waiting for you to notice

my buddy

For your eyes only


Chapter 1


         “Who’s your new roomy?” Sitting on the rumpled bed, remote in hand, Keith Benson made himself comfortable in his friend’s room as he usually did when he came in.  He kicked his shoes off and lay down on her small dorm bed.


         “Somebody” she shrugged as she packed her clothes, which she had thrown about when she had first entered her new room.  It was a new year, her third year, she felt happy coming back to school.


         “You ain’t met her yet?” he switched the channels not even bothering to help her pack.  Sanam had made sure to come in early so she could get the spot by the window, window not only meant great view of the lake, but it also meant more space to put her things on.  She had chosen the best of everything in the room, the top drawer since the drawers were bunked on top of each other; she had chosen the right side of the sink, the side with the most space.  She had decided to bring the fridge and a stereo, her new roommate would bring the TV, Sanam wasn’t really big on TVs, she had decided to bring the things she would actually use.  Freshman year had taught her a lesson, so had sophomore year, reason she wasn’t still rooming with the same girls, they had been complete bitches! Though Keith would disagree, but who cared what he thought.  She wasn’t of course going to be stingy with her things, Shaniq could use anything she wanted, that was no problem to her…but girls sometimes…well girls were just…


         “You think she white too?” He asked as she finished packing her shoes.


         “I don’t know, why you don’t wait until you see her, shit, and with a name like Shaniq, I doubt she’d be white” she rolled her eyes.  “I need to go to the gym, I need a workout” she said stretching, Keith didn’t even bother to look at her.


         “Yea, me too” at least he deemed her worthy of being answered, she signed in exasperation.  She had taken her working-out clothes out, she mumbled to herself as she turned and took her shirt off.  She wasn’t shy about changing in front of Keith, people in general.  She’d been doing sport most of her life, which meant being comfortable around other people, most of all, being comfortable in your own skin. 


Keith didn’t want to admit it, but things with Sanam were starting to be uncomfortable…well, not exactly.  He kind of blamed it on his friends who had made it a point to point out that Sanam was a girl…They’d been friend since diapers, besides that he’d never thought much about it…his eyes drew to her, and shock of all shock.


         “What tha’ fuck?” he yelled, she jumped in surprise


         “What’s wrong?” she frowned at him


         “You got a...a...a tattoo?” she rolled her eyes at him


         “Shit, I thought something was wrong…you had me scared for a while” she turned back around and pulled her top on.


         “When…when did you get that?” he said that in complete disgust, and a bit of awe.


         “Like over summer…you were in Canada” she shrugged


         “Your moms know about that?”


         “Keith, am 21, for the love of God, I don’t need my mom’s permission to do whatever I want with my body, I was actually thinking of getting my tongue pierced and getting like at least two more tattoos” she turned and smiled at him…he couldn’t believe it, she was changing right in front of his eyes and he hadn’t even noticed.  He knew she’d had her belly button pierced when she turned 18, her ears were also pierced twice, and the top lobe also…she’d cut her overly curly hair shorter than last he’d seen her, and last he’d seen her, her hair barely touched her shoulders!


         “What…you’ve finally figured out your sexuality?” he raised a brow


         “Har har, so funny” she said as she kicked his shoes toward him.


         “Am saying…now you got that whole lesbian look down to a pat” not really, she could never pull off the look, though she didn’t know it, she was very pretty and her athletic body gave her a plus.  Sanam was very athletic…from middle school to high school they’d been rather competitive of each other…though Sanam did more sport than he did.  While he liked surfing, he wasn’t as good as her, and he’d never really liked skateboarding so he never tried it, at times they played soccer together, the one sport they both really loved was track…the one sport he had to himself was basketball, not because she couldn’t play, she said she just simply could not get into the game.  She was always wanted in team sports, cause she was one of the best and usually won…


         “Even the uni-brow looks good now…to perfect it all you need is some baggy clothes, I’ll let you use mine…they might be a bit bi…”


         “Shut the fuck up” she snapped


         “Yes Ms. Lesbo Ms” With a snarl she stamped and walked out of the room, banging the door.  It hurt her to hear him talk about her like that.  She knew she wasn’t a girlie girl, she wasn’t the prettiest either, she didn’t even have the kind of figure guys liked.  At 5’11, 143 pounds and mostly all wiry, lean muscles sculpted from years of doing sport, not to mention her B cup breast, guys wanted something to hold on to, she was constantly around them, so she knew what they wanted, and it wasn’t her.  It’d never bothered her…until she’d started noticing all of Keith’s girlfriends, how their looks differed completely from hers.


         “Nam, Nam, come on, Sanam, come on man, you know I am just messing wit you” in four long strides he caught up to her.  Though she was one of the tallest girls in school, he was still taller than her…a fact he exalted in…truth be told, his male pride would have been completely broken if she turned out not just being better at most things than him, but also being taller than him.  22 years old, he was 6ft. 4, 178 pounds with a lean, well toned, athletic body…he went to the gym with Sanam to stay in shape, girls loved him, he knew he was a good looking guy, a really good looking guy.


He grabbed her arm stopping her in place.


         “Can’t you take a joke? Am messing wit you” he said soothingly, he knew Sanam, though she wouldn’t admit it, she was sort of insecure about her looks, she didn’t like showing it…only times like this showed how sensitive she really was.


         “Come on now, take a look in the mirror, you should know everything that comes out my mouth is just me bullshitting” he said looking chagrined; she rolled her eyes, giving him a slight punch.


         “So I can see my uni-brow and manly face?”


         “Don’t forget the five o’clock shadow” he chuckled


         “Shut up” not being able to stay serious for long, she started laughing, “I really hate your fucking gut”


         “Yeah yea, keep telling yourself that” he draped an arm around her shoulder, she looked up at him, a question on her tongue, written all over her face, he wouldn’t look at her, so she said nothing.  This was just another of their many weird moments, moments that had her feeling as light as a butterfly.