The car pulled away from the kerb with the woman in the passenger seat waving to the girl in the first floor window. Heena felt a feeling of loneliness unlike any she had experienced in her nineteen years. This was it, her parent's had left her here in the rented house, her university life commenced. During all of the years of her education it had built towards the goal of going to university in order to gain a degree. A new city, new home, new life and new friends awaited her.
Looking round the room it seemed so bare yet she could not face unpacking at this point. She knew one of her housemates, Susan, as they had attended the same secondary school but the other two girls were from two different parts of the country. Normally this may have been difficult but they shared the fact that each of them was a first year student and were all experiencing the common feelings associated with it. In one respect Heena had an advantage over her new friends as, given her families Asian background, she had on a number of occasions been treated as an outsider. However, this fact meant that her family life was particularly close and as a result her strong bond with her family and close friends made her separation from them seem even harder.
She left her room and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. Filling the kettle she looked out into the rear garden and smiled as the warm September sun poured in through the window warming her dark skin. After she switched the kettle on she took a cup and prepared the coffee when Susan came into the room.
"Good timing Susan." She said without looking up. "Fancy a coffee?" Then when there was no reply she looked up. Susan was stood beside her with red tear filled eyes. Heena opened her arms and walked over to embrace her friend. "Come on now, you will make me start. It all seems so real and frightening now doesn't it? Remember all of the years and plans we have had about this but then it seemed so very far away didn't it?"
Susan looked into Heena's dark brown eyes. She stifled her crying, smiling weakly, and squeezed Heena. "I am being silly aren't I?" Heena shook her head and smiled, "It's just I have never lived away from home before. All we have ever wanted to do is be treated as grown ups and yet now it seem so scary."
"We all feel the same. Look at it this way, just think of all the students who have been in our boat before, they must have felt like us, yet they all stuck it out and survived. Some of them even had one or two good times!" With that the two girls started to laugh. They took their coffees and sat down to watch the TV curled up next to one another on the sofa.
*****
The first full week of term ended with the housemates all coming to terms with university life as well as now living closely with each other. On the Friday night Susan was preparing to hit the town and had convinced one of the girls, Mary, to accompany her. Heena had had a long day of lectures and work so had decided that she would prefer a quiet night in. She was not to be alone, as Jodie, the girl from Scotland, had also opted to stay in. With the house to themselves they had initially sat watching TV in the living room.
Flicking between the channels with the remote control Jodie let out a laboured sigh. "Sodding typical. Control of the box and nothing worth watching."
Heena looked across at her, "Maybe we could put a CD on, open a bottle of wine, and unwind?" She suggested in an attempt to be sociable.
"Sure." Agreed Jodie. Then she delved under the coffee table to retrieve a battered box containing Trivial Pursuit. "We could play this, see how smart we really are." With that Heena went into the kitchen. Uncorking the wine she placed two large glasses on a tray with the bottle then returned to the lounge. Jodie had prepared the game and was sitting on the floor by the board.
Heena poured them each a generous glass of white wine. Handing the glass to Jodie she then joined her friend sitting on the carpet. They started playing the game with neither of them really doing to well on their questions.
"What's with the questions?" Heena asked checking the box. "These aren't the subjects we have in our set at home."
"No, this seems to be an older set with the questions based between the end of the war and the mid to late 1980's. Anyway we are the same age so I don't think anyone has an advantage, do you?" With that Heena grinned and shook her head.
As the game went on the wine was more successful than the game. With nearly the entire bottle consumed no wedges, or chesses as Jodie called them, had been obtained. "I have an idea." Jodie announced as she emptied the remnants of the bottle into their glasses. "A little more vino to loosen our poor Grey cells and an incentive!" She said as she went to the kitchen.
She returned with another freshly opened bottle. "Drink up girl." She told Heena who realised Jodie was more acquainted with 'the grape' than she was. However, she was happy and downed the wine. "Okay," announced Jodie as she poured, "Let's sort out the incentive shall we? My ex and I used to play strip games to make the games competitive. Sorry have I shocked you?"
Heena was aware that she had blushed. She did not want to appear naΓ―ve or a prude so replied, "No, you took me by surprise but I am game."
"Great, when you get a cheese, I have to lose a garment and vice versa. You cool with that?" Heena just nodded. As the die was rolled Heena felt herself begin to concentrate and take the game very seriously. Then suddenly Jodie was on the square to win a pink wedge.
"Stage & Screen." Heena announced drawing a card from the box. Reading the question she relaxed, as it was, in her opinion, very difficult. "Which 1946 film, directed by Frank Capra, saw George Bailey saved by an angel called Clarence?"
Jodie let out an excited squeal. "Prepare to lose an item girl, that's 'It's a wonderful life', come on." Heena's mouth fell open.
"How the hell did you know that?"
Jodie laughed. "Have you never seen it? It's a great, if not the greatest, Christmas film of all time. Come on what are you losing?"
Heena smiled and removed sandal from her left foot. Looking down she flexed and twisted her foot spreading her toes. "Stay calm now Jodie." She laughed. Almost immediately she had chance to strike back landing on the orange wedge spot. Sadly though it was music she was unable to name the Beatle's album featured the track 'Back in the U.S.S.R'. When Jodie gave the answer Heena said she had never heard of the song or indeed or the White Album.
The next opportunity fell to Jodie who was lucky with a literature question. "In which year did George Orwell write 1984?" Jodie knew the answer was 1948. This, she said, was thanks to her dad who had told her as a young girl that Orwell had simply swapped the last two digits of the year to arrive at the title and setting for the novel.
Jodie laughed. "Guess it was lucky he didn't write it in 1944." In their slightly drunken state both girls giggled over this witticism. Heena simply removed the remaining sandal.
Resuming the game Heena then had a chance gain a bit of revenge with a question on broadcasting. "Okay Heena. What was broadcast on TV for the first time on Christmas Day 1957?"
"I will have to guess...mmm the Queen's speech?"
"Correct! My turn to lose something." Jodie put her hands behind her neck and simply undid her silver necklace. She grinned as Heena's face fell. "Well you've more items on than me. You seem to be wearing a bra!"
As Heena's eyes fell she found herself looking at Jodie's chest. Jodie's top was a flimsy, patterned and laced together at the front. This showed off her bronze cleavage between her ample bosoms. Heena thought she could make out the brown circles of Jodie's nipples. Her breasts jiggled as she shook the die in her hand then caught Heena's attention as the cubes bounced across the board.