My So-Called Bollywood Life(28)

“What are you doing to my best friend?” Bridget asked as she stepped up to them.

“Uh…sorry.”

“No, it’s fine,” Winnie said with a wheeze. “Hey, Bridge, Dev got me Kit Kats and vanilla. Did you tell him?”

“Why would I tell him your favorite?”

“She didn’t tell me,” Dev interjected. “That’s my favorite, too. Like I said, I ordered two of the same.”

“See, Winnie? It’s his favorite. What a coincidence.”

Before Winnie could comment, Dev was talking to Bridget. “Henry was telling me that he wants to see if he can win a goldfish at that dunking game.”

Bridget’s face lit up. “Ooh, can I come?”

“Uh…yeah.”

“You two have fun,” Dev said. “See ya.” He curled his long fingers around Winnie’s bicep and pulled her in the opposite direction from where Bridget and Henry had to go.

    “Hey!”

“This is their chance to be alone,” he said. “Don’t you want to see if Bridget and Henry can hit it off?”

Dev was right, which was the only reason she went along with it. They began walking through the stalls and carnival games at a leisurely pace, enjoying their ice cream and the brightly colored signs and sounds. A mother pushing a double stroller tried to squeeze around them, and Dev moved closer to Winnie to get out of the way.

“Want to talk about the festival?” Dev asked.

“We don’t have to. Honestly, I’m kind of exhausted with the topic. I never thought I could be, but it’s the truth. Even though I don’t have the title, I’m trying to show that I’m a leader and I’m doing a lot of the work.”

“And you’re working at the theater.”

“Yes. And trying to avoid early-onset senioritis with my classes.”

Dev laughed, and the sound was like Christmas and Diwali rolled into one. “What do you want to talk about if not the festival, work, and school?”

“You choose.”

“Okay. Did you start your college applications yet?”

“That’s something else I’m working on,” Winnie said. “The essays for my NYU application are killing my soul.”

“Are you trying for the film studies program?”

    “Of course.”

He let out a low whistle. “Good luck.”

“That’s nice,” she said with a smile.

“What is?”

“That you know how hard it is to get into NYU. That you understand how hard the essays are to write.”

He smiled and reached over to tug a lock of her hair. “Well, I am a movie person, too. And I know that you’ll knock those essays out of the park. Even if you aren’t film-festival chair anymore, I’m sure you’ll do something else that’s even better for your application.”

“Yo, Dev!” someone yelled.

They turned to see Jai Patel, a junior on the school’s South Asian dance team, heading toward them. His date followed in the shortest skirt Winnie had ever seen. She stumbled once on her pencil-thin heels.

“Hey, fancy seeing you here,” Winnie said when they stood arm’s length apart.

“You guys are here together?” Jai asked.

“Yes.”

“No,” Winnie said at the same time.

Dev raised an eyebrow at her.

“We’re not here together together,” Winnie said. “We’re here at the same time.”

When the guys shared a look that she couldn’t understand, she turned to Indian Barbie. “Hey, I’m Winnie.”

“Hi. Tara.”

    “Tara goes to Rutgers High,” Jai said. “She’s on the South Asian dance team there.”

“Cool. You guys have an awesome team.”

“We do,” she replied, before she looked down at her phone.

Jai rolled his eyes. “Hey, the film-club screenings are packed. Awesome mix of movie choices, Winnie. But you know me. I’m psyched about the fund-raiser dance in a few weeks.”

“You and the dance team going to show everyone up?” Winnie said with a grin.

“You know it. We’ll talk in school. I gotta drop Tara home.”

“Yup, see ya later.”

Winnie waited until Jai and his date were out of earshot before she said, “I hope he didn’t get the wrong impression about us.”

“I hope he did,” Dev said with a grin.

She elbowed him in the ribs and felt tingly from the contact. “Hey, I want to do the Ferris wheel. You in?”

“No.”

“What? Come on!”

“Nope. No way. Kabhi nahin.”

When she batted her eyelashes at him and gave him her most innocent smile, he said, “Ugh. Fine.”

They started toward the ride. Dev took Winnie’s half-melted ice cream, stacked it with his empty cup, and started eating.

“Hey!”

    “If you’re making me do the Ferris wheel, I’m eating your ice cream.”

“I don’t get that, but okay.”

They maneuvered through the crowds until they reached the end of the line. Dev tossed the empty cups into a nearby trash can and looked up at the giant wheel.