Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare was an Auntie #1)(25)

Bobbi: What?

Veera: What??

Kareena: I’ll tell you later. For now, I’m counting this as a red flag. I need a way to weed out dates without wasting time. Three red flags you’re out.





She glanced up, and Prem was looking right at her from a small table across the café. He’d gotten what looked like iced black coffee, and smirked in that I-know-I-look-good way that drove her insane. No, she was not going to be attracted to someone who put her in this predicament in the first place.

Kareena put her phone away right as Dave returned with two large cups in hand.

“The mediums looked pretty puny, so I got you a large one. I hope that’s okay.”

“Oh, uh. Thanks.”

She took the cup from him and glanced around to see Prem sitting at one of the bistro tables directly in her line of sight. As if he knew that she was watching, he saluted her with his cup and went back to scrolling on his phone.

“I hope it’s not too much caffeine for you late at night,” Dave said. “I’m a night owl, so it doesn’t bother me. I didn’t even think about it.”

“Law school was where I lost my sensitivity to caffeine,” Kareena said with a smile. “I appreciate it.” She cupped her hands around her drink and sat straighter, remembering that she shouldn’t hunch during these things. Some magazine article once told her that hunching gave off signals of low confidence.

And Prem was still . . . there.

After a moment of staring at the floor, Kareena realized that they were dangerously close to creating an awkward silence.

“I appreciate that you didn’t want to spend a month texting,” she started. “I’m back online after a while and that’s the one thing that I was dreading the most.”

“Oh no. At our age, we have no time to play games, am I right?”

“Right,” Kareena said. Wait, was he calling her old? “Uh, are you local?”

Dave spread his knees and leaned back against his chair. “No, but my parents still live here in Edison. I’m trying to get them out of New Jersey, though. Maybe Delaware. The property taxes in this area are just too difficult to manage, especially since my father is going to retire next year. It’s such a burden, you know?”

“I know,” Kareena said. “I’m a Jersey girl through and through, though.”

“Yeah?” he said. “I can see that.”

Now what in the hell did that mean?

“Where do you live?” Kareena asked.

“I’m in Guttenberg. Awesome apartment. Right across the river. I even have a little balcony. I do scotch tastings on my balcony with some of my friends. It’s classy.”

That sounds like the most boring thing in the world, Kareena thought. Was that in his profile? No, his profile basically said he liked movies and hanging out with friends.

“Sounds like a lot of fun.”

“Oh, it is,” he said. “In fact, my roommate and I are thinking of going into business together and starting our own premium liquor brand.”

“Roommate?” Kareena couldn’t tell quite yet if that was a red flag. At their age, tons of people still had roommates. The tristate area was expensive, after all. But he’d said he lived alone when they texted.

Dave leaned back in his armchair, legs spread. “She’s working in publishing, but she has the best tongue for tasting ever. Tasting scotch, I mean.” He laughed at his own joke. “She’s never tasted anything else of mine, if you know what I mean.”

Kareena looked up at Prem who was now watching her like a TV show. He had to have heard Dave’s comment. Judging by the smug smile on his face, he was enjoying every minute of it. There was nothing for him to be smug about, though. She’d give Dave the benefit of the doubt that he had a platonic, healthy relationship with his co-ed roommate. They probably only shared utilities and a common area . . . right?

“I know what you’re thinking,” Dave said with a laugh.

“You do?”

“I do. How do my Indian parents let me live with a straight, single woman? Well, I’ll be honest. They don’t know. They think my roommate is a guy. But I’m not worried. What they don’t know won’t hurt them.”

“Oh,” she said.

She looked at this too-cocky, legs-spread-wide finance guy who lied to his parents about his roommate, who lied to her, and realized that he wasn’t attractive at all.

Kareena wanted to speak to the manager. She wanted to return this model. It was not the right fit for her.

As Dave continued to ramble about the justifications for lying to his parents, Kareena couldn’t help but wonder why she second-guessed herself, when she was usually so decisive. She needed to sharpen her intuition if she was going to start dating again like this.

Kareena began mentally drafting her text message to her friends in her head. She took a sip of her drink and was instantly hit with a ton of milky air.

“There’s a lot of foam on this,” she said, interrupting Dave’s monologue.

“Oh,” Dave said. “Yeah.” He grinned at her like she’d just discovered his brilliance. “Foam is totally the best part of the drink.”

“I am not a foam fan,” she said. “I’m just going to have them scoop it out. One second, I’ll be right back.”