Her name was Kashvi and she ran like a gazelle. Anna had noticed her the first day she began her running regimen. Kashvi was on the track team and would practice starts and her specialty event, hurdles, setting up a line of them in the outside lane and practicing long after the rest of the team was done. She was truly gifted, but also worked hard to excel at her event.
Anna would watch her out of the corner of her eye as she jogged around the track. Kashvi was of Indian descent, taller than average with a sleek build, small pert breasts, spare and muscular, and perhaps the one feature above all else that fascinated Anna, she was hairy.
Not furry, but also not the norm of the American female paradigm. Obviously never had taken up the Western habit of shaving, but on her it looked "right". It fascinated Anna, although she couldn't put her finger on why.
Anna, on the other hand was another case. She was working hard to lose "those last five pounds" determined to rock her bikini body by the time beach season rolled around. A five three she was on the busty side. Not fat, but soft. Hourglass figure with blondish brown hair she usually kept back in a pony tail, she looked quintessentially American.
No stranger to getting checked out and cat called, she tended to stay on top of the latest fashions and liked to dress just a little on the sexy side when she was feeling it.
She had just finished running her laps and went into the field house locker room. Kashvi was just coming out of the shower and was wrapping a towel around her long black tresses. Otherwise, she was nude and Anna, shocked, got an eyeful. So much so, that she just froze, staring at Kashvi's dark pubic bush.
"What are you staring at, huh?" Kashvi said accusatorially. "Never seen a naked girl before?"
"I...um...no. No, Yes! I'm so so sorry!" Anna blurted out.
"I've seen you out on the track the last few weeks." Kashvi said. "Have you been checking me out?"
"I... no. I mean I like to watch you run. You're so good at it you make it look easy." Anna said. "Not like me plodding around the track. I'm just doing it to lose a little weight, so my boyfriend won't think I'm a cow."
"I was thinking more along the lines of bunny!" Kashvi teased.
"Anyway, I apologize for staring. I didn't mean any offense. You just took me by surprise." Anna said.
"Took you? If only..." Kashvi responded dryly.
Anna was profoundly self-conscious about the whole exchange. As she walked back to the dorm she replayed it over and over in her head, trying to glean every bit of meaning out of the subtext of the encounter. She was sure she missed something, but what it might be, eluded her.
Still, it established the start of a pattern. When at the track, each woman would catch the other looking at the other at random intervals and for no particular reason. They weren't friends, classmates, or team mates, so there was no logical purpose. But that didn't make the exchanges any less compulsive for either of them.
Anna had even tried to broach the subject with her boyfriend, Tony. As per usual, Tony just shrugged it off condescendingly, saying Kashvi was probably just some kind of jock freak weirdo, that Anna should just stay away from. It was his go-to.
Still, she started to notice Kashvi around campus from time to time.
Then there was an evening when she had stayed late at the library studying for an exam. She was walking home when a couple of townies staggered out of an alley between classroom buildings. The were obviously drunk, but intent on cornering Anna.
"C'mon, let's have some fun. You college whores are always ready." The larger of the two slurred while trying to grab at Anna's blouse.
"Get lost creep. Just leave me alone or I'll call the cops." Anna replied slapping at his hands.
He grabbed her wrists and pulled her closer. He reeked of sweat and alcohol.
"We're gonna party, whore." He spat as he wrestled her to the ground.
Suddenly she heard a growl. Not a human sound, but feral wild and menacing. And then Kashvi was there. Tearing the dolt off Anna and in one motion throwing him down the alleyway. He landed in a pile of trash at least twenty feet away, and Kashvi growled a warning to the other, who tucked tail and ran.
Anna looked at Kashvi. Her features were the same, but somehow different. Elongated in the facial area, her limbs seemed even more steely than usual. Her dark eyes, large and intense looked deeply into Anna's. Her chest was heaving with each breath.
"Kashvi? Why? How did you?" Anna tried, but there were just too many questions. "You were following me?"
Kashvi turned and disappeared down the alley toward the dorm complex. In just a split second she was gone, and Anna, shaking with adrenaline headed home.
Three days had passed and Anna still could not get the memory of the encounter out of her mind. She had thought of broaching it with Tony, but felt he would have his usual childish over-reaction, and she just wasn't in the mood to deal with that at the moment.
Instead, she found herself at the Residential Office inquiring as to where Kashvi's room was. That evening she mustered up all of her courage and knocked softly on the other girl's door.
"I didn't get a chance to thank you the other night." She blurted out. "Can I come in?"
"I don't know. Not sure it's a real good idea." Kashvi replied from the other side of the doorway.
"Look. I won't stay long. I just wanted to thank you face to face." Anna said quietly.
