Harvey was silent during the initial bit of the walk home as he carried Randy's dishes. He had been having a lot of fun, but now he felt so disoriented. The smooth accent of his friend interrupted his stupor.
"What gives, Harp? You've been in a mood ever since I asked you to help me out." he said.
"I am not in a mood," snapped Harvey. "Everything just seems so strange, but normal at the same time. Even those turbans I found in my room this morning - I feel like I've been wearing them my whole life."
Randy raised an eyebrow. "Because you practically have been? I don't know what you're talking about, the ones you "found in your room" - where else would you expect to find them?"
Harvey was taken aback. "What do you mean? You literally borrowed one from me after making fun of them this afternoon!"
"What the fuck, Harp." said Randy, a little angrily. "This one is definitely mine," he said, nodding. "And I would never make fun of the way we dress. Grow up, brother."
Harvey was exasperated. "Grow up? Strange shit is happening and I seem to be the only one who's noticing!"
"There is nothing strange about the way we dress, Harpinder!" exclaimed Randy, raising his voice as his accent got stronger with every word. "I know that people not like us can be rude sometimes, but they don't get it. It doesn't mean that there's anything wrong with us. Fuck, man. You gotta relax."
Harvey sighed. "Yeah, I guess. Sorry Ravdeep." he said, not noticing that he was acknowledging the changed man's name.
"It's fine, Harp. But I'm worried about you. You've been acting so strange since the beginning of the semester. You have to be able to keep your cool and your faith better than this."
Harvey looked over at Ravdeep, past the pile of dishes that he was holding. The Punjabi features on the man's face were prominent, and a beard similar to Harvey's adorned his chin and cheeks. Harvey was taken aback for a second, as he stammered out "You...", but he tried to imagine his friend and couldn't imagine Ravdeep looking any different from this, at least not any time recently. He looked quite fit in his sporty outfit and turban. His rich skin was nicely accentuated by the gym shorts and muscle shirt he was wearing.
"I hope it's just that you're exhausted. You mentioned that this should be a hard semester." said Ravdeep, as they arrived at the door of his dorm room.
"Don't you want to put these in the kitchen?" asked Harvey.
Ravdeep let out a hearty chuckle, "It's not just you that's tired, bro. I'll do these dishes tomorrow and don't want to clog up the communal area. You have to get to bed anyway. Don't worry about me."
"Thanks man. I think I'm going to call my parents before I go to bed. I need to unwind, a lot." he said, not describing his ulterior motive to get a sanity check out of them.
"Good idea. Tell them I said hi." Ravdeep then pulled Harvey into a hug, which Harvey reciprocated. "It's just a bad couple of days, Harp. The stress will pass."
Harvey smiled, and the two made a few minutes of small talk before Harvey left, headed back towards his dorm. He sure was lucky to have such a close relationship with Ravdeep.