Disclaimer: I still don't own Dirty Dancing same as all the rest of you, too bad though, I wish I did. But oh well.

Anyway, I hope you're enjoying my story still, I love hearing your comments so please R&R! Thanks!

Chapter 14

I'm sure somewhere in the back of my mind I must've known that I wouldn't be able to avoid Christian forever, but I think that I'd managed to convince myself that I could. So when the day finally arrived and the two of us came face to face I was a little unprepared to say the least.

"So I'll catch up with you guys in a bit ok?" I smiled back to Penny and Johnny who were changing after a long afternoon of rehearsals. I'd left my change of clothes back in my room so I'd planned to quickly shower and then meet up with the two of them for dinner with Billy and Lisa but my plans didn't go through quite as I'd hoped.

"Hurry!" Penny called after me as I ran down the stairs, "I'm starving, I can't wait forever!"

"Ok!" I laughed back as I flew out through the main door.

But unfortunately I didn't get very far, just as I stepped out onto the veranda I was jolted to a dead stop when my body collided full force with Christians, "oh my god! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean…" I hadn't even realized who I had bumped into at first, but as I looked up to see him standing in front of me my words trailed off to silence.

He didn't say anything, not even one word, I was babbling like an idiot and all he did was stand there in complete silence. But finally after a moment he cleared his throat and managed a few words, "um, don't worry about it," he mumbled not even looking me in the eye.

Then taking one step to his left he moved out of the way so I could pass, I shuffled past him out onto the white rock path but couldn't seem to go any further. Everything about this whole situation just felt wrong, I'd never been the type to hold a grudge, I'd never been vindictive in any way, I'm not sure why but I had this overwhelming need to fix things with Christian and something told me that I had to do it then or I never would, so I gathered all my courage and turned around.

He was still standing there, facing the wall, not moving a muscle, he just stood there as if he knew what I was thinking and he was waiting for me to make the first move. Or at least that's what I thought; did you ever notice how girls always over-think everything? Why is that? I mean you never see guys analyzing things to death, they just let things be and whatever happens, happens and guys will be ok with it.

Finally I managed to speak, "um, Christian."

He turned to look at me without a word.

"Christian look," I wasn't even sure what I should say, I'd been thinking about this moment for weeks and wondering what I would say when the time came and now that it was here I wished that I'd written something down. "I'm really sorry," I took a deep breath trying to find the courage to continue, "about everything," he still just stood there staring back at me, expressionless. "I never meant to hurt you, I…"

Finally he spoke and at first I was so glad that he was going to say something, but once he started I really began regretting starting this conversation in the first place, "Whatever Baby, don't lose any sleep over it," he turned to leave but before he walked away he finished softly, "I'm not."

And with that he was gone, I just stood there watching him walk away until he was completely out of sight, and by the time he was gone my eyes had completely filled with tears of guilt.

"Are you kidding me?" I heard Pennys' laugh coming from inside as she and Johnny descended the stairs toward me.

"No I'm serious, you really should've seen it," Johnny replied as their voices became even louder the closer they got.

Not wanting to be caught crying, yet again, I turned and ran down the path toward my room hoping to get far enough away so they wouldn't see me when they came out.

"Baby, I'll do your hair for dinner," Lisa smiled over at me when I came in the door as she stood in the bathroom fixing her make-up.

I forced a smile and replied, "thanks but I think I'll just leave it down tonight."

She just smiled back at me seeming completely oblivious to my melancholy state, she'd been in such a cheery mood that entire week I was beginning to wonder what was up with her, but with all the things I was having to deal with in my own life I hadn't really been paying much attention to hers.

"Come on Baby, we're going to be late for dinner, we're supposed to meet them at 6," Lisa called out to me as I stood in front of the closet trying to decide what to wear.

"I'm coming!" I replied, "I'll be right there."

"Baby," Lisa sighed as she came into the bedroom to see me standing there in only my bra, slip and nylons, "we're going to be late, would you just pick something!"

"I know, I know, I'll be there in a minute ok?"

"Fine, just hurry up I don't want to keep Billy waiting."

I waited until she'd left and then pulled off the poofy slip I had on and replaced it with just a simple striped cotton skirt and sleeveless top, the way I was feeling I couldn't be bothered to get all dressed up just for dinner.

"Ok let's go," I said shortly to Lisa who was standing on the veranda waiting for me impatiently.

"Finally," she replied as we descended the wooden stairs toward the Play House for dinner.

When we arrived up in the dining room Johnny, Penny and Billy were already there waiting for us, "hey babe," Johnny smiled down at me pulling me into his strong embrace, "you hungry?"

"Mmm hmm," I mumbled.

"My goodness Lis," Billy grinned as we approached, "you are a vision!" He reached out taking both her hands in his as she practically glowed from the attention she was receiving.

"Why thank you!" She smiled back just loving every moment of Billy's undivided attention.

"Everything alright?" Johnny asked, concern filling his voice as he stared down at me noticing my lack of enthusiasm for the evening. I'd been in such a cheery mood earlier before my run in with Christian that I suppose it was only natural for him to wonder what had changed since then.

Not wanting to get into it or start anything unpleasant I simply forced a smile and squeezed my arms tightly around him and replied, "everything's perfect," then standing up on my tip toes I placed a soft kiss on his cheek and tugged on his hand leading over to our table.

Not long after we'd arrived in the dining room Christian came in, he was clear across the room but his casual attire and black leather jacket slung over his shoulder made him stick out like a sore thumb. I tried not to look at him but it was still really bothering me that he was so angry, I wanted to fix things but it was all too obvious that he wasn't ready, and I wondered if he ever would be.

As I sat there completely unaware of the conversation going on at the table I finally saw Christian notice me and for a moment I almost thought I saw a softness in his face that I hadn't seen in weeks, maybe he was coming around I wondered, maybe things weren't as bad as they seemed. But then just as quickly as it came, the look faded and his face was consumed with that same hurt and anger I had seen earlier on the path. Our eyes only connected for a second and as soon as they did he turned and walked away without even giving me a second thought. I could only let out a little sigh of disappointment as I turned back to the conversation and snuggled under Johnny's arm that was draped across the back of my chair. He laid a kiss on the top of my head and squeezed his hand on my bare shoulder as he reached over with his other hand taking a swig of his beer that sat on the table.

All through dinner as we all sat there chatting and laughing, Billy couldn't seem to stop smiling over at Lisa and it was really beginning to make me suspicious. I mean he was always gushing over her but this time something was different, I was sure that something was going on I just wasn't quite sure what it was. Until finally something happened that left our entire table in a speechless awe, even Lisa!