Looking for Julie by Jackie Calhoun

wall in the hallway, breathing shallowly. He looked like a Halloween mask. Sam stood behind Edie, interested in how she was going to handle this.
    “Hey, Mike. I’m Edie Carpenter.” Mike jumped to his feet and shook her proffered hand. “I think we have a problem here.”
    “What’s that?” He began working a zit and Sam looked away.
    “I understand Nate Bloomburg’s girlfriend has moved into Room 315.”
    His chewed fingernails kept at the zit as he stared at Edie. “Yeah? That would be Betsy Schmidt. I think she just spends a lot of time there.”
    “Like overnight and all day.” Edie turned around as if to confirm this with Jamie and only saw Sam, who nodded.
    “Who is this?” Mike asked.
    “Samantha Thompson. She’s a friend of Jamie’s.”
    “Oh, yeah. Does she want to move in too?” He snickered.
    “Who is head of student housing? Stuart Evans? Is that who I should talk to?”
    “Where’s Jamie? Can’t he speak for himself?” Mike stuck his bristly chin out. The red zit glowed.
    Jamie slid around the corner, presenting his Technicolor face to Mike, who gasped. “Jesus, did Nate do that to you?”
    “No, but he’s probably going to do worse. Can you get that girl out of my room, please? They go at it like rabbits and don’t care who sees.”
    Mike smirked. “Maybe I should go take a peek.” One look at Edie and he backtracked. “No, no, I didn’t mean that. I’ll tell him.”
    “He won’t listen,” Jamie said, sounding defeated.
    “He’ll listen to Stuart Evans and Mr. Evans will wonder why you haven’t done anything about the situation, Mike.”
    Sam wondered who the hell was Stuart Evans, but she thought Edie was awesome. Maybe Edie could get Nita’s girlfriend out of the apartment. Maybe she could threaten Nita with the landlord, but then Nita would hate Sam and she didn’t want that either.
    Mike’s eyes shifted away from Edie’s. “I said I’d tell him.”
    “Let’s tell him together right now.”
    “I don’t know if he’s there,” Mike said sullenly.
    “We can find out. You go first. We’ll follow.”
    Jamie said sotto voce, “Oh God Oh God Oh God. He’s going to kill me.”
    Edie must have heard him too, because she said, “No, he’s not. Come on, Mike, The day is almost over.”
    “Was it some straight dude who hated the hair, Carpenter?” Mike led the way with dragging feet.
    “Something like that,” Jamie said.
    The door of Jamie’s room was closed. Mike knocked on it. They heard feet shuffling, and Nate yelled, “We’re busy in here. Go away.”
    “Open the door, Nate,” Edie said.
    More shuffling and a girl’s voice said, “Wait, Nate.” Sam figured she was putting on her clothes.
    Nate opened the door halfway. He had the body of a football player, which he had been in high school. No wonder Jamie was afraid to displease him. “What do you want?”
    “I want my room back,” Jamie said, stepping forward.
    “Yeah, who took it away from you?” Nate’s eyes widened. “And I didn’t do that to his face.”
    “Your girlfriend can’t live here. She has to go wherever home is at night. You can’t fuck here.”
    Nate grimaced. “Look at him. He even looks like a fairy with that purple hair. All he needs is tights and a wand.”
    Edie moved to the fore. “I think we’ve got a grievance we can take to the Student Housing Administration. We’re wasting our time here.” She turned and started walking away. “Have you got any rooms where Jamie could bunk in the meantime, Mike?”
    “No. Listen, I can’t make Nate do anything.”
    “Well, then maybe we should insist Nate move into your room, Mike, and you and Jamie can share his room.”
    “I don’t think we can do that.” Mike was fingering the offending zit again.
    “I’ll move into Mike’s room. He can room with Nate.”
    “No way,” Mike said.
    Edie pulled her cell out of her pocket, along with a list of administrative offices and tapped in a number. Sam was walking right