Chapter 14

That Wednesday Manik picked Nandani and Mukti up to grab dinner after class with some of his roommates. Alya was going to meet us there. Mostly Nandani was curious to see what sort of guys Manik lived with. Neil and the infamous Ryan were both juniors. Ryan was doing a major in Political Science, which left him with sufficient time to pursue his athletic and social interests, while Neil was in engineering like Manik. Both Mukti and Nandani had heard far too many intimate details of Ryan's life to be interested in sharing so much as a straw with him, but Mukti seemed to have a very different opinion about Neil.

Nandani could not blame her. Neil was a Californian. He had blond hair and a rugged jaw topped off a surfer body. He looked as if he survived on saltwater and sunshine, and was born to run shirtless on the beaches. He did all that and also managed to keep up in engineering courses. At least enough so that he made passing grades, though from what Manik had said Neil was not top of his class.

Over burgers and fries Neil entertained them with stories of a surfing trip to Lisbon-Portugal, he had taken with his family the year before. Mukti was practically drooling in his cola as he described their activities.

At Mukti's insistence, their 'no dating until label launch' policy did not extend to cover one-time, no-strings hookups. If Mukti's current actions were any indication, she was ready to fully exploit the fine print.

"I have heard the girls there are hot. Are they hotter than American girls?" Mukti's eyes were big and her hand reached out to graze his arm. She was about as subtle as a flashing sign saying DO ME in lime green halogen.

Neil sitting across from Nandani seemed oblivious and was probably used to the attention. And being hit on by Mukti was not a hardship. "Yeah, the girls in Lisbon are pretty great, but compared to US girls?" Neil then turned to look at Nandani and flashed a toothpaste commercial smile. "It is no contest."

It was flattering, but Nandani tripped on the irony. She and Mukti looked nothing like typical beach-babes. Mukti but liked him. Nandani was confident that Mukti would have him wrapped around her finger by the time the bill arrived.

Alya arrived late and squeezed in next to Nandani, across from Ryan. Nandani shifted closer to Manik to give her more room, in the process her legs brushed his and she did not feel the urge to jump back. He didn't seem to have noticed.

Despite a few tense moments on Monday while Manik had been repairing her car, Nandani was getting better at relaxing around him. It was a good thing because she would have to if they were going to be friends.

Ryan was trying to impress Alya with dismal results. He seemed to be running out of things to discuss with her after having established she was not into football, rock concerts, or parties. Though he did not seem to be doing anything outrageous, his reputation was enough to send conservative Alya into lockdown mode. After she shot Nandani a couple of 'help me' looks, Nandani headed to the restroom and nodded at her to follow, so they had a reason to switch places after they got back to the table.

By the time they returned the conversation had moved to party, and Ryan was talking about some stripper girl.

"Nandani, I want to hear about New York." Manik cut Ryan off in the midst of what would have been an embarrassing disclosure about the stripper, whoever she was. His eyes were pleading with her to fix the shuddering direction the conversation had taken.

"Sadly, there were no strippers. But I did manage to find the one apartment in the city with affordable rent and a roommate who was not an alcoholic." Nandani had landed half an enormous-by-New York standards, two-bedroom apartment shared with a Ukrainian student whose parents had sent her to the U.S. to model. She had paid for more than half the rent in exchange for Nandani helping her write letters to prospective agents. Her name was Tatiana.

Tatiana was six feet tall, spoke not more than ten words of English. By the time they had parted ways at the end of September, they were decent friends. Mostly what endeared Tatiana to her was that she never had to worry about Tatiana eating her food from the fridge.

Talk of NYC led to a conversation about their travel inspirations.

Alya said she visited India every other year to see her mom's family. The way she spoke about the country emphasized that it was the other side of the world.

Manik jumped in next. "I have always wanted to go to Africa. Engineering has these exchanges for undergraduates. One can also go to Tanzania and help with infrastructure projects, like building homes and schools." He leaned forward in his seat. "It is pretty unbelievable to think that you can change someone's life with a few weeks and your hands." It surprised Nandani to see that talking about it lit him up. He shed the cool Manik skin and became a regular guy talking about something he loved.

Nandani's stories about New York suddenly seemed dull by contrast. She had never spent a lot of time thinking about what people in other parts of the world were facing. Realizing how much she did not know made her feel a bit guilty but mostly curious. Her world stretched from San Francisco to New York and had always seemed big enough, but hearing Ryan and Manik talk sparked something in her.

When they had finished off their meals, Neil headed up to the billing to use his credit card. Mukti followed behind like she was in a trance.

Ryan had been in the restroom for at least ten minutes, and Nandani wondered if he had picked up the waitress on the way back there. She was not interested in the details and was hoping he would hitch his ride home.

"Thanks for the dinner guys," Alya said. "LSAT preparation," she said and excused herself.

Just Manik and Nandani were left, sitting on the same side but with a nearly comfortable distance between them now that Alya had left. Manik was finishing his fries. She was craning her neck to watch the Neil and Mukti show at the counter. She said, "I think Mukti's got her sights set on Neil."

Manik looked over for a moment, then leaned across her to grab fries from her plate, having finished his own. "Who, Neil? She won't have much luck." Manik looked at her thoughtfully as he chewed. "He is interested in you. He saw you at the party last week. Hell, it is probably why he tagged along tonight."

Surprise registered. "Because Neil and I have so much in common. We never even spoke, that day." Because Nandani had spent most of the night with Manik.

A wry smile surfaced. "You think attraction is based on having things in common?" Manik shook his head once. "I thought I was supposed to be the naive one."

"But come on," Nandani argued. "That is like driving down the road to McDonald's when you have an all-you-can-eat buffet at home. You guys have stripper-type girls through your house every day. And if that was not enough, there is Mukti, ready to-" Manik winced at that and held up a hand.

"Stop. First, that is the worst metaphor I have ever heard. Second, that is my sister you are talking about," Manik said to her.

"Fine. But what I am saying is she is gorgeous. And charismatic. And interested." She glanced over at the counter. Nandani's words were true as the sound of Mukti laughing musically at whatever Neil had said. "Am I wrong, Manik? What is not to like about Mukti?"

Manik selected another fry and held it up like he was inspecting it. The fry must have passed the test, as he bit into it and looked back to Nandani, thoughtful. "What is not to like about you? Sure you are very sarcastic than any other mammal." his eyes just flicked over her casually enough. He continued, "But if a guy can survive that, the rest is not bad."

Nandani threw a fry at him. Manik caught it, grinning.

Though Nandani had gotten compliments from guys before, But she was a bit uncomfortable with the idea of someone being into her based on looks alone. Kiss with Manik aside, it wasn't normal for her to have burn-you-both-up chemistry with another person.

"You think Neil is interested in me?" The thought seemed to be foolish as well as amazing. Nandani glanced back up towards the counter. She noticed that Manik was eyeing her up.

"What if he is?" Manik asked. "Won't that put an obstacle in your whole no-guys policy?"

"I am still pretty sure about no guys," Nandani replied.

He did not laugh, but he did check his watch.

"I have to go." Manik sounded a bit reluctant as he dropped some cash on the table. "Do you need a ride?" Nandani did, but Manik had not said where he was headed to. Also, she did not want him to feel like he had been driving them around all week.

"I can drop them." Neil and Mukti had just returned from the counter. Mukti was still within easy reach of him, but Neil had eyes only for Nandani.

Manik's eyes flicked from Nandani to Neil and back, processing. in the end, he just shrugged. "Sure. Later."

Neil drove them home in his jeep. When Nandani asked about Manik's hasty departure, he explained. "Manik is going out with Tanya Peter tonight. She is a junior, cheerleading captain. All the guys want to ...ah, date her," he said, shifting uncomfortably when he realized he was talking to two females. he smiled apologetically.

Dear God. It was like high school all over again. Nandani wondered whether Tanya was one of the girls Manik had mentioned when they first ran into each other. Neil said he had only seen her around the house once, and she was in her cheerleading uniform and that Neil knew her from football. Neil complained that she had not let him in her pants, though not for the lack of trying.

For some reason it surprised her that Manik was after the same girl, all the other jokers were interested, including guys like Neil. The more she spent time with him, the more it seemed was going on below the surface.

Nandani was still distracted by her musings when they pulled up in front of the house. Thanking Neil for the ride, she hopped out of the jeep first, leaving him and Mukti to whatever they would, or wouldn't do.