“Nothing much. I was just thinking about stuff. How are you?” she asked.
“I’m fine.” He hesitated. “Kate, I, um, kind of wanted to talk to you-”
“About Lila, right?” she interrupted.
“Yeah, how did you know?”
“Because you’re obviously head over heels for the girl, for one, and because she seems to be the talk of the campus right now, or at least the sophomore class.”
“What do you mean?”
“Everyone saw Josh out with Hillary a couple nights ago, or at least heard about it, and everyone sees the bruise on her face today.”
“No, I meant about me being head over heels for her. That’s not true.”
“It’s obvious, Nick. I’ve seen the way you look at her. I know how you look when you talk about her.”
“No way! She’s just Lila, Li. She’s my best friend.”
“Whatever you say, Nick, but anyway, we should be talking about Josh. Something is going on.”
“So I’m not crazy. I thought I was just jumping to conclusions. Last night, I was at her place helping her study for French until eleven, and when I left, Josh was just coming up. He looked like he had been drinking, and then today, she comes to class with a big bruise. She said she fell off the bed last night.”
“That’s crap. She sleeps like she’s dead. She doesn’t move for anything, and even if she did, she always has dirty clothes strewn around her room. They would have cushioned her fall. Josh is doing something to her. But what can we do about it?”
“I don’t know, and it’s so frustrating! She told me what you said about Hillary, but she seemed to believe that Josh would never do that. I told her that guys are scum and not to put anything past him, but I don’t think she’ll take that advice.”
“That’s Lila, all right. She’s too damn stubborn,” she muttered. She shook her head and sighed heavily. “We’ll figure something out.”