Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,184

if she was.

Going down the hall, he knew before he got there that the door was open so she was surely gone, and sure enough… His bed was perfectly made, and other than the boxes stacked in the corner and her perfume on the desk, there wasn’t a single sign of her at all. She’d been living here for two weeks, yet, everything was as untouched as it could possibly be.

He needed to talk to her, to really talk. Just what he would say, he wasn’t sure. But she needed him now as much as she ever had. That much he was sure of.

After stats, Taylor headed to Chemistry. Why had she ever thought being honest about any of it was a good idea? It wasn’t. She should have kept her stupid mouth shut.

“Focus,” she told herself vehemently. “You need to focus.”

That became even more challenging when she got to the room and found Greg sitting in their usual spot. Great. But she couldn’t do what she wanted and go sit somewhere else. She couldn’t do that to Greg even though he had practically accused her of wanting Ryan to cheat on Clara with her.

She went into the row, sat down, and immediately started to retrieve her things out of her bag without really looking at him. Getting bright and happy over all of it was a real challenge because her heart hurt with every memory of the last 24 hours.

“Morning,” Greg finally said.

“Oh,” she said as if she hadn’t seen him sitting there. “Good morning.” Purposely keeping her gaze on her things, she situated and resituated them on her desk.

“You sleep okay?” he asked, clearly wary of talking to her.

“Oh. Uh. Yeah. Great. You?”

Greg’s heart hurt at that. “Yeah. Okay. Uhm, so after class…”

“Settle in, people,” the professor said, striding in. “We’ve got a lot to get through today.”

After class… after class…

Taylor couldn’t concentrate on any of the chemistry because her mind was stuck on asking her what he thought was supposed to happen after class. They always walked together. Always. That was the last thing she wanted to do today. Walking meant talking, and talking meant trouble. However, he didn’t have class after this, and neither did she. And she knew it. And she knew he knew she knew it. What was the best excuse? What could she come up with that he wouldn’t find a way to tag along?

“The polynomial…”

She looked normal. Greg’s mind kept going back to that. She looked so utterly, frustratingly, maddeningly normal. No one would ever have guessed anything was wrong. How was he going to get her to talk after class? What was he going to say to her, and where was he going to say it?

It was Monday, so Clara was cooking at the student center.

That was a bad idea all the way around it, though he really could have used some advice from Merel on all of it. His last “talk” with Taylor after class had been a practical fight out on the sidewalk. That wasn’t a good idea either. They could go to the student union, but who knew how this was going to go? And the house was out too in case someone came home.

Really, he should be paying attention to chemistry, but he couldn’t pay attention to anything other than her and how she managed to put a million miles between them when she was sitting right there.

Just before class ended, the answer Taylor had been praying for landed in her lap. Her phone buzzed in her pocket, and she carefully pulled it out under the desk to see what that was about. Next to her, she felt Greg follow her gaze down so she angled the phone so he couldn’t see it. It was a text from Yoli. Call me asap

Worry for her friend overlapped everything else, and as soon as the professor dismissed the class, Taylor stuffed her things in her bag and stood. “That was Yoli. Don’t wait. I’ve got to call her.” With that and no more, she turned the other way and hit the number.

“Hello?” Yoli said on the other end.

“Yoli, hey, this is Tay. What’s wrong?”

Well, that was beyond frustrating. Greg let out an exhale and frowned. What could Yoli possible want now? And now? Of all times? Did she have to pick now? He followed Taylor out though she had made it quite clear he wasn’t welcome. She was moving fast through and around the other students. If he didn’t