She was so ready to go home, she had brought the remainder of her things outside her dormitory hall and was waiting out there for Nick to arrive. Her furniture and a lot of her clothing and other things had already been taken back to her house earlier in the week by her parents.
When Nick finally pulled up and got out of his car, she threw her arms around him. “I missed you, Li!” he exclaimed, picking her up and swinging her around. She pulled back and looked at him, taking in how happy he seemed to be. Was he really that happy just to see her?
“Ready to go? I’m anxious to get out of here for the summer,” she replied, picking up a garbage bag full of clothing. He followed her lead and loaded her stuff into the trunk.
They started the hour and a half trip in silence. It lasted for a while, but finally, Lila couldn’t take it anymore. She took a deep breath; she was about to burst. “I have something to tell you,” she stated.
“I have something, too. Do you wanna go first, or should I?” he replied.
“You go ahead.”
“I met someone.”
Lila gasped. So that was why he looked so happy when he arrived. He had a girlfriend now. She opened her mouth to answer him, but nothing came out.
“Lila, say something. Are you okay?” he asked.
“I’m fine. I’m just surprised. I mean, it’s been a long time since you’ve actually been in a serious relationship,” she said, regaining her composure. “I’m assuming this is a serious relationship, right?”
“Yeah, it is. Her name is Ashley Green. She’s the assistant to the tour’s public relations director. She’s just like you. She’s fun and sweet and caring and cute and I think I love her,” he confessed.
“Wow, Nick! That’s great!” she exclaimed with as much enthusiasm as she could muster up.
“Thanks,” he said, grinning widely. Secretly, he knew why he liked Ashley so much. As he said, she was just like Lila. She even looked like Lila. However, he wasn’t sure how long she would be an effective substitute for Lila. “Now what was it you were going to tell me?”
Lila paused. “I…I forgot.” She couldn’t ruin things for him. He seemed to like Ashley, and she couldn’t mess that up for him.
“It’ll come back if it’s important enough to you,” he said.
‘Oh, gosh, if only you know how important it is to me…’ she thought sadly.