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After dinner, Jessica Hardman, another of Alex's roommates, finds
him reading The Poems of T.S. Eliot instead of studying for
finals.
"You must be a complete genius, or you're going to be the
most spectacular failure in the history of W.T. Henry!" Jess
exclaims.
"I've been revising," Alex claims. "Now I'm relaxing."
Smart girl that she is ;-) that's all the excuse Jess needs to
cuddle in bed with him. Alex is reading the "Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock.
Jess says, "Read to me.... I like love songs." He reads out loud
until she falls asleep.
Alex sits in on another counselling session with Julia but this
time, when Helen is called away to tend to another patient, Julia
makes a pass at him:
"I don't look my age, do I? My skin is still smooth.... You probably
think I'm wearing a bra. I'm not. I've always been proud of my breasts,
their size and shape."
Before Alex gets more uncomfortable, Helen returns and calls an
end to the session.
That night, Julia phones Alex, claiming that her husband has beaten
her. She begs him to come to her house. When he arrives, he finds
Julia drunk and no sign of her husband. Julia comes on to him, and
this time he doesn't resist.
Later that night, Alex wakes and finds Julia drinking again. She
confesses to him that her father molested her, then sends him away
because in her experience men never stay until morning — and
she doesn't expect him to stay either.
Alex arrives home the next morning, distraught. When Jess asks
where he was, he says he went swimming. When she's skeptical, he
berates her for being nosey and runs to his room.
He starts to undress when Helen calls, saying she saw his car parked
outside Julia's house last night. Alex lies again and tells her
he lent Niall the car.
Alex confides in Dr. Iraj Iravani, a colleague, but is greeted
with laughter and a lecture:
"I can't understand you.... The garden is full of wonderful
things to eat, and you've got to taste the forbidden fruit.
"It's like soldiers in a battlezone.... It's... them and us in
the battlezone. And patients are strictly them. The enemy. No fraternization.
Why? Because they'll always turn around and stick you for it if
they can."
He advises Alex not to go near Julia again, and if she turns him
in, deny everything.
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