Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,130

way they didn’t before.”

“Like?”

“Like even now. I know what I want to do. I want to make music, to produce it, but the program here isn’t really set up for that… yet. They’re trying, but right now, it’s pieces but not a program. I could be mad about that and fight it, but like the other day, my professor let me sit in on the meeting to discuss the equipment they are purchasing for the upgrade to the campus studio. Now how would I ever have gotten that chance anywhere else?”

“Wow. That’s actually kind of cool.”

“Yeah, and we’re working a lot on structuring the curriculum for what the proposed studio production program would be like,” Nelson said. “So maybe I don’t have it, but I can help it be there for those coming up.”

Taylor was surprised at how grown up he sounded. Of course, Nelson had always been more of an adult than the rest of them. It was just in the tumult of her own life, she had forgotten how focused he had always been. She considered telling him about the flashes and glimpses of something new and different that she had had all weekend, but that didn’t seem prudent, so she squelched it.

“You gonna be ready in like five?” Nelson asked, standing.

“Uh. Yeah.”

“Cool.”

By the time Greg woke up, everyone was gone. He was careful to make sure Taylor was nowhere to be seen before he went to get ready. Without much thought, he mapped out their day. They needed to do the housing thing after Chemistry. Then lunch. He hated leaving her at the house to go to work and decided maybe they should go to the student center instead. Clara could bring her home.

Home.

He stopped on that word. “Hold up there, Greg. Slow down. She was just here for a night, maybe two. Let’s not jump the bandwagon and get run over here.”

Taylor was in Chemistry before Greg, but the truth was, she was more than a little glad when he walked in. It settled her spirit like nothing had since Nelson had dropped her off in Stats.

“Well, look who finally woke up,” she said as he fell into the desk next to her.

“Easy for you to say,” he said, taking up the teasing. “I feel like Goldilocks just showed up and aced me out of all my stuff.”

“Hm. I had toast. I must have missed the porridge.”

“Yuck. That doesn’t even sound good.”

She laughed, and it felt good. Some things never changed. “You nut.”

“Hey, I try.”

After class, they went the opposite direction than they normally did and wound up in the housing department in an empty line that had a sign that said, “Please stand here and wait to be called.” They did, awkwardly looking at each other when the two young women behind the counter did not look up.

Taylor glanced around for a number system or something, but there was nothing to be seen anywhere. She tipped her head at Greg who shrugged.

One of the young women finally sighed dramatically. “Next.”

Stepping up to the counter, Taylor went into the explanation of why she was there and what she needed.

“We don’t reassign rooms in the middle of the semester,” the young lady said.

“Yes. I get that. I know, but my room is closed with police tape on it.”

The young woman sighed again. “Do you have the police report?”

“Uh. No. I didn’t know I needed it.”

“So, what? I’m just supposed to take your word for this?”

Taylor could see this wasn’t going well. “Okay,” she said carefully, “what exactly am I going to need to get this done?”

“I don’t know. Hang on.” The young woman called her supervisor, and the whole thing started all back over.

It took another 30 minutes of explaining first to the supervisor and then to the head of the housing department before Taylor was put on a “reassign” list pending her bringing in the paperwork from both the police department and her current residence hall.

When they walked out, Greg shook his head. “That makes me glad I’ve got a house.”

“It makes me glad you’ve got a house too. Otherwise, I’d probably be sleeping on the streets.”

“What next?” Greg asked. “The police station? The dorms?” He looked at his watch, and Taylor felt bad. It was already noon, and he had work in less than two hours. His sigh told her he would skip lunch to get her life in order if he had to.

Although Taylor hesitated at the thought, she knew avoiding them all perpetually