Persuaded

CHAPTER FOUR

Chapter Four

"Oh! Sorry." I jerkily stepped away from him and stared up in shock at Gregory's face looking down at mine. We were all alone in the little foyer that separated the men's and the women's rooms.

"I—uh, are you all right?" his eyes searched mine.

What? Automatically my heart began to race. "Y-yes." I managed a weak smile. "I'm fine. Thank you."

"Did I hurt you just now?"

"H-hurt me? No."

"You're sure?"

I smiled. "Yes, I'm sure. Thank you, I—"

"Excuse me," he nodded his head and then walked into the men's restroom.

Oh. He left.

It wasn't until I sat down at the table, that I realized he probably didn't want to be seen with me when I returned.

The rest of the night went as well as could be expected. Dinner was delicious, the company was polite and the conversation remained awkward free.

Later however, in my room, I replayed that scene in the foyer over and over again as I attempted to make more out of it than there was.

It was obvious I was just another person in his eyes. As many times as I tried to replay those brief words to my advantage, my mind always wandered to the smiles he gave my stepsister. And more importantly the arm that was wrapped around her shoulders during the whole dessert course.

It was a hopeless cause, and one I would have to learn to be very grateful for.

*****

"Come on! You have to say you'll come with us!" Kylie pleaded into the phone at my ear.

"Kylie, four-wheeling is not my thing. Plus I'm not sure if I have to work yet or not." The game that my little cheerleading squad was performing for looked like it'd be cancelled, thanks to the other team getting hit hard with some sort of summer flu. I was still waiting for the official call that said if we were cheering or not.

"You are the weirdest girl, seriously. I'm not sure why I even bother. It's just a little tour of Farmington." She laughed. "Besides, can't you call in sick?"

"A tour? When do we have four-wheeling tours here in Farmington?"

"Ever since Carson Franklin started up his own business last week. We're his first real big group."

I vaguely remembered the Franklin brothers. Carson was a year or two older than Ethan, Farmington's four-wheeling champ. Ethan had graduated this year and Carson had graduated a couple years before that. Not only were they the best drivers Farmington had ever seen—thanks to their dad teaching them everything he knew—their vehicles were constantly featured throughout sporting magazines worldwide.

"Wow! That's really cool Carson got his business license. I bet he's pretty excited right now."

"Are you kidding? He's totally stoked! Everyone knows he's going to be a huge hit. Come on, with as many awards as that guy has, who wouldn't want to ride with him? You have to come. We're gonna have a picnic and everything."

Picnic? Darn, I love picnics. "Well, who's all going?" Perhaps the team will cancel after all.

"I'm not sure, but as of right now I think it's the new guy, Gregory..." As soon as she said Gregory, I blanked out everyone else's names.