I think about you all the time

I want to hold your hand

You're beautiful and I wish I would've told you

Lou stared at the messages. She was flattered, but confused. Why would her friend be texting her this at 3 a.m.? Why would he be texting this at all? She rolled out of bed and tiptoed over to her desk to grab her sweater. Her roommate was asleep and had an exam in her Psych 101 class in the morning, so Lou decided to step out into the hallway and walk down to the dormitory's lounge. Thankfully all the late-night crammers had packed it up for the night and the lounge was empty. Lou wrapped on herself in her sweater and sat on the couch with her legs folded beneath her.

She had come to the lounge to call Ravi and ask him what was with all the messages, but now that she was sitting in the cold, empty lounge it didn't seem like the best use of time. For all she knew, he could have been sending these messages by mistake. They could've been for someone else. Now that she thought about it, he had seemed interested in Monica at Camp Kikiwaka this summer. Maybe now that he was a freshman away at university, he had hoped to impress Monica.

"That's probably it," Lou yawned. She was about to uncurl herself from the couch and return to bed when another barrage of messages came through.

I can taste sounds

No, those were Skittles

You are better than Skittles

Lou furrowed her brow and chuckled. "What in the world?" she muttered as she scrolled through the next set of messages.

Strawberries are red. Red Skittles are strawberries

Your mouth is red. Your mouth tastes like strawberries

I really want strawberries

"Alright, those first ones made more sense. What are you doing, Ravi?" she said out loud. She glanced up at the sound of a person walking in and going over to the vending machine. Lou's phone made a dinging sound as more messages appeared, but she waited until she was alone to read them.

Do you remember you?

We miss you but I miss all of you

Worst

"Now I'm completely lost," Lou murmured.

These messages were beyond odd. The first ones were coherent but now they didn't even make sense. It was almost like Ravi's brain had been turned to mush and then someone gave him his phone. The thought worried Lou, so she glanced around the lounge to make sure it was empty and then she FaceTimed him.

"Lou," Ravi grinned when he answered the video call.

Lou winced from the brightness of the screen. Ravi was seated upright in what looked like a hospital bed and the lights were bright white. Worry gripped Lou's heart.

"Ravi! What's going on? Are you okay?" She asked frantically as she unfolded her legs and scooted to the edge of the couch as if she were about to get up and drive the ten hours it took to get to his university. "Where are you?"

He giggled in response. Suddenly, Ravi's roommate appeared in view. He gave Lou a friendly wave, which Ravi mimicked with a dopey grin. Lou raised her eyebrows at Tyler and gave him a serious look to prompt him to tell her what was going on.

"Sorry, Lou. There was an accident at the undergraduate lab. Nothing too serious, but a bunch of the students got… well there was this gas… Ravi will be able to explain it better than me when he's not out of it. But the doctor explained it like his guard is way down right now, I guess. That's why they're like quarantining all the students that were in that building."

Lou's eyes widened. "Well is he okay? Do I need to…"

"He's fine. The doctor said it helps to keep him calm, so I gave him his phone and… I told him to text his girlfriend, but I was just kidding. I know he's not seeing anyone. But he started texting you…"

Lou's heart beat a little faster. She messed with the ends of her hair and said, "Oh… Well, you said he was out of it so…"

The camera angle changed as Ravi grabbed the phone and brought it close to his face. "Lou! I miss you so much. I wish you were here. I want to be with you! Look, Tyler, a Musca domestica. Oops! Raisin," Ravi said in a rush and then burst into a fit of laughter.

"Yeah, I'm gonna take his phone away now. I hope he didn't wake you or anything. I know he'll feel bad if he did," Tyler said as he came back into view.

"It's not a problem," Lou said with a small smile. "As long as he's okay."

"I'm going to marry you, Strawberries!" Ravi said loudly in the background.

"Goodnight, Lou," Tyler said with a sigh.

"Goodnight, fellas."

"Goodnight, Lou! I love you!" Ravi said before Tyler ended the call.

Lou bit her lip. Ravi had said that he had loved her as a friend plenty of times before, but hearing him declare his love so loudly made her face feel hot. She shook her head and stood up to return to her room. As she walked down the hall, she wondered why Ravi would text her when Tyler told him to text his girlfriend. She had figured that he was single because he hadn't mentioned dating anyone, but that didn't explain why he decided to text her.

Lou shook her head as she walked into her room and tossed her sweater onto her desk. Just because she had romantic feelings for her friend, didn't mean she should read too much into his decision to text her in his low-inhibition state. She knew it would be best to climb into bed and forgot that 3 a.m. even happened.

And her plan would've worked great. But her phone dinged.

I love you, Lou

I love you, Lou

I love you, Strawberries

Lou had to turn her phone off because Ravi kept sending a stream of "I Love You" messages. But that didn't help much because the thought of him meaning it any other way kept her from sleeping.