He was such a chaotic person.
“Don't worry about it. I've got everything in sight.”
He cleared his throat and drove on as the light turned green.
“How long have you two known each other?” I asked what had been burning on my tongue for weeks.
Julian sighed. “We practically grew up together. My father was still living with them in the neighborhood in one of the wood cabins in the Copeland Woods. We were inseparable, played outside with her brothers and another friend, and we got up to a lot of shit. Things that kids do...”
“That sounds like a very nice childhood.”
I tried to imagine what Julian, Emely, and Nash must have looked like as small children.
“Yes, but you grow up quickly. A lot of things change, you know?”
I nodded, and my own childhood came to mind, which seemed so carefree in retrospect. The times when I had played with Larissa at home, on the playground or in the schoolyard. I had never thought it would become as difficult as it was now.
“Would you like me to take you to the doctor?”
Julian snapped me out of my daydreams and reminded me of the painful present I was stuck in until now.
“Do I look that bad?” I asked sarcastically, earning another grin.
“If it'll cheer you up, I can just drive you to the seminar and pretend you haven't just been unconscious for two days. And that not for the second time.”
I hated it. Why did this kind of crap always happen to me?
“You should at least eat something,” he said, pointing to the back seat. “There should be two packs of Sweet Chili Chips and a Coke.”
“You live a healthy life,” I laughed, and Julian couldn't stop his lips from forming a smile.
“Just eat and don't criticize me all the time.”
Chapter 59
Larissa
With a final rattle, the engine stopped, and I pulled the key out of the machine, took off my helmet and eyed the diner where Bay and I had been the other day.
The inscription Lola's Diner shone in its orange neon letters above the entrance, and you could see through the windows that there was a lot of activity inside.
Grace had just told me today that this was the favorite downtown hangout of all Blairville students. It really wasn't a bad place, because the food tasted good, and you quickly got the feeling of being part of the town.
However, a quieter place would have been better for the conversation I wanted to have with Bayla. I'd been relieved when I'd seen her on campus earlier, especially after the drama that had happened on the first floor of our accommodation on Monday.
“Larissa Champson, if I remember correctly?”
I wheeled around and eyed Jenny Bexley suspiciously. She was wearing a light yellow, tight dress and a felt coat of the same color. Her make-up was perfect, but her face looked unnatural, somewhat strange, as if she had tried to cover up an accident.
The fact that she was holding her iPad didn't put me at ease. What did the radio announcer's eldest daughter want from me?
“How do you know my name?” I asked suspiciously, relieved that she didn't know my middle name. How could she... I had made sure it was erased from the network.
“I know every important person in town, sweetie,” she laughed, pulling out her iPad pen.
I raised both eyebrows, but before I could ask further, she was already babbling on.
“You're a friend of the DeLoughreys. Could I ask you a few questions?”
I looked at her, dumbfounded.
Friend of the DeLoughreys. Did she want me to have a laughing fit?
“What makes you think that?”
“You and Adrian seemed very familiar on campus the other day.”
Now, I really had to fight the burst of laughter.
Familiar. If Adrian's menacing appearance on campus and the way he had interacted with me had looked familiar to her, then maybe she should get her eyes lasered next instead of investing in her fake lips.
“I'm sorry, but I have nothing to do with these rich people,” I laughed and tried to pass her, but she pushed in front of me and held out a business card.
I took it with a sigh.
“If you change your mind,” she said. “I'm always available.”
Then she turned away from me and strode back to the diner.
