Surprisingly Well, Actually

“Oh, you’re John? I’m so glad to meet you! I’ve been looking forward to this since I found out where they were housing me!” Farah squealed as she tossed her bag onto the floor and threw herself at me and hugged my chest tightly. While I couldn’t tell before, it is abundantly clear now that she is very lithe and well endowed. At the very least, I like my new roommate much better than I had liked the old one when I first met him.

I found I couldn’t help but laugh at her enthusiasm, but was unable to refrain from remarking, “I’m surprised that you knew what you were coming into. All I knew was that I was getting roommate. Hell, I assumed it was going to be a guy. To the best of my knowledge, though the hall itself is co-ed, I don’t think any of the rooms are.”

“I think I can explain what is going on with that,” Martina pipes up. Both Farah and I were a little embarrassed, as I almost forgot I had company. “Farah is a part of the Swapping Location Universal Tuition program, but that hall is completely full up. From what I understand, her mother pulled some strings to get her into the best room available, as close as possible. Which is your room. The higher ups apparently were planning to move you, John, but I fought them on that. It didn’t seem fair to you, especially since it likely would have meant you would have been relocated to one of the halls farthest away from central campus.”

I couldn’t help but groan at that. I’d rather enjoyed living nearby to all the central buildings. It made getting to and from class much easier, especially now that winter was setting in.

“We explained that our options were either to move you, or to have you two share a room, Farah’s mom felt that it wouldn’t be an issue for you to stay in the same room. She seemed to think it wouldn’t be a problem for either of you.” Martina continued, “Someone from higher up on the food chain than me was supposed to contact you and get your approval, but it seems like that didn’t happen."

“That sounds like Mom. I think I know what you’re worried about miss, given my Saudi Arabian heritage and all. It hasn’t been a problem so far, so we’re pretty sure that it is recessive in me, or that it skipped me completely,” Farah said, finally releasing the hug, leaving behind a lingering amber aroma.

“Ah. Well, this is certainly weird, but quite frankly, I’m okay with it. I get the impression that there’s no way I manage to keep this double room to myself, and Farah is a distinct improvement over my last roommate. I’m willing to give it a shot.” As I said this, I noticed Martina breath a sigh of relief, and Farah’s smile lit up even more.

With that, Martina and Fianna helped me get Farah unpacked and went on their way. Despite my most cynical predictions, Farah and I got along great, quickly getting over the initial awkwardness of the situations, and became fast friends.

It seemed like I had won the roommate lottery, and things continued like that for the next couple months. And then, our relationship changed, radically.