As we reach the dorms, Harry points towards the door numbered 202, indicating that its my room. He unlocks the door and heads in. I follow him and he turns on the light.
It's a pretty decent room. With two small beds, two study tables and two large windows. Much better than what I had been expecting anyway.
He leaves all documents on the table and opens the windows, "It gets stuffy this time of the year so its better to keep the windows open",he says.
Before I can respond, he hands me the keys and tells me that I'll have to share the room with another girl.
I notice him looking at me, not in any creepy way, but just noticing me, and it makes me nervous. I have always been very insecure about the way I look. I'm not pretty, and trust me when I say it. I'm not one of those girls who are pretty but just don't realize it. I am genuinely and honestly not pretty at all. I've had some hormonal issues during puberty and it completely ruined me, not only physically but psychologically as well. You know that's the time when girls want to look pretty and go out and have boy friends and all. I spent that time loathing myself, trying to confine myself to my lil bedroom. Because of it I've never really felt very comfortable around boys. Its not like I can't talk to boys, I can. I did. My school was co-ed. But I didn't have any friends who were boys. They were just classmates. And the fact that my college was 'girls only' actually made me happy, well not exactly 'happy', but comfortable I guess. So being near Harry, who looks like some Greek God, if not anything less, makes me really nervous.
"Some of the students haven't reached yet. Guess they'll come tomorrow", he continues.
"okay. Thank you", I say realizing how sweet he is. Just as I think that he's about to leave, I ask "is there some place in the campus where I can grab dinner?"
He turns around to answer,"yeah. As you head out, turn left and then right and you'll see a cafe, 'Hokum'. It isn't anything fancy but you'll find something decent to eat", he says smiling.
I smile back, "thank you so much".
As he heads out, he wishes me good night and I wish him back, "Good night. Bye. Thank you again."
As he walks into the corridor, with his back towards me, he does a peace sign and continues walking.
Alone in my room, I make sure to lock the door from inside. Then I put my suitcase on the table and start unpacking, hanging my clothes in the cupboard and arranging me books on the table. After I'm done, I head over to the bathroom to shower. Thank god our room has it's independent bathroom. I hate the idea of common washrooms.
As I come out, I can already hear my stomach growling. I need to eat something. I put on my jeans and plain black tee and head downstairs.
As I walk, I try to read all the sings and boards, trying to familiarize myself with the university. It's 8:30 so it already dark. I can see people moving along, gossiping, having fun, jogging along the road and It makes me realize that our dorm building was surprisingly desolate. Anyways, since it's dark, I head straight to the cafe. I've already taken the left turn, but I can't figure out there are so many turns and by lanes. As I stand still deciding if I should head back to my room or ask someone for directions I hear someone shouting, "Ann!!". Since it's dark I can hardly see anyone. Anyways, why am I even bothered. Its not like someone's calling me. No one even knows me here. I finally decide to turn around and head back to my room. I think i have some cookies in my backpack. Considering how hungry I am I know they won't do anything but I'm tired and confused and nervous as hell. So it's best, I decide to go back to my room. As I turn around and start towards my room I see Harry heading my way. He stops as he reaches near me, "I've been calling out your name. I saw you getting out and I thought I'd show you the cafe myself, in case you don't find it. Anyways, this is Louis." he says pointing towards the guy next to him. "And she's Ann. I told you just a few minutes back. The new foreign exchange girl".
I realize I didn't even see that he wasn't alone. " Hello", I say letting out my hand to greet him, adding "I'm Annanya, by the way".
He shakes my hand and smiles, "Hi. Annannyyaa is it?", and they both look confused and smile looking at me.
As if Harry wasn't intimidating enough, his friend also looks like a model heading straight from the runway, I think. "Yes kinda' ", I say and smile back.
"That's why I called her Ann, Louis.",he says. Then looking at me, "I hope that's okay with you?" .
I don't like anyone calling me by any other name but my own. However, I'm really tired, and I don't want to set off a bad impression on my very first day by irritating them. "Ann, that's me",I say. :)
Harry, Louis and I reach the cafe and sit down at the only empty table left. They insist that I should try the 'Hokum special burger' and so we order 3 Houkum burgers.
Sitting with two such good looking guys, total strangers, is intimidating beyond hell for me. I keep checking my mobile in sheer awkwardness.
"So, India huh?", Louis asks.
" Yeah", I reply. Not sure if I should say something besides a mere 'yeah'.
"So, what is it like there?", Louis asks again breaking the awkward silence.
"Well, it's really hot this time of the year.Anndd... It's... well, India". As soon as I say it, I realize how dumb it sounds... Of course its India... What the hell.. Much to my relief, before I can come up with another stupid explanation, Louis' phone rings. He attends the call while sitting there only, but he talks so slowly that I can hardly hear him talking, not that I'm trying to eavesdrop.
I look up towards Harry, sitting right across me and at that very moment he also looks up at me and I immediately shift my eyes from him back to my mobile. Awkward.. But then that's me and my awkward life.. Nothing new about it I tell myself in an attempt to keep myself calm.
When Louis ends his call, he says something to Harry and then tells me that he'll have to leave. "I'm so sorry. But I gotta go. Its something really important. But I'll see you tomorrow at class. Bye", he says.
"okay, sure. No problem. See you tomorrow. And thank you. Bye", I say.
As he leaves, It dawns upon me how awkward this dinner is going to turn out. Ever since we've gotten here, it was only Louis who was trying to keep the conversation going. Shit! I begin to panic and as usual I dig deep into my phone, not trying to be rude to Harry but I don't know what else to do.
When I slowly raise my eyes again, to my surprise, he's looking right at me. I thought he'd also be trying to avoid the awkward silence by pretending to be busy on his mobile. But no!!!!
Oh god!!!!!!!
