When Dimple Met Rishi

Rishi meets Leo and tells him that Platinum Panic got him into comics. Leo inquires about Rishi’s costume, and Dimple volunteers that the costume is from Rishi’s original comic. Leo asks to see Rishi’s panels, and though Rishi has his sketchbooks with him, “showing his sketches to a major graphic novelist [feels] like a step. A step he wasn’t sure he wanted to take” (152). Dimple notices Rishi seems subdued after the conversation with Leo.

They bump into Kevin Keo, and Dimple admires his manga sketches. Kevin and Rishi talk about Leo, and Rishi reveals to Kevin that he’ll be going to MIT in the fall, not SFSU. Rishi says that art is more of a “passing hobby,” and Kevin’s attitude toward Rishi changes. Kevin acts as though Rishi is a “pretentious douche nozzle” (156). Kevin asks about Rishi’s costume, and Rishi resists the impulse to tell Kevin about Aditya, instead lying that his costume is from an obscure Indian comic.

Kevin invites Dimple and Rishi to a party being thrown by art students. While they walk to the party, Rishi tells Dimple that no one in the world makes it as a comic book artist and that it’s too time consuming. Dimple says he doesn’t have to worry about that yet because he’s only 18. She convinces him to attend the party as a “social experiment.” The party is over the top and wild, but Dimple finds them two Cokes to drink. Just as Rishi begins to tell Dimple about a documentary he saw on the dangers of addiction, Dimple downs a pink lemonade (possibly spiked).

Rishi is horrified that Dimple drank the lemonade, but she convinces him to drink one too, to “loosen up.” He likes the taste. Then they notice a crowd gathered around two people drawing on sketchpads. A person in the crowd explains they’re having a sketch-off, in which people in the crowd offer crazy suggestions for them to draw. The current suggestion is Miley Cyrus’s and Darth Vader’s child, with gothic flair. A girl in braids, Lola, wins the match, and Dimple volunteers Rishi to be her next challenger.

The suggestion is “a sloth in a dress doing ballet,” and Rishi draws amazingly well. Dimple is reminded of watching a magician from her childhood, and she finds that Rishi’s “lines were confident and sure, the emerging picture comical and twisted and breathtakingly mesmerizing all at the same time” (166). Rishi wins almost unanimously, and Lola is disappointed to hear he doesn’t attend SFSU. After, Dimple feels shy around Rishi, because watching him draw felt very intimate.

They bump into Kevin, who is excited to see them, especially Dimple. A girl with piercings offers them brownies, and Dimple takes one, even though Rishi questions whether the brownies are “safe.” Kevin watches the interaction “in interest.”

Dimple enjoys the brownie, which she knows are “totally innocent,” but she doesn’t reveal that knowledge to Rishi, “enjoying watching Rishi worrying about her, though she didn’t want to admit it” (169). Dimple brushes the brownie against his lips and asks him to eat a bite in a “sultry voice she had no idea she was capable of” (170). He has a bite and worries about ingesting illegal substances, but Dimple assures him the brownie is safe.

They sit outside on a bench, and Dimple asks to see Rishi’s sketchpad. He is reluctant, but Dimple says it’s clear he has lots of talent, and she doesn’t understand why he won’t share his work. Rishi explains he’d love to do what Dimple is doing and follow his passion, but he can’t be an engineer and a part-time comic book artist because he loves drawing too much. Dimple encourages him to do what he loves and live frugally, and Rishi says as the oldest son, he has obligations to his parents. Even so, he hands his sketchbook to Dimple.

Dimple looks at the sketches with interest, pausing over one drawing in particular, of a boy around 10 years old making paper flowers. Rishi explains he used to love making them, and Dimple freezes, saying he made them out of magazines. Rishi isn’t sure how she knew that detail, but when Dimple asks him if he remembers, he has a sudden flashback. He remembers a boring Indian wedding he attended as a child, during which he ducked into an empty conference room and made paper flowers from magazine pages.

In the memory, a girl speaks up from the corner of the room to ask what he’s doing, and Rishi asks if she’s a tattletale. She’s reading A Wrinkle in Time and hiding from the boring wedding. Ultimately, Rishi gives the girl (young Dimple) a paper flower, telling her to remember him and not to tattle.

Rishi is blown away when he realizes that Dimple was the little girl, and he calls it kismet. Dimple kisses him. Rishi doesn’t kiss her back at first, and she pulls away. He reaches for her again and then kisses her “with purpose, with meaning, like he believed this was exactly where they were supposed to be in this moment” (181). The kiss feels amazing to Rishi, and they agree the kiss is “unexpected but awesome.”

Dimple encourages Rishi to show his sketches to Leo Tilden, perhaps through Kevin, but he asks her to sit for a moment with him. He sketches the two of them and writes, “Will you go on a date with me?” beneath the sketch, with the option to circle yes or no. Dimple writes “other” and tells Rishi she can’t have a boyfriend because she’s not looking for a relationship. She doesn’t want to hurt Rishi, but he convinces her to go out as “friends on a non-date” (185).