"This is one hot summer," Tim sighed rolling down the car window.
The summer days had been getting steadily warmer as the month progressed. Such warm weather was quite unseasonable for the normally cool Britain. Tim was driving to his best friend Nurah's house to hang out. They'd hung out a lot this summer, like most summers, despite only knowing each other for a few years. They'd met at university a few years earlier and had been inseparable friends ever since.
Tim was white, but Nurah's family originated in Pakistan. He was always surprised as to how easily her family had welcomed him, despite the cultural differences. Nurah had often said her parents were more progressive than many Pakistani families. At this point, Tim had almost become part of the family, to a point where he would no longer knock before entering the house, and where a space was left for his car on the drive.
Tim pulled up, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow. He grabbed his bad and stepped out of the car. Without the cool breeze through the windows as he drove cooling him the sun was oppressive, beating down on his head and neck. Thankfully it was only a short distance to the inviting shelter of Nurah's home.
As he stepped in he immediately felt the cool, with a breeze blowing through the house. As his eyes tried to adjust to the far darker environment they suddenly found themselves in he could barely make out a large fan in the kitchen down the hall as the source of the heavenly breeze. Unfortunately he also felt something else, a small potato, hit him square in the chest.
"Ha!" shouted Nurah from down the hall.
She ran out from the kitchen throwing potato after potato at him, and he grabbed any ammunition he could to return fire. Thankfully he was a far better shot than Nurah, with almost none of her post-ambush projectiles coming close to him, especially now he could see them coming at him.
"Ok! Ok! I give up!" Nurah giggled as a potato hit her in her lower back as she tried to run into the living room.
He followed her, dropping his bag on the stairs as he passed them, and sat heavily down on the sofa.
"I think we can both agree I won..." Tim smirked.
"Yeah ok ok, you win as usual" Nurah laughed pretending to roll her eyes.
She walked over and sat beside him, grabbing the TV remote from his hands before he had chance to choose anything to watch. Nurah sat beside him, not so close as that they were touching, but as close as her customs and culture feasibly allowed.
"Oh, do you want anything? A drink maybe?" She said as she started to get up.
"You know I'll get one if I want one, but thank you!" Tim smiled.
It had always made Tim laugh that no matter how much he was practically part of the family now, Nurah still treated him like a guest that needed looking after.
"So, where is everyone today?" Tim asked, laying back into the sofa.
"Errr, Mum and dad are at work, Haifah is down country with her uni friends, and Raameen is staying at a friend's house tonight so she's there all day no doubt up to no good," Nurah replied.
"I see, so home alone then are we," he replied, "what do you fancy doing?"
"It's far too hot to go outside, I need to shower anyway. I'd rather not go outside again and get sweaty again!" Nurah laughed.
"Good point, I was sweating so much in the car on the way over!" Tim sighed.
"Well I know that, you stink!" Nurah smiled, sticking her tongue out.
Tim laughed and stuck his tongue out right back at her.
"You can shower after me Tim, you have spare clothes here right?" Nurah asked, although he was fairly sure the question was rhetorical.
"Yeah, don't use all the hot water!" Tim chuckled, "Although I doubt HOT water is what we need!"
Nurah laughed before heading up the stairs to shower. A few seconds later he heard the shower turn on.
Tim entertained himself watching the TV until Nurah shouted down, "Tim! You can come shower now!"
Tim began to head upstairs towards the bathroom. Nurah's house was on three floors, with Raameen and Haifah's rooms on the top floor. Nurah and her parents each had a room on the first floor, where the family bathroom was. Nurah's room was adjacent yet opposite the bathroom. As Tim approached the top of the stairs he saw Nurah's door open. She appeared wearing only a plum dressing gown with a bag in one hand containing Tim's clothes and a fresh towel in the other.
"There you go!" Nurah smiled, before heading back into her room.
Tim went into the bathroom, and took off his shirt as it clung to him in the heat. Turning around he realized the door was slightly ajar, with Nurah averting her eyes in embarrassment before darting into her room. Tim was relatively athletic, he didn't work out much but his stomach was flat and well defined. He'd always been naturally slim, a fact Nurah loved to remind him of when they ate cake or anything else that would make a normal person gain weight. He smiled to himself then closed the door. The shower was cold, a welcome relief from the heat. He showered relatively quickly though, because although the water was refreshing it began to make him shiver.
He turned off the shower and dried himself with the towel, before putting on the clothes in the bag. Fresh boxers, socks, and joggers. They were a little thick for the weather but thankfully didn't cling to his skin like his jeans. He pulled the tshirt over his head, threw his other clothes in the bag and left the bathroom.
