Chapter 2

“And don’t forget to write,” his mom shouted from the passenger window, his dad beside her, driving away in the BMW. Jeremy walked slowly and tentatively towards the university residence.

They had spent the past few days at the University of Washington, meeting with the dean as well as some of the faculty, registering for his courses and taking an extensive tour of the city and the campus. Having grown up in a small town, Jeremy was totally overwhelmed with the size of Seattle and the university. Being rather shy by nature, he was uncomfortable with meeting so many new people in such a short time.

He walked up the steps, keyed the door and headed up to his room on the third floor. He had a look at his watch, a rather expensive Rolex his parents had gifted him after he graduated from high school in the Spring. Ten to five. I still have time to wash up before supper, he thought, entering the bathroom and starting to lather up his hands and face.

He finished cleaning himself, walked over to the wardrobe and was in the process of pulling off his shirt to put on a clean one, when the door clicked.

“Hi, I’m Darshan,” said a boy about Jeremy’s age, rather tall, muscles bulging on his bare dark-skinned forearms. He walked towards Jeremy, smiling and holding out his hand. “I’m your roommate.”

“Nobody told me I was to going to have a roommate,” Jeremy said, slowly putting on his shirt and not taking Darshan’s hand.

“You didn’t wonder at all when you saw two beds in the room,” Darshan said, sarcastically. “Have a look at this,” he said presenting a folded sheet of paper. “Says 312 with my name on it, right?” He pointed back to the number on the door. “How do I know that you’re supposed to be here?”

Jeremy rummaged in his backpack and showed him a similar paper, only with his name on it.

“Well, now that we have that sorted out, do you want to go down to food services and get some dinner?”

“Sure, and sorry about my rudeness,” said Jeremy, apologetically.

They grabbed some trays and joined a long line-up. There were equal numbers of guys and girls, a slight edge towards the girls, all about the same age. This wing of the residences was just for first year students. There had been some hazing in the past few years, some of which had got way out of hand including one death. The administration had decided that this might be a possible solution to the problem, maybe not eliminating it but keeping it under control. As they walked along, they selected some sandwiches and drinks, then sat down to eat.

It was eerily quiet in the dining room. A lot of the students had traveled from out of the country and hadn’t made any friends yet. There were a few exceptions including Jeremy and Darshan who were talking and getting to know each other.

“So, where are you from Darshan, I assume from Asia somewhere?”

“Yes, I’m from India. Mumbai. You might have heard of it?”

“Yeah it’s pretty big, right?”

“The biggest in the country. Over twelve million people in the city center and a lot more adjacent to it.”

“I’m from a small town in eastern Washington, only six hundred or so,” Jeremy said. “I’m finding it very scary with so many people around.”

“You’ll get used to it. I love living in a big city.”

While they were talking, the table filled up around them. There were eight chairs in all, five of the them filled by females, including one beside Jeremy. She was the cutest, long dark brown hair, wearing a tight fitting tank top that really showed off her ample breasts. Jeremy was glancing at her occasionally trying not to make it too obvious.

There were a few girls back home that he was interested in, but he was so bashful that he’d never asked any of them out, even when they showed some obvious hints that they liked him. He didn’t figure that he would have much luck with this one but for some reason, he was super turned on and wanting her.