When Dimple Met Rishi

Celia helps Dimple get ready for the non-date, taking a break from her recent hobby of sexting Evan. She tells Dimple her relationship with Evan is complicated at the moment and loans Dimple a slip and a fashionable Elie Tahari dress. Dimple likes the way she looks and accepts Celia’s offer of matching boots, but she declines Celia’s offer of makeup.

Meanwhile, Rishi frets over his appearance. Instead of waiting in her room as they had planned, Dimple arrives at his door. Rishi is stunned by how good she looks, and he feels extremely attracted to her. As they leave for the non-date, Rishi says he spoke to Ashish. He says Ashish got some interest from an SFSU basketball scout and so is coming to visit. At the elevator, Rishi makes a cutting remark to a group of obnoxious guys, and Dimple says he always surprises her, in a really good way. Rishi says Ashish probably just wants to come to SFSU to ogle college girls, and when Dimple says Rishi probably had the same thought, Rishi stresses that he was only thinking of her.

Automatically, Dimple and Rishi lean in for a kiss, but Dimple’s phone rings and interrupts them. Dimple talks briefly to her mother, saying she’s out with Rishi, and her mother acts excited but also tells Dimple (in Hindi) not to go into Rishi’s room alone. Rishi understands Dimple’s relationship with her mother, and Dimple feels grateful he understands how parents act in her world.

Outside, Rishi takes Dimple’s hand, which she likes, and leads her to a black convertible Beemer. Dimple teases him for being flashy, and Rishi drives them to a surprise location. At a red light, they stare at each other for a romantic moment before the light turns green.

They arrive at the non-date location, Two Sisters Bar and Books, where the owners collect different editions of books from all over the world. When Dimple mentions they can’t drink, Rishi reveals he came to investigate a few days earlier, and the bartenders can make any drink virgin. He worries that he over-planned the dinner, especially when the waiter, Willie, arrives and reveals he’s heard a lot about “the lovely Dimple.” Rishi is embarrassed but tips Willie when he takes them to their table. Rishi has arranged for the table to have a 2009 edition of A Wrinkle in Time, the year he had met Dimple at the Indian wedding, and two of his favorite graphic novels. He’s self-conscious about all of his effort and tells Dimple if she hates it, they can go somewhere else. Dimple smiles and reassures him she doesn’t hate it.

While they eat, Dimple reads aloud from A Wrinkle in Time, which Rishi has never read. He reveals that he purchased the books so they can take them home, and Dimple says she’ll read his comics and he can read Wrinkle. She feels a moment of connection with him but then changes the subject to coding. Rishi is visibly disappointed and pays for dinner. Outside, Dimple says she’d like to go to Bernal Heights with Rishi, and they joke about killer robots in Wrinkle. Rishi tries not to be excited, because Dimple was aloof at dinner, and he knows they’re going to be friends, nothing more.

Dimple leads Rishi to the top of a hill, from which they see a beautiful panoramic view of San Francisco. Dimple reaches for Rishi’s hand and apologizes if she seemed ambivalent at dinner, explaining she has a hard time with feelings. She says she’d like for the non-date to be a date, and they kiss. Dimple wonders if it really is kismet, like Rishi said.

Jokingly, Rishi says he’d rather kiss Dimple than go to “stupid web-development classes,” and Dimple reminds him that the classes are her opportunity to meet Jenny Lindt—her Leo Tilden, as Rishi puts it. Their talk turns to sketching, and Rishi agrees to let Dimple see his sketchbook on the condition that he can draw her. Dimple says she’s not photogenic, and Rishi says, “You. Are. Beautiful. Lajawab. My only worry is that I might not be able to do you justice” (220).

Dimple lies down on the grass to be sketched by the light of Rishi’s flashlight app. Rishi loses himself in drawing her, and Dimple begins to comprehend the extent to which Rishi “lives his art. If he did it full time, there might not be time for anything or anyone else” (222). Rishi tells her to talk to him as he finishes his drawing, so Dimple reminds him she doesn’t want to get married soon. She is afraid he won’t want to date her if marriage is only a far-off possibility. Rishi says that although culture and tradition are very important to him, especially as the firstborn son, Dimple’s teaching him that other things are important too. He says marriage can take a back seat if Dimple’s all right with that.

They talk about meeting each other for the first time, at the wedding in 2009. Dimple reveals she was impressed by Rishi’s artistic ability, and Rishi says he thought Dimple was the “the loveliest bookworm” he’d ever seen. Dimple asks what he thought of her when they met the second time, before she flung her iced coffee at him.

Rishi says he thought she looked peaceful, and they laugh about the coffee incident. He then shows Dimple his drawings of her, which he based on a creative exercise given to comic book artists: His sketchbook shows 25 different drawings of Dimple, all wearing different expressions. Dimple realizes she looks beautiful and that that must be how Rishi sees her. She climbs into his lap and kisses him. Hours later, Rishi drives Dimple home, and Dimple gives him the assignment to read A Wrinkle in Time so they can discuss it later.