Ricky walked down the long hallways of the Cleveland hospital. He hadn't really wanted to come. But his boss had told him that he was the reporter for the job. Ricky smirked. He was really. His own marriage had ended so pathetically. His wife had decided that Ricky wasn't good enough for her, and was in the way of her own career. All he wanted was to have kids. He knew Lila Fowler. They went to high school together for half a year. He knew she was a rich snob. But yet she had tried to kill herself. Her husband, a rich business man, had divorced her. Even then her dad had enough money for her to still be rich. But business was business. Since Lila was the ex-wife of such a huge figure in Northeast Ohio, he had to cover it for the TV station. It was news worthy.
He had managed to get by the staff people by saying Lila was his cousin. They had fallen for it. He reached Lila's room. He knocked and then walked in. Lila was laying in bed tubes running in her body. Even then she looked beautiful to Ricky. A lot more so then when he knew her when they were seventeen. She was wearing a pale, low-cut pink negligee that was the same color as the light cream colored mounds of the top of her full breasts. Lila looked up at him and squinted. "Do I know you?"
"Yes. I'm Ricky Bentley, we went to school together."
"Oh, yes. What are you doing here?"
"I'm a reporter for Channel 8..."
Lila cut him off. "I don't want to talk to you. It's none of your business. Now leave me alone."
"But.." he stammered as Lila threw a stuffed bear at him. He finally ducked out and left. As he walked back to his Firebird he felt disappointed. Not because he hadn't been able to interview her, but because she hadn't wanted to talk to him.

* * * * *

Lila sat in her bed feeling lonely. She didn't know why she had done it. Maybe because she had loved her husband. Maybe because she wouldn't be the wife of such a high social contender. No one had come to see her. She wasn't surprised. She wasn't the owner of nearly half the city. Actually Ricky was the first person who had come to see her and he had only wanted to interview her. She was disappointed too. He had seemed so nice, and was also totally gorgeous. But all he had wanted was to splash her face on TV. Her door opened then. She looked up. "I told you I didn't want you here!" she yelled.
"Ricky looked at her. "I didn't come to interview you. I came to talk. I'm sorry about what happened. And I wanted to tell you I understand."
Lila was taken back. "You do?"
"Yeah. My wife left me because I was a bother to her. In the way. I realized that it was wrong to interview you. But if you want to talk I'm here."
Lila looked at him. "I'm sorry too. I'm sick of people bugging and sucking up to me. No one really likes me for who I am. I'm just Lila, ex-wife of a millionaire, Lila, one of the richest women in the world. I haven't had any real friends since high school."
"Why'd you do it?"
"I don't know. It was my whole world. It was everything. I hated my life and people always being nice because I was upper class member. I hated that I let myself love my husband. I hated that he left me for a.." Lila stopped when she realized that she was going to far.
Ricky stared at her. "I never knew there was someone else."
"There was. She was nineteen and a model for Victoria's Secret. They had been seeing each other for a few months until I found out, and he threw me out."
Ricky frowned, "man, if the media could hear this."
"You won't tell them!"
"No, Lila. I like you. But I have to go. I would like to visit you again soon." he got up and left the room.
Lila sat there and for the first time in months she smiled. "Yes, that would be nice," she said softly.