Dating Dr. Dil (If Shakespeare was an Auntie #1)(51)

“It’s nothing. Sorry about that.”

He sounded a little flustered, so instead of commenting, she grabbed a menu and opened the drinks page.

“Thanks for coming out to Hoboken to meet me,” he started. “I know it’s a pain for you to get home because of the trains, but I appreciate it.”

“No problem,” she said. “I wrapped up work a bit earlier today, so I had the transit time.”

He smiled as they scanned the drink menu.

“What are you in the mood for?” she asked.

“I think I’ll have an IPA. Is that okay with you?”

She nodded. “I drink. I might have a mojito, though.”

“Go for it,” he said. Rahul glanced at her over the top of his menu, then adjusted his glasses. “Can I tell you something without judgment?”

Oh no, Kareena thought. Here it was. The moment when he’d share something truly disastrous, and she’d have to plan her exit. “Uh, sure.”

“My mother put me on the site. It’s a weird thing to admit to, but since you’re South Asian, too, I figured I could tell you the truth.”

She let out a deep breath. “I appreciate that,” Kareena said with a smile.

“Would it be okay if we, I don’t know, acted like friends meeting up instead of a date? It feels weird to be set up online by my mother, and I’d rather ease into this.”

Kareena laughed. “Yeah, that works for me.” She wasn’t feeling any electricity between them, anyway. Like with Prem. The memory of his fingertips along the curves of her anklebone had her shivering despite the warm temperature in the restaurant.

Their server stepped up to the table. “Hi, folks. What can I get you to drink?”

Rahul motioned to her, and she smiled.

After their server jotted down their drinks, he left without another word.

“Is this the part where we talk about ourselves?” Rahul asked, folding his arms on the table.

“I guess so. What do you want to know?”

“Well, I think one of the most important questions for me is, what is your favorite color?”

What in the world? “My favorite . . . color.”

He nodded. “Your favorite color. Preferably choosing between black, white, red, green, and blue. It’s important.”

How was it important? It sounded superficial to her. With superspecific choices. She had to wonder if he was searching for a particular answer.

“I know it may sound strange, but black is probably my favorite out of all those,” she finally replied. Kareena pointed to her black slim-fit pants, and her brand-new black sweater vest that she’d purchased to replace the one that was ruined in the hospital. “It goes with everything, and I think it looks pretty good on me . . . What? What did I say?”

He’d balked, and some of the melanin in his skin faded. “Life drains,” he whispered.

“Um, excuse me?”

He shook his head. “Nothing, nothing. I didn’t mean anything.”

“No, I’d really like to know.”

He looked at his backpack, and then back at her. “You know how I’m a gamer, right? I build video games? That was in my profile.”

“Yes, I do remember seeing that.”

“Well, in one of the . . . er, games that I play, colors often represent personality. If you had told me that your favorite color was green, I would’ve thought that you were open and welcoming as a person. If you told me that your favorite color was white, then I would’ve assumed that you were pretentious and shallow.”

“Oh! Like The Great Gatsby.”

It was his turn to look confused. “Excuse me?”

“Color is symbolic in The Great Gatsby. I was an English major. I had to read The Great Gatsby. Hated the book. However, I loved that white meant shallow and pretentiousness.”

Rahul raised an eyebrow. His face lit up. “That’s so interesting how white means the same thing in the game. Okay, cool. Well, you chose black, and with black . . . well, it represents a life drain.”

“Like vampires? Into the dark of the night kind of thing? I read Dracula, too.”

He grinned. “Yes! Exactly like vampires.”

Kareena knew that when she’d first read about Rahul’s interest in gaming, she judged pretty hard. But hearing him talk about what he loved was relatable. She had interests she could go on and on about for hours. Like her car, or redoing kitchen cabinets.

Their server delivered their drinks, then left with a “Call me if you need me.”

“Tell me more about the gaming,” Kareena said after taking a sip of her drink.

His eyebrows nearly reached his hairline. “Yeah? Huh. That’s pretty cool of you.”

“It’s early yet,” she said with a laugh. “Why do you like it?”

“I was picked on in school, you know? But gaming gave me a place where I felt safe.”

She nodded. She could understand that. She found her people on the debate team. “Your color code thing was interesting. What game is that from?”

“Ah . . .” He ran his fingers through his hair. “It’s from Magic: The Gathering, which is usually a four-player game. I play Commander.”

“What do you do?”

“The cards and the colors that I mentioned? Each colored card has a purpose and a theme.”