Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,112

they finished that song, Wes put on the dance playlist and they left the stripped down set. Greg went over and practically fell into a chair by the wall next to a table. He wanted to go home, but it was only 8:30. He knew he should stay for at least 30 minutes though that would surely be a huge waste of his time.

Because literally everyone else at the party had been to the dance class at one time or another, they were all in practice mode. Greg sat back, crossed his arms, and fought not to yawn. They were pretty good. All of them. Impressive was the word that came to mind and along with it thoughts of Taylor. Scratching his face, he checked his watch and wondered what she was doing. Probably she was back by now, holed up in her dorm room. He thought about calling her but decided against it. She had made her decision, a decision he couldn’t fault her for, and she was clearly following through with it.

One song ended and another began. It was slower, and everyone moved into the sway-style dancing. Greg caught sight of Paige laughing at something Nelson said, and his heart hurt at how beautiful she was when the presence of her sister wasn’t hanging over her life. That stung in ways Greg truly hated because it hand-delivered one more reason he and Taylor could never work. Not that there was any chance of that anyway.

The only good thing was that Paige looked almost like her old self again, and he couldn’t say he wasn’t glad about that. He looked at his watch before he thought about it. Only six minutes had crawled by since he’d looked the last time. Letting his arm fall to the table, he sighed. He really should just go home. What was the point of this? Nobody really cared that he was here, just that he was. That was a weird thought, and sitting back again, he crossed his arms and thought it through again. They didn’t care that he was here enough to come over and socialize with him, but if he left, he knew they would all be up-in-arms in two seconds flat.

Maybe he should’ve shown up with a date. He almost laughed at that. Where would he have found one of those? And they would’ve probably thrown a conniption fit if he had. In all honesty, this was all getting really, really old.

The song switched again. It was another slow one, and midway through his pity-party, he picked up on the fact that Ryan and Clara were coming his way, holding hands as they always did now.

“You not going to dance?” Clara asked as she sat down opposite from him.

Greg shrugged and hunched over the table. “Probably not.”

Although Ryan sat next to Clara, he had a way of removing himself from conversations while still being present.

“Guess this means Taylor really isn’t coming, huh?” Clara said, her face sad and wary.

“Yeah.” Greg shrugged again. “Not that I blame her.”

“Yeah, but it stinks for you.”

“For me?” he asked in surprise. “Why?”

Clara’s countenance dimmed. “What do you mean, why? She’s not here, and you’re sitting over here all alone. You do the math. It’s not that complicated.”

Ha. She had no idea.

“Well, it’s not like we’re dating or anything,” Greg said.

“Yeah, and why is that again?” Clara asked.

It shouldn’t have been so hard to find the reasons.

“She likes you. You’re obviously in love with her,” Clara said.

Greg sighed. “I’m not…”

“Don’t you lie to me, Gregory Everett. You and I both know that lightning strikes liars, and I don’t want to get struck sitting this close to where it’s about to hit.”

That stymied his ability to form anything that didn’t sound like a lie.

“Why don’t you just ask her out?” Clara said.

“We’re…”

“Friends. Yes. Yes. We all know that, and not a one of us believes you.”

He swiped his gaze out to the others. “Doesn’t matter. If I asked her out, it would start World War III.”

“So you sit over here, in the dark, by yourself your whole life? That doesn’t sound like a great plan.”

Slowly he shook his head and picked up his hand. “Yeah, well, here I am. Not really sure I have much of a choice.”

Clara eyed him up and down before standing. “Well, at least you could dance one with me just so you don’t forget how.”

Greg looked over at Ryan who smiled.

“You might as well,” Ryan said, “she’s not going to give