Rebecca’s eyes flicker to a somewhat distant spot behind my left ear.  I slowly, discreetly turn my head to follow the look.  It doesn’t take long for me to find Ashley who is sitting only about three tables away from us.  It takes even less time for me to see that Ashley is not looking over here at all, but is instead engaged in an intense conversation with her friend Karen.  I turn back around, unable to hold back my laughter at Rebecca’s little joke.

"Oh come on! She was just looking at you, “Rebecca argues.  "She probably saw you turning to look at her.  But she’s been burning a hole in the back of your head all night. Hasn’t she?” Rebecca turns to ask Amanda who is sitting right beside her.

Amanda looks at me briefly, before throwing her hands up in exasperation, "Listen, I"m not in this, stop trying to put me in this."

"Whatever.  She was looking at you," Rebecca mumbles in a final, unconvincing effort.

The table is silent as I mostly try to contain my amusement at Rebecca’s poor attempt at a bluff, and Rebecca silently fumes about failing to convince me of something that I’m sure wasn’t true.

Thankfully, the rest of the dinner was spent in easy conversation, as we talked about our lives back home, and committed to go off campus and find something to do in town.  By the time we finished, I was sure I had made three new friends, even if one of them wasn’t quite up to par.

When I returned to my room, I was relieved to see that Ashley wasn’t there.  I hadn’t thought about Rebecca’s earlier comments about Ashley until I stepped through the door, but now that I was alone, I had to satisfy my curiosity.  I pulled out my laptop and started it up on my desk.  After waiting a few seconds to look back at the door and listen for footsteps, I went to TMZ and typed in "Ashley Davis.”

So many articles came up that I got distracted from my original goal of finding out if what Rebecca had said about Ashley was true.  Most of the articles had to do with accusations of underage drinking and were accompanied with pictures — sometimes even video — of Ashley walking out of a club clearly drunk.  As I read article after article, each one prying deeper into Ashley’s life and making private struggles public scandal, I was struck by a powerful sense of sympathy for Ashley.  But since that sympathy threatened to not only justify her often spiteful attitude, but also invalidate my firmly held belief that Ashley was, at her core, a selfish person, I kept those thoughts remote, distant and very brief.  It was quite some time before I found the article I was originally looking for.

Lohan Ex: Affair Rumors True

Lindsay Lohan’s ex is blaming their split on notorious ‘mean girl’ Ashley Davies.

We can’t remember what Davies is famous for – besides being the daughter of someone famous – but if Samantha Ronson has her way Davies will be known as the girl who caused the biggest breakup of the year.  Ronson told TMZ that Davies would do virtually anything to keep herself in the spotlight, including having a little tryst with her then-girlfriend, Lohan.  TMZ spies caught up with Davies at the PURE nightclub in Las Vegas, but she was too busy getting her grind on to respond. Lohan hasn’t been spotted since the breakup.

For a moment I was simply stunned.  The article seemed to confirm Rebecca’s speculation, but I didn’t know whether I could trust what I read on TMZ.  And what if it was true? Did I even care beyond some gossip-driven curiosity?  I didn’t have much time to consider the questions.  I became so absorbed in reading and re-reading the article, I didn’t hear the door to the room opening.  I also didn’t hear Ashley walk up behind me.  In fact, it wasn’t until she lightly touched my shoulder that I was aware she was even in the room.