Furlong Four Play Pt. 03

"Are you living on campus?"

"No, I'm gonna lodge at home and bus in each day."

Jake chipped in, "Come on, mate, you'd have loads more fun if you were bunking up with the rest of the boys in one of the residences..."

"I know," I nodded, really wishing I could. "But it's pretty expensive and I can't afford it..."

"What are you going to study?" Marcus asked.

"Biotech," I said.

"Well, there's a very active biotechnology department at Leeds University here in the UK," Uncle Rob told me.

I nodded. What had that got to do with me?

"I'm just wondering," he went on, "if perhaps you could transfer your course to Leeds as a Commonwealth student. You could flat-share with Jake and come to visit your old Uncle Rob at weekends. I'd be more than happy to act as your sponsor..."

My eyes must have opened so wide that it probably looked like were about to pop out of their sockets.

Jake laughed his usual response to something he approved of: "Fuck yeah!"

Marcus chuckled excitedly too. "Just think... the three of us could share a house together..."

"Oh my God!" I managed to stammer after I'd regained some sense of reality. "That would just be... so... fucking... cool!"

Uncle Rob beamed at me and said, "We'll phone your dad this evening. There's probably a course transfer application we can download from the university website. Next year you could be coming back to England carrying more than just a backpack!"

I leaned across to hug him and he surprised me by pressing his face forwards and kissing me on the lips. At first I pulled back but then I thought, "What the hell?" and leaned back in to kiss him properly.

Jake and Marcus cheered delightedly. I wasn't sure if they were so pleased that I'd just smooched my Uncle Rob or whether they were so made up that the three of us could soon be shacked up together in Leeds.