“He was cheating on me with Hillary,” Lila said, tears filling her eyes. “Dammit, Kate, I should have listened to you. I’m sorry I didn’t believe you.”
“Hey, hey, calm down. It’s all right. You didn’t want to believe it, and I don’t blame you. Come in,” Kate said. “Tell me what happened.”
They sat down on the couch. Lila opened her mouth and the whole story tumbled out of it involuntarily. “I don’t know what to do. I’m lost without him. That’s why I came here. I couldn’t go see him.”
“Oh, sweetie, you just need to find a new guy and get over him. He wasn’t worth your time anyway.”
“I know, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. I can’t find another Josh, just like that.”
“What about Nick? Kate asked suddenly.
“Nick? What about him?” Her friend eyed her suspiciously. “No way, Kate. I could NEVER date Nick. He’s my best friend. I mean, true, he’s absolutely gorgeous, and true, he’s the sweetest guy ever, but he would never go for someone like me. It’s not gonna happen.”
“”I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Lila. He certainly does care about you, and when you two are together, you act just like a couple, minus the kissing and stuff. Do you have feelings for him?”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. I’ve never really thought about him like that before. He’s always been my Nick.”
“Think about it, Li, because that could be a major opportunity you’re just overlooking.”
On the way home, Kate’s words kept echoing in Lila’s head. Before today, the thought of her and Nick as more than friends had honestly never crossed her mind, but the more she thought about it, the more appealing it became. Nick really was the perfect guy: adorable, thoughtful, kind, romantic…exactly the type of guy she needed to get over Josh, but as she told Kate, Nick would never go for a girl like her.
She pulled into her dormitory parking lot and turned off the car. As she walked up the stairs, Nick was coming down. “Hey! Where are you going?” she asked.
“Actually, I wasn’t sure. I was going to find you, but I don’t know where I planned on looking,” he replied. “So where were you? You’ve been gone three and a half hours!”
“Calc is two hours long. Then I drove around for a while and I ended up at Kate’s. We talked, and then I came back here.”
“Oh. I…I kinda missed you, I guess,” he stated shyly. “How are you?”
“I’m okay, I guess…a little confused without him, but I’m okay.” A tear rolled down her cheek, but Nick wiped it away with the pad of his thumb.
“I wish I could do something to make it hurt less,” he whispered, pulling her into an embrace.
The feeling of being in his arms was just too much for Lila, so she pulled away and forced a smile. “I’ll be all right. Let’s go upstairs.”
When they got to her room, Nick sat down. “So do we have plans for tonight?”
“My friend, Melissa, is having a party. I promised her I’d go. If you wanna come with me, that’s fine,” she replied.
He nodded. “Sure.”