Oh my gosh do I understand it. It was freaking amazing, and that was even before we had sex. I didn't give him head though, and I had actually been ready to and he said it should be about me that night because it was my first time, and we could do that anytime. My friends were all wrong about every guy wanting it to be about them, he made it all about me. He was so caring when "IT" finally happened though, like he said he knew it would hurt and so he went super gentle, and it did hurt. After a while though it did get better..............

This is the whole entry... superlon,.... but super detailed.

I sat at my window today, curled up in a ball and just cried myself into oblivion for the first time in a while. It came to me today that I can't control the world. I went running after my last destructive phone call that ended up with my phone shattered on my floor, now everyone understands why i have to keep my phone book updated in m room. Its destructive yes, but the truth about life is that it isnt fair and I have to go through it. So I ran and ran through the hills until I reached the water resevoir in the hills of the town and noticed that I was miles from home. I hadnt even thought about it until I hit the water's edge. Deciding that I needed to turn back, I started to walk again before I saw a whole bunch of cars driving through the hills with what looked like kids my age or younger. I knew what that meant, I used to do it when I had a boyfriend at school in new york. We used to go to some sucluded place and makeout while we watch a beautiful scene. This was the towns secluded beautiful scene, the water resevoir. I had only ever been up there once with a guy and on that night he proposed to me, what an idiot I was for saying yes. That comment screwed up my life for sure. I was almost jelous though as I watched the cars wizz by. Thats when I started running again, I ran all the way back home, all the while allowing my mind to real with the feeling of loss and pain for my love life has become and what I gave up or got myself into.

I was angry that I said yes to marriage, I was mad that the guy I fell in love with was such an ass in the end. I was angry that things in the world were such shit and I had nobody to tell this to. My brothers rolled over laughing when i brought up the engagement and they couldnt believe it. I was so happy when it happened but what was worse that things became rocky between me and matt and that just made things worst. He was the simple perfect rich and success riden boy. He had everything going for him and together we would have been the perfect couple. But I quit school and then he quit on me. All the while he was almost pretty much cheating on me. He didnt love me, he loved the idea of me. The perfect grl to bring home who came from the same kind of family with talent and beauty and from the same area. I thought for sure he was the perfect guy for me to. What were the chances that I would meet someone from my hometown in a city across the united states who had parents who knew mine but we never met each other. It was like the dream come true and when he proposed to me I thought it was the perfect thing. We were almost meant to be and that is my dream for sure. I gave myself to him in the most intimate way to.

The night he proposed to me was the day before Chistmas Eve. We were also only short of our anniversary for 7 months by 4 days. It was kind of crazy the whole things because I had only been 18 for like 9 days. I guess he really wanted to marry me. That or do me, because he said he loved me and that his parents and our parents agreed that it would be a great idea if we go married even though he had a year and a half until he graduated from NYU but with his trust fund and the money from his internship it would be enough to start a great life. I said yes of course. What drop out from Juilliard who has no idea what her future holds would say no to the perfect boyfriend? The perfect future?

I met Matt last May at PEA's Exeter vs. Andover games since he is surprisingly an alumni of PEA and his younger brother Andrew also attended as a sophomore at the time. At the time Matt was a sophomore at NYU and was just going up to see his brother play in the games. My brother's Benji and Bradley were seniors then and they really wanted me to come up so my dad let me take a cab from NYC to Exeter to see my brother's play. I met Matt in the stands and he said that when he noticed me first when I started cheering for Benji and Bradley. Most of you guys know the rest of the story but for those of you who don't. He offered to take me back to NYC since he had to go back to NYU and since I was at SAB it would be in the same general area. We sat and talked the whole ride back while his chauffer made the long drive. It was like a instant click. From that night on, when he wasn't working or studying we spent out time together away from my studies also. He would come to watch me in class sometimes and took me to lunch afterwards on Saturday's. He went to every single one of my shows afterwards and offered me the guest room in his apartment since I wanted to stay for August instead of moving home and then back to Juilliard in September. It worked out really well because his brother Andrew was also there and that kind of kept us from doing anything crazy because I was only 17 then. Matt is a very respectible guy, always opens doors, he can ballroom dance and even tried to learn ballet from me one day when I stayed late at the school. It ended in us making out against the barr and laughing on the floor more than him learning how to plie'.

He asked my dad for my hand apperently on my birthday when they shared a cab after dropping me off at my dorm. My dad wa thrilled guess. But we went up to the resevoir the night before christmas eve and he proposed to me and it was really beautiful.

We went back to his house afterwards and he lives in the east wing of his house which is like a whole seperate apartment. It has a seperate entrace and he has like a kitchenette and 2 rooms and the whole livingroom. He never really uses the wing for more than a bedroom since he spends a bunch of time with his family. It was nice of his parents to give him his own space though.

That night was the first night we had sex. Like it was the first night we really did anything actually. We had kissed and made out tons in NYC and like I would sleep in his bed with him and stuff but really, nothing had amounted to anthing more than above the waist touching, although, he did get hard ons when things got heated. This night though, he totally took my virginity, which I was kind of proud of keeping since I never wanted to risk loosing my spot at SAB or getting into Juilliard. It hurt alittle that night, but I totally understand the whole concept of an orgasm now though. Oh my gosh do I understand it. It was freaking amazing, and that was even before we had sex. I didn't give him head though, and I had actually been ready to and he said it should be about me that night because it was my first time, and we could do that anytime. My friends were all wrong about every guy wanting it to be about them, he made it all about me. He was so caring when "IT" finally happened though, like he said he knew it would hurt and so he went super gentle, and it did hurt. After a while though it did get better. It was actually amazing he whole experience. It felt so weird feeling him come though, I can also have multiple orgasms apperently. I guess it being my first time I was easy to please is what he said afterwards. He could totally feel it though when he stripped me of my innocence apperently. Like he felt it and I was the first virgin he had ever slept with.

It was amazing waking up in his arms the next morning though, my ring sparkling in the morning light on his chest. The skin to skin contact of us wrapped together, it was just wow. I think I liked waking up more than the sex portion.....okay, maybe not, but it came close second.

Our parents were all thrilled when we told everyone over Christmas Eve dinner at my house since his family does Christmas dinner and mine does Christmas Eve. It's about the only day a year where my parent's don't fight, they are just civil enough. I think is funny that my parent's fight because my step mom gets along really well with my mom, they are really good friends, which is kind of funny because my dad seems to hate my mom's guts and likewise.

I got him gift for Christmas and left it at his house but that night we did it again in the guest house at my house, we went for a walk after everyone was winding down and my mom left after we opened presents with her. She was leaving for a cruise with her new boyfriend the next day. Which is normal for me. I hadn't broken the news about quitting Julliard though. My dad knew, since he got all of my stuff shipped back to California but my mom didn't know and she wasn't going to find out until after New Years. We went for walk around my dad's massive property in the hills, and spent some time in the stables with my horses. I took out Candy and let him ride dad's horse Bordeaux. We rode in the night for like 20 minutes and then made the long walk back from the stables and ended up going into the guest house after searching around the front for the key, took freakin forever. But we did it again and I gave him head for the first time that night. It was really weird but I never got to taste him because he wore a condom when I did it. I was kind of glad a little. He takes the protection seriously which is freakin amazing, since I never had to worry and since I wasn't on the pill yet it was a good thing.

We went to all kinds of parties the following weeks after that and did it all the time, whenever we could get it in that is, but nothing ever kinky though. Thank god. But when I finally told my mom I wasn't going back toJuilliard she had a major freak out and totally blamed Matt, which wasn't his fault because I didn't even tell matt until right before I left and he asked whats with all he suitcases I packed. He was okay with it though. Things between us got rocky right after we hit valentine's day though, and then we ended up breaking up, which was because he wasn't giving me the time of day anymore and he said I shouldnt be worrying about him, I should be planning the wedding. 6 huge fights later we finally ended it and I threw the ring back in his face and grabbed my stuff and left his place. Find out later that I was being cheated on by stupid Matt. I went home and totally cried to Anne. My mom still hadn't forgiven me for quitting Ballet and my dad was working in Japan. So it sucked like no other and my stepmom Anne comforted me through the whole thing, she got ice cream and took me out like every day. It was nice of her to not say anything when she picked me up from the airport. I think she kind of knew since I came back early from the trip.
Love freaking sucks I tell you. and it kind of made me mad to see all those couples go to the place I once thought was sacred because that's where I was proposed to.

What is worst though was hearing stories from Anne's friends about the people they fell in love with back in the old daysthat they lost. One lady, Mrs. Lind, she found her old sweetheart but they can't be together because they both are married now and even though she loves her husband, she doesnt love him the same way as she loved her first love, and he is now married to someone else and happy I guess, and they would never jepordize their families to be with each other. Love is kinda like that, its this challenge and is full of obstacles and it just kind of sucks, since nothing really works out in the end. I kinda quit the whole debacle. I am pretty much over Matt though, kind of, like I still miss him, but I don't miss what he did to me, or want to be with him or anything, I just miss what we used to have, before the sex. Love is heartbreak, but the sex is good i guess.

I cried and cried because love is unfair and I finally just needed to come to terms with it. But now that I write this out things feel better and i better I guess. I guess I kind of just need to let things out finally since I pretty much bottled it up for the last 6 weeks but yea. We will back track again later. night all, have a great thursday!

R/T Fiction- Not So Sly Surprise- 1

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 07:42:32 GMT

OC FICTION
Title: Not So Sly Surprise
Characters: Ryan and Taylor
Chapter: 1 (so far)
Rating: PG13- R (sex, nudity, more fluff than sex but still)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, although I wish I was Taylor Townsend and not just plain Tay the dropout.
A/N: Please leave me comments about what you think, its supposed to be this fluffy kind of dirty 2-3 piece story, tell me if I should continue. Its about Taylor and Ryan after they have been married and Ryan is trying to be the romantic, but he isn't so sly and almost looses his wife.

Chapter 1

Ryan walked into the dark mansion, trying not to make any noise. It was after midnight and he was almost positive that Taylor would be asleep. He had been coming home late every night for the past two weeks and working on the weekends so they hadn’t been on very good terms. He kept making excuses for why he was working so late, but in reality he had been spending some time with Seth after work and planning something special for the upcoming weekend for him and Taylor.

A week ago, Kirsten had been going through the photo albums at the Cohen’s Berkeley home with Ryan and Seth while the girls were listening to a now 8 year old Sophie talk about school without stopping to breathe. They had come across a picture of Ryan and Taylor at Sandy’s Benefit of Kids over 8 years before, the same night that Ryan’s world spun around and Taylor became a permanent fixture in his life. That night would be 9 years ago this Saturday and Ryan had planned on taking Taylor out on replay of that night to show her how much he loved her, and appreciated her since that day. He knew they had had their moments where they broke up, where they fought, and days where they didn’t speak, but eventually they made up and they were destined for each other, hence why they were married 2 years before, right after Seth and Summer.

Ryan had gone out and gotten a personal shopper to find a red dress for Taylor, so that the day would be replayed in a new more romantic way. He had rented a yacht for the evening with a crew to make dinner and set up the perfect environment, alone with decorating a room for the evening on the yacht. This was supposed to be the perfect surprise for her. He smiled as he walked in the dark into his office to drop off his briefcase and then across the living room again to the kitchen to grab something quick to eat before heading up to bed with Taylor. Turning on the kitchen light he was surprised to see the kitchen table all set for a romantic dinner, melted candles a sign that he had missed something special. His heart sunk at the feeling that something was going to happen tonight that wouldn’t be pleasuring since he had missed Taylor’s version of a surprise. Sighing he grabbed a half a sandwich from the fridge figuring that Taylor must have made it to eat and never finished it. After eating it over the sink, and thinking about what he was going to tell Taylor in explanation, he grabbed a water bottle and decided to head upstairs to meet her wrath. Granted Taylor didn’t go rage black out on him the way Summer did on Seth, she did have her temper, but it usually ended in her crying because Taylor, as much as she wanted to try, didn’t really have an angry bone within her, at least not a really big one.

Heading out the kitchen, right before turning off the lights, he saw something that made his heart sink from the corner of his eye. In the front living room on a couch curled up in a ball was Taylor, in a black evening gown, sparkling earrings and stained cheeks where tears once ran down her face with her makeup. She was sleeping, possibly trying to wait for him as a surprise, but with Ryan’s habits lately, it must have ruined things for her. What was worst was what he saw on the coffee table. Lying in front of Taylor’s sleeping form on the coffee table was her engagement ring and wedding bang. Something Taylor never took off. She may have removed her rings to shower and for some other activities and cleanings but she wore it to sleep, during sex, cooking, at the gym, everything. So for Ryan to see it on the table in front of her, it broke his heart to know that he hurt her enough by working late for her to remove her rings. Ryan knew he needed to fix things, and he needed to do it before they both went to sleep tonight. And so he turned off the kitchen lights and walked over in the dark to turn on the lamp beside Taylor’s sleeping form. Crouching down in front of Taylor’s sleeping body; he lightly ran his thumb over her cheek as he cupper her face. Shaking her lightly as he kissed her forehead, Ryan tried to grab her attention, “Taylor baby, wake up, it’s me Ryan.”

Waking up from her sleep confused, “hmm? Ryan? What is it?” not even remembering the situation from before.

Ryan hoping she stayed in confusion, explained with a soft smile for waking his beauty, “I just wanted to let you know that I am home and that we should probably get you up stairs for bed, this couch isn’t the best sleeping arrangement.”

Finally coming to, it clicked in Taylor’s mind as she looked at him and the fury sprung like a volcano as she spoke, “Oh so you are just finally home huh, great, thanks for being home at a decent hour Ryan, you are only…” grabbing his wrist to look at his watch, “6 hours late for dinner, for the 13^th time in a row. I give up on you.” And with that she got up from the couch without waiting for another word from Ryan and stormed up the stairs away from him as fast as she could.

Sighing Ryan picked up the rings off the table and placed them in his pocket safely as he turned off the table lamp and picked up Taylor’s heels from their place next to the couch as he made his way in the dark up the stairs to his and Taylor’s bedroom. Walking into the well lit room he saw Taylor no where in sight but saw her dress in a heap of fabric on the floor next to the bathroom. Gently placing the rings on the dresser next to the door, Ryan put Taylor’s heels next to her dress by the bathroom. Looking around he saw that the door was closed and the lights were on, listening carefully, Ryan could hear the barely audible sobs coming from the bathroom. He knew he had caused those tears on Taylor’s face and he knew he needed to fix things, so he knocked gently on the door. One knock, two knocks, and by the third time when there was no answer he tried the knob to find the door open. Opening the bathroom door slowly he peeked his head in to see Taylor sitting in the empty tub with her knees to her chest crying in nothing but her lacy underwear and bra. The sight of her so vulnerable broke his heart and he knew he was the cause of it. Stepping into the bathroom toward Taylor, the footsteps caught her attention and she started to try and wipe the tears away to show that she was stronger than this.

Ryan spoke up softly, “Taylor, can we talk?”

Looking at him she snapped, “What do you want?”

Startled by the anger in his voice, he composed himself as he kneeled by the tub to try and talk to her, “Look Taylor, I just wanted to apologize for being so late, and…”

Interrupting, “you are sorry, and you will try not to do it again, and you didn’t know about dinner, you should have called, yeah, yeah, yeah, the I am sorry speech, I don’t care anymore Ryan, and you’ve been reciting the same speech for the last 12 days. I am done with you. Go away.” Taylor spoke her mind for the first time, replacing her tear stricken voice with anger. Still not moving and hoping that Ryan would get the hint she curled back into her knees, trying to hold back the tears until he left.

Ryan couldn’t let it go and didn’t take the hint, instead he permanently parked himself on the tile floor and cautiously placed a hand on her back to be surprised when didn’t flinch away, instead her body started to shake, racking with sobs as she finally broke down. Not moving from her curled up position as Ryan bent over the tub taking her into his arms silently; she finally spoke as he ran his hand up and down her back trying to soothe her, “Why did you stop loving me?”

Surprised Ryan pulled back trying to find his voice, “Taylor, I never stopped loving you, why would you ever even question that?”

Choking the words out through her tears, “because… you’re… chea… cheating on me…” barely being able to say he words as her sobs over took her once again at the thought of him sleeping with someone else.

Shocked by her answer, he finally understood her anger, and knew he needed to clear this up, no matter how bad the argument got, he needed to make sure that Taylor knew he loved her and only her, “oh Tay, that’s what you think is going on? Baby, I would never do that to you, you are my wife, my world, you’re everything, Taylor I would never cheat on you. What made you think that I was?”

The silence filled the room as Taylor finally composed herself enough to speak after processing what Ryan had just said, “it’s just that Summer said she saw you at Embarcadero Center with another woman going shopping, she wasn’t following you, she just saw you when she was in the city on lunch, and she told me when I called asking if she knew where you were, and she said that and I don’t know Ryan, why were you even shopping, you don’t really shop, and why were you with another woman, and apparently she is pretty and you went into Blue Rain and hugged some other girls and its just, I don’t know…” Ryan finally put a finger to her lips to try and stop her incessant rambling, understanding now where it came from.

“Oh Taylor,” putting his finger under her chin to turn her face to look at him as he continued, “I wasn’t going shopping for myself or another woman, I was just trying to buy something for you. I got a personal shopper to find me the perfect gift, and those other girls are just model’s they were helping me by modeling things for me to choose from, you are the only girl for me Taylor, don’t ever forget that.”

Kissing her lightly on the nose, Taylor’s sobs were now silenced as the few remaining tears fell from her eyes. However, her questions weren’t all answered and she wasn’t sure she should believe him, “Then what did you get me? Or what is this surprise?”

Sighing Ryan knew that he couldn’t possibly with hold information from her, because in reality, this is Taylor, and in all reality, Ryan can’t really be sly, or else he would have never been in this situation, “Taylor, I can’t tell you, or show you, you just have to trust me, I love you and all I can ask is that you love me back and trust me, I can’t make you believe me without proof, but I promise, I am not cheating on you, and I have never even thought about doing that.”

Deep down Taylor knew the truth about the situation, she knew he loved her, but in her mind, she couldn’t click with her heart, and logically she had every reason to be mad, “I can’t Ryan, you have been so distant lately, and I am not sure I can trust you about this, how important can this surprise be vs. the proof of your love?”

Knowing the truth behind that question, he sighed, he had no choice now but to tell her or else he might just loose her and keeping the secret would be useless if there was no Taylor to wear the dress or spend the evening with, “Okay, I have been searching for the perfect red dress for you. I have been looking for a red dress that might come close to the amazing red dress you wore 9 years ago at Sandy’s benefit, the night you kissed me, the night I started to fall in love with you.”

Looking at him her eyes bulging in surprise, she was stunned, he remembered that night, he remembered what she wore, and he wanted to reminisce that evening by purchasing a gown for her, she was now regretting ever getting angry, she was regretting putting him in this position, she should have just loved him and trusted him, “oh Ryan, I am so sorry, I didn’t know, I was just so afraid that you don’t love me and but I know you do now, and I am sorry and gosh, I love you too, I am so sorry for ruining the surprise, really I am and I…” Ryan pressed his lips to hers to stop her rambling. He kissed her with every feeling he had, every ounce of love was passed through that kiss and he wanted Taylor to feel it. Pulling away from her, he saw her flushed cheeks and her eyes slowly flutter open as her lungs filled with oxygen again. He smiled at her softly as she smiled at him and spoke once more, “I love you Ryan, and I am sorry again.”

Laughing at her guilty face, he just shook his head and kissed her softly on the forehead before speaking, “It’s fine Taylor, as long as I don’t loose you over a dumb dress, and to be honest, I didn’t spend every single night trying to find the perfect dress, I did work late 2 or three nights, and the weekend, and I did meet with the hospital committee one night for dinner, and Seth and I, well we went out three of those nights and played pool, video games at his office, went to dinner, a bar…” looking at her questioning face, he laughed and shrugged his shoulders, “what? Sometimes we guys just need some us time, and what better man time than with your brother, and Seth will alibi me I promise.”

Taylor shook her head at how the conversation turned light hearted so quickly, and laughed along with Ryan, taking one of his hands into hers, she played with his fingers as a calm silence took over the room, picking her head up from looking at their entwined fingers she smiled at Ryan softly before speaking, “I love you Ryan, for always.”

Seeing his beautiful wife right there Ryan said the only words that came to his mind, “I love you too.” Kissing her again, this time it got heated quickly as Ryan’s hands started traveling toward her bra clip and Taylor pulled away breathless.

“As much as I want to continue this Ryan, it’s getting late, and I need to wash off my destroyed makeup and get ready for bed, and you have an early morning, I know, I do too. So we can’t play catch up on sleep by going into work late. Sorry sweetie, but I solely blame it on you,” standing up from the tub and running her hands in the air showing herself off, “this could have all been yours if you came home earlier’. And with that she stepped out of the tub and walked over to the sink and started the process of brushing her teeth and washing off her face.

Ryan got off of his knees and sat on the side of the tub brooding about the fact that he had just been turned down by his lingerie clad wife as she started to wash her face in front of him. Thinking about the past two weeks and how they hadn’t done much in the love making due to the fact that Taylor got up before he did and went to sleep before he did also in the last 12 days. He looked up and saw her reach for the towel as an idea sprung into his head and he got up.

Patting her face dry with the towel, Taylor felt a presence behind her. Just as she was pulling the towel away to hang back on the rack she felt Ryan’s lips on her neck, kissing it softly as her towel was pulled out of her hands and placed on the counter. As Ryan starting moving toward her pulse point her eyes started closing in pleasure as he turned her slowly to face him, arms wrapped around her waist. Sucking on her pulse point he knew he had her at place of no return and her judgment would be cloudy after a few more minutes of this. Putting more pressure into the job a hand, Ryan heard the soft moan come from Taylor and knew at that moment whatever she had said before was out the door.

Moving up her neck to her lips he captured them in a fury as his hands moved down to her butt as he lifted her gently off the ground. Instinctively Taylor wrapped her legs around Ryan’s waist as her hands started to unbutton his shirt in a fury. Tongues intertwined in a dance in their mouths, Ryan slammed Taylor against the door in a rush as he forgot he had closed it on the way in earlier. Pulling back from kissing Taylor, he checked her flustered face to make sure she wasn’t hurt, “Baby are you okay?”

Wrapping her arms around his neck, Taylor just mumbled, “mhmm”, as she crashed her lips back onto his. With that Ryan used one hand to support her while he opened the door with the other and almost ran across the room to the bed while Taylor’s hands were running through his hair. Hitting the bed with a crash, Taylor couldn’t hold back her giggle as Ryan crashed down upon her and for the first time that night, she felt the bulge growing his pants.

Taylor pulled off Ryan’s shirt with his help as his lips trailed down her jaw line and neck. Throwing it to the side, her hands instinctively went down to the belt of his pants as she undid it as quickly as possible, and moved on to the button and zipper. As she was working with his pants, Taylor felt Ryan’s hands run down her bare sides and around her back as her bra suddenly felt looser as it was finally removed. Removing her hands from his pants so her bra could be thrown to the side, Ryan’s lips made their way back to trailing down her neck as he kicked off his shoes and took off his pants leaving him in nothing but his undershirt and boxers.

Ryan’s hands were massaging Taylor’s breasts as he worked on her pulse point. Taylor ran her hands up and down his back as her nipples hardened under his touch. As she got to hem of his shirt she slowly pulled it up until Ryan had no choice but to pull away so it could be removed. Returning the task at hand, Ryan started to kiss down Taylor’s collarbone toward her chest as she ran her nails softly up his back and down his arms leaving goose bumps behind.

As Ryan took a nipple in his mouth, Taylor ran her hands through his hair in a fury. The waiting and wanting for the past two weeks had her coiled up inside and her need for him was way past the foreplay. At this point she just needed him inside of her, craving for his warmth and the feeling of becoming one with him. Pushing Ryan away, his face had a stunned look as he looked into her eyes, “Tay, what’s wrong?”

Her eyes full of desire, she spoke with a passionate need, “Ry, as much as I love the foreplay, tonight, I just need you.”

With a smile, Ryan took her lips in his as he kissed with all the passion and fury he had been missing. Taylor returned the kiss, forgetting her need for oxygen as Ryan’s hands trailed down her sides until hooking onto her lace panties and pulling the already wet garment down her legs.

Breaking the kiss, Ryan pulled back and took a look at her, this was his thing, his turn on, admiring the beautiful woman he had married in all her glory, swollen lips, slightly bruised hard nipples and a fully waxed pussy radiating with heat begging for him. She screamed nothing but sexy and gorgeous and he always wondered why she doubted that.

Taylor had gotten used to this ritual of Ryan, even though in the beginning she had a hard time with it. She never had a problem being naked around him, but after a fight one night he had started this staring at her naked ritual he did before they had sex. She would get nervous thinking that he was looking for flaws, but one night he had told her the truth, that he loved to look at her because it took his breath away how she could be so beautiful and so sexy all wrapped into this intelligent strong woman, something he have never found in any woman in his life. And how he never wanted to forget how beautiful she was. The honesty and desire in his eyes told her it was the truth and since that day, she knew, he only did it as a way of remembering her and admiring her and she was never nervous again, it was just a way for him to say I love you.

What felt like minutes was really no more than a few second as Ryan enveloped Taylor in his arms as he kissed her, moving slowly down her jaw line, as his fingers traced the outside of her pussy before entering a finger slowly. Taylor moaned deeply at the sensation of Ryan’s finger curling at her g-spot while his thumb teased her clit. As much as she wanted this and as good as it felt she had to remind him of the task at hand, “Ryan, please don’t…mmm…, I just want you… mmm, …tonight.” She finally said between moans.

Ryan understanding her determination didn’t want to ruin his chance, knowing that if Taylor had a plan she was going to keep it, and if he wanted some tonight he better not mess with her, especially when she was willing to give up sex for sleep for an early morning if the wrong buttons were pushed.

Ryan pulled out of Taylor, sucking his fingers for a taste of what he missed as he looked at a lust filled Taylor and pulled off his boxers. Reaching into the nightstand he pulled out a condom ready to sheath himself before, Taylor pulled it out of his hand. “Not tonight Ryan, I think we’re good, I want the full thing tonight sweetie.”

Loving the bare sex, Ryan didn’t question Taylor. Since their pregnancy scare, well, more like Taylor’s pregnancy freak out six months before, he left the rules of protection up to her. He didn’t care when they had kids, in all reality, when she had first told him about her worries, he was excited about bringing a child into their world, but Taylor had a plan, and she usually knew what was best for them, so when she made up the “pill and condom” rule, he only fought for a few night before choosing sex overall to his love of skin to skin contact. He also learned that when Taylor really craved the one to one action she would drop her barriers to allow that .01% chance with the pill. It was rare, but Ryan appreciated and understood eventually her need to not have a surprise pregnancy, even if he knew the chances of them getting pregnant on the pill was slim.

With the condom being forgotten on the floor somewhere next to their cloths, Ryan wrapped Taylor in his arms once again, kissing her as he pushed his tip to her opening. Sucking her bottom him between his, he entered Taylor slowly with a groan as he felt her warmth envelope his hard member into her tight pussy. Taylor definitely knew how to work out every muscle in her body when she went to the gym and that made sex all the better when Ryan entered a very tight Taylor. She moaned as he filled her and she had to once again adjust to his size, sometimes she wondered if those kegal exercises were worth the glove fit, but when Ryan pulled out and entered her again harder she knew they were.

Ryan gnawed at her neck as he started to move faster, Taylor wrapping her legs around his waist to help him keep the pace. Taylor’s moans were getting louder as Ryan started to pound into her harder, he started to feel her tighten around him and knew she was close to release but he had a few more thrust to go, so Ryan moved to the L that connected Taylor’s neck and shoulder and bit it softly in sync with his hard thrust into her, causing Taylor to come with a scream. Taylor came with a crash, moaning Ryan’s name, as he sucked on the same spot while keeping his thrusts.

While Taylor was coming off her high, she kept clawing at Ryan’s back and running her hands through his hair and scratching the back of his neck. Before she could fall to far from her climax Ryan was once again building her up again with quick shallow thrusts. He knew just how to turn around the drop from her climax. Ryan was ready to finally release but held on, craving for Taylor to come with him this time. Clutching the base of her head as he tilted up for a kiss, Ryan started to slow his thrusts and enter her deep, feeling her muscles tighten around his cock, Ryan kissed her with every ounce of energy and passion left as he pulled all the way to his tip was only left and slammed into Taylor making her yelp as he came hard into her, spilling his seed into a groaning Taylor. Her orgasm overtaking her with an earth shattering effect that put her first one to shame. After Ryan finally went limp and could no longer feel Taylor’s strong contractions around his cock, he pulled out of her, rolling his sweaty collapsed body off of her. Taylor finally recovered from her shattering orgasm and felt a little at loss when Ryan pulled out, but didn’t have second thought as her body naturally curled into his. Pulling the covers as best as he could over their slowly cooling bodies, Ryan wrapped his arm under Taylor, pulling her closer to rest on his shoulder as they fell asleep with a closeness that had been missing the past two weeks. Entangled together and exhausted from love making they cuddled the rest of the night, their battles and flusters forgotten.

Loose Some Gain Some

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 06:35:32 GMT

Hey Everyone,

So this is the new way to keep in contact with me I guess, or at least get an update on me. So I have moved back home, most of you know that, which is weird for me, because for the last seven or so years, this has been the farthest thing from home. How do you go from a world where you have been comfortable in to a world where you use more as a vacation spot? Well I guess I just have to get used to it until the fall and I start school at Berkeley. Right now I am pretty much sitting on my butt and taking classes at community colleges to fill my time. I can't believe my life has changed so much in the last few years. I can't believe I actually diobeyed my parents for once, its like wow. My dad got his dream of pissing off mom though, by getting rid of dance in my life and her dream of having a prima ballerina for a daughter.

You guys all know my mom and dad and how they are like head butting all the time and trying to use us as pawns to ruin each others lives. Its almost weird. And it probably explains the extensive therepy they pay for. I actually walked by a dance studio today and it kinda broke my heart to see all the little girls dancing in there. They were in their beginning classes and learning the basics of ballet. I stood there and watched them dance for a bit until the class ended and watched these little girls run to their parents with so much delight. Most of these girls will drop out of dance after a few months or years and some might actually keep going but for now most have the dream of becomming a prima ballerina and it kind of break my heart to think that most of their dreams will fade or be broken by the reality that they won't ever get that far. I kind of think sometimes that it was a mistake to quite Julliard and come home and pursue my passion because I apperently had all the potential and talent in the world. Well at least that is what my mom keeps saying when she brings it up every other night at dinner. Psycho parents I swear. It's weird coming from a world where your life was dedicated to the art of dancing and then totally throwing it out of your life forever. I still havent opened my trunk, it is still sitting at the foot of my bed, with the lock still on it. I almost refuse to open it because if I do I have to look at what my life was for the last 10 years and not who I really am, but what I was suppose to be. All of my playbills and pointe shoes and costumes and practice gear is in there and I am just glad that I was smart enough to stuff everything dance into one trunk. What can i say other than life is never what it seems. I got a couple of emails recently from the few friends I made at school, but mostly everyone has moved on with their life and I was just the quitter. One of my instructors from SAB heard about me leaving Julliard and wrote me this kind of heart breaking email about how I had so much potential and she had never seen a student with so much talent. She said that the world has so many dancers with all the heart but can't fulfill the talent, and she just wished I had the heart to compliment the talent I have.

Oh well. So much for that. It to late to go back, and I almost resent the time I wasted making enemies and dancing my heart out for the attention of my mother and the approval when my father could have given me all that. But sometimes its what a girl needs in her life when she has twin brothers who share everything. I know we are a trio but sometimes I wish I didnt share a birthday with them because they automatically have each other when i have kind of nobody and they can't fill that void no matter how much they try. Benji and Bradley have always been together. They went to Westminister School together, they traveled by themselves across the atlantic ocean for school for 5 years together. They lived in a different country then me, and celebrated our birthday's as twins not triplets. I had to celebrate it by myself in New York. I mean as much as I love them, I lived the life without them for the last 10 years practically. Seeing them on breaks and thats about it. The reality of it is, as much as I want my brothers to be my best friends, they first and formost have each other, while I have nobody and so my instant want and need for my mother to be the next fill in has been the destruction of me.

Whatever, I am okay now I guess. After the therepy my mom put me through to figure out why her talented daughter dropped out of a prestigious school was beyond her. She just doesnt get it that I have no want or need to be a ballerina and it makes me unhappy when it comes down to it. She said that I shouldnt be unhappy because talent is everything and I have it and I should use it and not waste it. But i think I have a talent in architecture too, and she just needs to see that. I can't say much not and am tempted to take my dad on his offer of buying me a condo, but i think it might make the riff between my mom and me even bigger if I choose to move out of her oversized palace and into a place my dad bought me. i swear, they need to get over this revenge of the ex spouse thing. Anyway, while I sit on my butt for the next 5 months, I am going to figure out what I need to do to get on track. I am the dissapointment I know but hey, Bradley and Benji love me and that's all that matter's right? Your family is what matters and even though they are so far away, they can still call and keep my update, urg, I hate life sometimes and sometimes, I wish i had a real best friends, or really... friends in general. I need to be normal... I need to make friends, I need to become blended and not hang with these stuck up over plastisiced adults that hang with my mom and dad and their snobby kids and find some people I can relate to who know nothing about my past and nothing about my background, I just need to normal i guess. Kind of like the kids on tv who have each other, to bad when you are in an art school, you make only fake friends and more enemies that not. Oh well... until the next adventure... well until I find the time to update about my adventures. Later all. Love.

Its not that you guys arent my friends, its just you guys are in new worlds and I am not in that same world, but you know we are still friends. I just need some new peeps.