Rick was a 22-years-old university Senior and stood 6' 1" tall, with blond hair, and blue eyes. He looked like the typical well tanned southern Cal. surfer, except he wasn't in souther California. He was the captain and star player of an Upstate South Carolina university's men's volleyball team.
Rick had indeed grown up playing volleyball on the beaches of southern California. When not in class during high school, he was playing or working out on the sandy beaches near his home. That lifestyle had helped Rick produce a rock solid body and a vertical leaping ability that rivaled basketball players several inches taller.
All through high school, Rick had planned on attending UCLA. Fate had other plans. His father, an automotive engineer, had been offered, and accepted, a high paying position with an international automotive manufacturer located in South Carolina. Rick wanted to follow in his father's footsteps and be an automotive engineer. Thus, he had worked hard to maintain top grades in high school. The university he attended was near his family's new home in Greenville, South Carolina. It not only offered engineering degrees, but had a partnership with the company that had hired his father.
The South Carolina university he ended up attending had leapt at the chance to enroll such a talented scholar and athlete in their Engineering Department. By staying in the athletic dorm, Rick was relived of the need and costs of housing.
As Rick entered his dorm room for the first time as a Freshman, there was another young man unpacking. Jay would be Rick's roommate for the next four years. They soon became best friends as well.
Jay too had grown up on the beach, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Except for the span of a continent, Rick and Jay's childhood had been mirror images. Jay too had spent nearly every spare minute on the beach working out and playing volley ball. He was strongly built and well tanned. He had dark hair which he kept cut short. Jay was several inches shorter than Rick, but could mover like lightning. Jay's speed was a real asset to their varsity volleyball team.
It was a warm late spring Saturday. The guys had slept in due to being up late watching a west coast baseball game on TV. At about 10:00 AM, they finally rolled out of their beds.
Jay sleepily asked. "Hey buddy! What's to do today?"
"I don't know. Let me look." Rick replied as he booted up his computer. He quickly pulled up the on-line edition of the school's news paper. He scanned it for something to keep them entertained on such a warm spring day.
After a few minutes, Rick commented. "Hey, here's something. There's a girls volley ball team from Mumbai, India in town. There going to play an exhibition game against our lady's team. Ya want to go?"
"Sure. Sounds like it might be fun to watch the girls for a change." Jay agreed.
"Well, you better get with it. It's 10:00 AM, and the game starts at 11:00. That gives us just an hour to shower, get dressed, find a bite to eat, and walk to the field house." Rick said.
The guys walked into the arena where the girls were to play with about five minutes to spare. They snagged a program on the way in and took court-side seats. There wasn't much of a crowd so good seats were easy to be had.
As young American men, or any men for that matter, are apt to do, Rick and Jay checked out the visiting girls as they warmed up for their game. No harm in looking. Right?
It wasn't long before Rick spotted a pretty young lady practicing her serve on the far side of the court. She was pretty good at serving the ball, but more to his delight, she was as pretty a girl as Rick had seen in a long time. Her volleyball uniform consisted of a silky pair shorts and a matching sports t-shirt. Her uniform accentuated her obviously well endowed slender body. Her long silky black hair was tied in a pony tail behind her head and gave a full view of her rounded face and beautiful dark almond shaped eyes.
Checking the roster sheet the guys had picked up on the way in, Rick gleaned a few stats on this exotic creature. Her name was Naina, which the roster said translated to "eyes." She was 21-years-old, stood 5'5" tall, and weighted 125 pounds.
'A very nicely put together 125 pounds.' Rick thought to himself.
About that time, Jay began jabbing his elbow into Rick's ribs. "Hey, man! Check that one out! She's the most gorgeous chick I've ever seen. She could be a model or something. I think I've fallen in lust."
"Down boy! We don't want to start an international incident do we?" Rick admonished his friend.
Jay looked at Rick then back to Ritu. "For her, I just might be willing to start World War III."
Rick replied. "She is a very pretty girl. The roster says her name is Ritu. She's 21, 5'4" and 115 pounds. If you can tear your eyes away from Ritu for just a moment, take a look at that one over there." Rick pointed Naina out to Jay. "Isn't she a living doll? I have suddenly developed an appreciation for Indian girls. Those two look delicious."
"She sure is. I wonder if there's a chance they'd go out with us this afternoon?" Jay asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Rick replied. "Those girls are probably guarded like chicks in a hen house by some guy that looks and acts like a rottweiler.
"Yeah, Rick. You're probably right, but it sure is fun to dream. Besides, girls that look that good are sure to have husbands or boyfriends hanging around."
About that time, a whistle blew and both teams took their assigned positions on the court. Naina, the girl Rick had been watching, seemed a bit small compared to the local girls. Most of the Indian team were a bit shorter than the Americans. However, what they lacked in stature, they more than made up for in talent and zeal.
The small crowd offered polite applause when the Indians scored points. Rick and Jay were much more enthusiastic in their appreciation of the visiting girls.
Compared to Rick's 6'1", Naina was a little thing, but she had a wickedly fast serve. She blasted two unanswered points past the startled Americans before the local girls could get a volley going. Jay's model, Ritu, was an excellent mid-court player. She, and all the visiting girls, played their hearts out.
The local girls seemed to struggle for a little while, and the Indian girls won the first game of the three game match. Then the championship winning attitude and skills of the local team kicked in. They were just too tall and too strong for the Indian girls. The local girls eventually took the lead and held on to win the second game by three points. They also won the third and tie breaking game by the slim score of 21 to 19.
Both teams left the court together hugging, laughing, and yakking a mile a minute. Just as they turned down the hallway that led from the main floor to the showers, Naina and Ritu paused and looked back. They looked for the two boys that had been cheering so loudly for them. Unfortunately, they had already left their seats.
Rick and Jay sighed, shrugged, and left the arena. "I sure wish we could meet those two." Jay commented as they walked back to their dorm.
"Yeah, so do I, but there's probably not much chance of that happening. Why don't we go down town and see what's happening." Rick suggested.
"That's cool!" Jay agreed.
When they arrived at their dorm, Rick put the top down on his convertible. Rick had owned the Ford Mustang since high school. It had been a graduation gift from his parents. Over the last four years, he had made several modification to the car's power train. The V-8 engine now produced approximately 450 to 500 horsepower and could smoke the tires in any of the four gears. Though Rick never raced the car, he enjoyed the feeling of knowing he could out run almost anything that pulled up next to him at a traffic light.
The guys then jumped into the car and headed to the downtown area of the small college town. Stopping along the way to get a soda. They had no particular plans and were in no hurry.
Rick was pulling into a parking spot when Jay seemed to go nuts in the passenger seat. He was practically beating on Rick's arm and excitedly chattering like a school girl. "There they are! Over there by that shop. Hurry up , man. Park this thing. Let's go!"
