Picture of Khalid Obé :-)

Chapter 2 - Alex SpongeBob.

Oliver

Stepping out of the lift, it occurred to me that I had no idea where the common area was. The building was massive and the architecture was crazy amazing... and confusing. Different places looked exactly the same, I was struggling.

From what my dad told me about the dorm; it had a total of fifty five flats and five stories. Ten rooms on each storey with only five on the fifth storey. My flat, which was now my condo, was on the fourth storey.

Taking my phone out of my pocket, it was 7pm already. I decided to keep myself busy with it as I looked around for the common area. I took 3 turns but every hallway looked exactly like the previous one, getting a little serious now and putting my phone away I took another turn.

I sincerely felt like I was in a labyrinth, trying so very hard to find myself like an introspective monk.

At the brink of giving up and heading back to the elevator— at least I knew how to find it— a large blue door swung open.

Saved, at last.

It was husband roommate laughing while exiting the room, he stopped when he saw me.

"I was just coming to get you," he said motioning to me with his right hand, walking closer. "I assumed you might have trouble finding the common area. The doors are usually left open but there are very few people around, so I guess that's why we were told to keep them closed," he explained.

He'd reached where I stood now. Holding out his hand, he greeted, "I'm Khalid, Khalid Obé. I'm sure you don't need my last name, it's totally unnecessary."

Hah! I knew he was Arabian.

He had those really adorable Arabian eyes and beautifully designed jawline, maybe I'm the only one who notices that.

Looking at his hand I took the handshake.

"I'm Oliver, Olly for short if you wish, the full thing is a little stressful to pronounce," I said with a shrug, shaking as firmly as possible.

I was trying to avoid letting awkward weirdness seep into the handshake. I released my grip on his hand but then he did not let go.

Yikes, hello awkward weirdness.

"Olly, great," he replied, still smiling. Letting go of my hand after noticing how tense I got.

"I see you didn't tell me your last name." He scratched the back of his head, feeling a bit shy about being too formal.

Well unless he wants to know if I have any criminal records— which I don't— I did not see the need to tell him my last name.

"Well let's go inside." He said, turning and motioning for me to follow which I did while putting my phone back into my pocket.

"This is my first time in Tadelia by the way, I just moved from Dubai," he said, trying to make small conversation on our way to the common area. "Chris is my cousin he was born here, we've always wanted to go to the same University so here we are, roommates."

I actually listened to him talk about himself. I found him lucky though, getting a chance to change his environment, and starting afresh in the university in a totally different country with new people.

I've been in Jega all my life and now I was attending the state's university, that's just not what I expected. My house was just a three hour drive away from the school. Some of my highschool friends / not friends were here too. Looking at the bright side I had my best friend, Jess, so I guess it wasn't all that bad.

"I think you're lucky getting to stay with your cousin, attending your dream university, it's like you got everything you wanted," I replied, scanning him from the back whilst trying so hard to stop myself.

He chuckled.

"It's not actually my dream university but it is a total change of environment, so I guess that's something. I'm just really happy about staying with Chris. He's been my closest relative despite the distance. His family usually celebrates Christmas in Dubai, and sometimes during the summer break he would come over," he continued, "oh and we also used to Skype like crazy!" He put emphasis on the last word, making me giggle at him.

"He's like my best friend honestly, but don't tell him that." He warned me jokingly.

I laughed out this time. They must be really close then, I thought to myself as we stepped into the common area.

Wow!

I took in the view of the room, there were four really fancy expensive looking couches placed opposite and beside each other, creating a square shape, with a table in the middle. The table was just as fancy as the couches, it was made of glass.

There were snooker and ping-pong tables placed at the both ends of the room. There was a lovely veranda with comfortable egg chairs, I guess it's more of a lounge. The painting and decorations were also beautiful. Blue, such a soft colour— my favourite colour.

I was too busy taking in the sight of the room, I didn't notice the other five guys in the room, including the errand wife whose name was apparently Christopher, Khalid's cousin.

I sat on the empty couch across from everyone. Khalid sat beside me, trying not to make me feel left out.

Phew, thank you.

I would've sat on the same couch with Christopher, but he was taking up half the space, because he was sprawled out on it.

They were all engaged in conversations with themselves except Chris, who I figured was making a playlist, playing and changing songs as they played out from the little Bluetooth speaker on the table. My eyes fell on the pizza, Sprite bottles and a few other fruit drinks, I think orange and mango.

Sweet.

"Hey," I greeted everyone getting their attention.

"Hey," they all chorused back.

Damn the thickness and masculinity.

I shivered just thinking about it.

"This is Oliver but he likes to be called Olly, he wants to save the world the stress of pronouncing the full thing." Khalid introduced me with a grin on his face as he turned, sparing me a look.

Apparently they were all waiting for me to introduce myself, but I was so lost in all the masculinity and thickness, and all the masculine thickness, gawking like crazy. I mentally scolded myself.

"And Olly, this is Patrick and that's Alex his roommate whom we often call SpongeBob, Justin and Mako also roommates, then Chris my cousin you already met him." He introduced pointing at each person as he mentioned their names.

I looked at all of them as he spoke, they looked just as young as me. They were all freshmen, no one looked older than twenty and I was seventeen, so I guess that's a good thing.

Alex was giving me this look as though daring me to call him SpongeBob. I mentally winced, I wasn't even going to call him anything, joke's on him.

"Yo Khalid, I've told you to stop calling me SpongeBob." He spoke with a hint of seriousness in his voice, sitting well relaxed in his chair.

"Your roommate's name is Patrick and you're such a good cook, that's a very difficult similarity to ignore." Khalid said with a shrug laughing, making it obvious he was just playing around.

"Okay he's here, music is ready, let's eat?" Christopher said putting down the phone, helping himself to a box of pizza and a bottle of Sprite.

Well yeah let's eat, that's basically what I'm here for.

There were four boxes of pizza so Patrick and Alex got one, Justin and Mako also got one. Khalid saved a box for us and Chris got one all to himself.

Wait what? I had a mental riot going on right now, there's no way in hell this skinny kid could eat a whole box of pizza with all these drinks.

We all had small talk while we ate and boy was i surprised at myself, I contributed a whole lot to the conversation. Alex spoke the least, just stuffing his face and drinking while putting most of his interest in his phone, occasionally showing Patrick something in the phone causing both of them to laugh.

Hahaha I just love other people's inside jokes.

I soon figured I was the only one from Jega, majority of them were from different states in the country while Khalid was from Dubai and Mako was Brazilian. I was pleased when I found out Mako's nationality, no wonder he had this smooth silky looking brown Latino skin, and an awesome facial structure.

I just love foreign people, mostly foreign guys. I couldn't help it

The music suddenly stopped playing, it was just then I realized it helped raise the mood. Khalid picked up the phone handing it to Chris who unlocked it with his finger print, after several attempts with his oily finger.

"There's like only 8 songs in this playlist of yours." Khalid said giving Chris a confused look, while trying to create a new one.

Chris just pouted and shrugged.

"Yeah, I didn't know we were gonna spend so much time here." Chris replied finishing off the last slice of pizza in his box.

This kid's such a monster!

"You're a good story teller," he finished, teasing Khalid who threw him an empty bottle of Sprite.

"I'll just play a few more songs." Khalid replied still searching.

"Uhh, no thanks." Mako spoke with a chuckle, wiping his mouth with the back of his palm.

"Why not?" I asked surprising myself. Guess I just really wanted to know why Khalid shouldn't be allowed to control the songs.

"He only listens to Khalid, trust me." He replied laughing fully now, making everyone laugh with him. Well except Alex.

Wow grumpy much?

Khalid arched his brows at us, "I'll have you all know that I don't listen to just Khalid, I also listen to songs Khalid gets featured on." He stated like it was any different.

We all laughed again, except Alex who just showed Patrick something on his phone. This time Patrick didn't find it amusing so he just faked a smile. I'm very certain it was fake so Alex laughed alone.

Joke's on you... again.

Khalid finally finished with his playlist, the first song to play was Free Spirit.

Surprise me.

"What?" Khalid asked looking up from the phone, placing it back on the table and resumed eating. "Khalid is an awesome versatile singer," he motioned with his hands creating emphasis.

"Yeah duh, we all know Khalid is an awesome versatile singer." Patrick said mimicking his tone and hand movement. Surprisingly he sounded exactly like Khalid.

I was impressed by the accuracy, that's some kind of talent.

We talked for a couple more minutes while Khalid played from the speaker, back to back. Turns out Chris, Khalid and Mako have been here for over two weeks. No wonder they knew the building and themselves quite well.

I mean Chris and Khalid were cousins, but that explains why Mako was this close to them. They've had over two weeks of being alone without having to go to school. They claim to have spent most of their time at the pool, and in the balcony on the fifth storey staring at hot girls.

Patrick, Justin and Alex resumed a week later, that's a week before me who arrived just this afternoon.

It was 10:15pm, I did my best to convince Khalid to finish the last three slices of pizza because I was already stuffed. He refused though, said he'd just save it for tomorrow morning because he had to eat something before leaving for school, he also said I could have some, I just nodded reminding myself about the huge lump of meat in my fridge.

Alex was the first to leave the common area, claiming he had to leave super early for school because he had to make it early to clearance so he could finish up before first period.

We all decided to leave as well minutes later including Chris, who I bet sleep-walked to his room. I just hope he doesn't collapse in the hallway.

Khalid started cleaning up and I joined him, putting the empty bottles and boxes into a trash bag. We walked out to the back and threw the bag into a dumpster before heading back upstairs in the lift.

We both stopped in front of my door while he waited for me to unlock it, he yawned signaling how tired he was, so was I.

"Goodnight Olly." He gave me a tired smile which still managed to look so cute and friendly. I returned the smile with a less attractive one, entering my room as he walked away.

His room was on the same floor so I was positive he'd get there before falling asleep, and maybe drag Chris along with him if he's sprawled out somewhere in the hallway.

Taking off my sweat pants, I was finally back in just boxers... Comfort.

I entered the bathroom and brushed my teeth. Drying off my face and hands, I turned off my laptop and plugged in my phone to charge.

Falling into bed and wrapping myself under the duvet, feeling all warm, Khalid flashed through my mind.

"Goodnight Khalid." I muttered realising I just stood there smiling without wishing him back.

Tomorrow is Monday, my first day in the University.
How excited I am!

Just thinking about it made me so uncomfortable, I rolled in bed for a few minutes before drifting off to sleep, assuring myself that my university life was going to be nothing like my life in highschool.

_

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