Paws for Love

Prelude

August 2014 - University of Wisconsin, Madison

It was a warm sunny August Sunday afternoon, and Beth, in her final year of graduate studies at University of Wisconsin, was anxiously waiting for her new roommate.

Genevieve Njoku, an exchange student from England, would be arriving any moment and Beth was excited to finally meet her in person. Beth felt an instant friendship when Genevieve contacted her enquiring about the extra bedroom for rent. Since then, they spoke quite often over Facetime and texts.

Like Beth, Genevieve was studying veterinary sciences, and understood the pressures of attending classes, the constant studying and virtually, no free time. Beth told her that absolutely no parties were to be held at the apartment, she'd been burned by her last roommate and nearly lost the unit. Genevieve assured her, she wasn't a partier, and that in order for her time abroad to count toward her degree back home, she had to maintain a strict grade point average.

Beth was relieved to see Margo leave, but she knew she needed to find another roommate. As part of her scholarship, she received a stipend for housing, but it wasn't enough to cover rent, utilities and food while school was in session, and given the intensity of her classes and the amount of studying and homework, she could not keep her part-time job during the school year. Finding a roommate was her only option once school started in September.

Genevieve informed Beth that she would be arriving in late August, and Beth told the landlord that she need to have a new roommate added to the lease.  He promptly told her that if there were any complaints that they would be evicted immediately, and she would have to pay for any damages to the apartment. Beth reassured him that there wouldn't be any complaints.

She then had scrubbed, and washed the apartment from top to bottom. She sewed new curtains on her mom's old sewing machine and even made new slipcovers for the sofas. Beth smiled as she walked through the apartment making sure everything was perfect. She put flowers in Genevieve's room and had washed the bedding. She stocked the refrigerator with a variety of soft drinks and juices, and since she didn't know what else to do, so she sat down on the sofa started up her laptop went over some of the requirements for her classes.

Beth startled at the knock on her door, and she rushed to check the peephole. A beautiful girl with skin the color of rich espresso and curly black hair, about her height looked nervously at a piece of paper in her hand. When Beth opened the door, the girl grinned and said, "Beth?" At her nod, she rushed in and wrapped Beth in a big hug. "Wow! I'm so happy to finally meet you in person!" Beth laughed and hugged her back, "Me too!  Where are your bags? Let's bring them in and get you settled." Together they rushed down to get the two large suitcases from the Uber car and lug them back up to the apartment. After they set the suitcases down in the living room, Beth turned to Genevieve and hugged her again saying, "I'm so glad you're here! How was your flight? Are you hungry, thirsty?"

Genevieve laughed and said, "I'm a little thirsty, it was a long ride from the airport, can you show me the loo?"

They chatted animatedly as Beth showed Genevieve around. The two bedroom apartment was one of the better units with windows in each bedroom as well as in the living room. Each bedroom also had it's own bathroom, and the unit hosted a small laundry room off the kitchen.

After the tour Beth asked, "So, Genevieve, what would you like to do? If you're tired you can take a nap or since it's not too hot, we could sit on the balcony and talk? Maybe tomorrow if you're up for it, I could show you the area?" Genevieve smiled and said "You are so sweet, please call me Gen, Genevieve sounds like my mum is scolding me. Speaking of, let me unpacked and call her to let her know I made it over the big blue ocean. Sitting on the balcony sounds great. We can talk and catch up?" Beth agreed and went to her room to give Genevieve some privacy.