Half Girlfriend

‘It’s a room in my father’s house. How I wish I could stay in a
hostel like you.’
‘Hey, would you like to change?’ I said, switching topics. ‘You said
you were cold.’
She had a change of clothes in her rucksack.
‘Where?’ she said. ‘I can’t use the bathroom here.’
‘You could change here.’
‘Ha ha, nice try, mister.’
‘I meant I could leave the room.’
‘Oh, really? Such a gentleman.’
I had learnt to ignore her sarcasm. I shrugged.
‘I’m fine in these,’ she said.
'I'm not,’ I said.
‘Why?’
‘Those shorts. They distract me.’
‘These red shorts?’
‘Well, the legs, to be precise. The legs the shorts are unable to
hide.’
Riya laughed. She took a bedsheet and covered herself.
‘Here. Better, mister? Now what? You want to study?’
Damn, I had lost my view.
‘Yeah.You’ll. rest?’
‘Yes,’ Riya said and sniggered.
‘What?’
‘Like that’s going to happen.’
‘Of course it is,’ I said and turned away from her. I sat on the chair,
switched on the table lamp and opened my sociology textbook.
Riya sat on the bed. She seemed amused and somewhat stumped at
me letting her be. A few minutes later, she lay down on the bed. ‘What
are you studying?’ she said, her eyes closed.
‘Social uprisings in the early twentieth century.’
‘How are your grades?’
‘Not bad, but I’m no topper.’