Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,258

himself for it, and by the time he realized he should, it was too late.

Just woke up. Hoping you had a good night. Still glad you said something. Wondering what you’re doing today. Thought we could study if you wanted. Let me know…

Greg put his hand to his mouth as his eyes widened. So he wasn’t dreaming after all.

He let out a breath. This could get interesting.

When Taylor’s phone rang as she was sitting on her bed trying to get her mind to comprehend Stats, she fumbled it three times as her heart jumped into her throat. By the time she answered it with a breathless, “Hello?” she hardly sounded sane.

“Tay?” Yoli asked in a voice that transmitted concern, surprise, and confusion.

Taylor laughed at herself self-consciously. Holy moly. She was a basket case. “Yeah,” she said wholly unable to keep the smile from her tone. “It’s me.”

“You sure? You sound… different.”

“No. Yeah. No. It’s me.” She slid her book from her lap and stood to go over to the window. Looking out on the world beyond, she felt her heart drinking it all in like it was a drowning man at an oasis. It was almost impossible to get herself to stop wanting to hop up and down like a little kid at Christmas. “Yeah. It’s me. What’s up?”

“Hm,” Yoli said, still sounding puzzled and worried. “Well, I was just calling to check on you.”

Taylor was having immense trouble getting herself to calm down. She wanted to shout her news to her best friend, but she wasn’t even sure where it all stood. Greg hadn’t even answered her back yet. The last thing she wanted to do was jump the gun and set off the rumor mill which she was sure was already on high volume this morning. “Oh. Yeah. Hm. Yeah. Everything’s… fine.”

“You don’t sound too sure of that.”

Her hand went up and found the strangles of hair at the back of her neck that had failed to make it into the impromptu ponytail. “No. I’m fine. Hm. How… how are you?”

“Fine,” Yoli said as the syllable stretched long and wide between them. “Actually, I was kind of hoping you could solve a mystery for me.”

“Hm… a… mystery? I’m not real good with mysteries. What’re you trying to solve?”

“I’m just wondering what red cough drops mean to you.”

“Red cough drops?” Taylor asked, getting yanked off of trying not to tell Yoli her earthshaking news. “Uh, I don’t know. Why?”

“Well, remember that dream I had… that one about you?”

A shiver went through Taylor’s glorious warm and sunshiny day. “The one about me and Chris?”

“Yeah. Well, kind of.”

“The one about me and the three guys?” Taylor couldn’t help but smile at that. She had a pretty good idea what that meant now.

“Yeah, that one. Well, kind of.”

“Kind of… what?”

“Well, there was one part of it I’m not sure I ever told you,” Yoli said. “At the beginning, when my mom came to get me for the wedding…”

“My wedding.”

“Your wedding,” Yoli affirmed. “I always went back to get red cough drops.”

That threw Taylor off the Greg-track for a second. “Okay…?”

“Yeah, I never really thought too much about it, but the last couple of nights, all I can think about all night long are those darn red cough drops. Every time I go to sleep, I’m frantically trying to find them or make sure I have them with me. It’s about to drive me nuts.”

“I’m sorry,” Taylor said, feeling guilty even though she had no control over Yoli’s dreams.

“That’s okay,” Yoli said, her tone falling into the dejected range. “I was just hoping you might know what it meant so I can tell my silly brain to take a rest for a change.”

“Hm. I don’t know, but I’ll think about it.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

In all honesty, Greg wasn’t sure where to start and with whom. It was a good-sure bet that his friends and roommates would want to know what had happened the night before. He had no idea how to approach that conversation. Worse, every time he thought about Taylor, his heart did a double-barreled flip-dive into his non-existent shoes.

That text sounded so normal, so not-how-he-was-feeling-right-now normal.

Trying to avoid it all, he took a long shower and shaved until he had no more excuse to stay in the bathroom. His body had taken to fits of barely-suppressed shivers every time he thought about calling her, or even texting her. His stomach was in a giant knot of turmoil. It felt like his whole