But as if his brain were completely disconnected from his legs, Rishi found himself being transported to the Starbucks on the SFSU campus. As if he was dumb enough to hope she'd be there, perched on that fountain like last time, an iced coffee in her hands. . . .
He blinked.
And blinked again.
"Dimple?"
Her eyes flew open at the voice, her heart constricting painfully, her brain telling her it was stupid to hope, so very stupid. But-
It was him. Rishi Patel, staring at her with his mouth hanging open.
Dimple stood on shaky legs, her breath ragged, disbelief and hope mixing, swirling, bursting in her chest. Her hands were shaking so hard, the coffee threatened to fall to the ground. "Rishi?"
He stood there, staring at her. One word echoed in his brain, over and over, like a songbird's call: "Kismet." He was sure he looked deranged, the way his heart was hammering in his head and his chest and his throat all at once, the way his mouth felt dry, his entire body stiff and cold with shock. He reached out to her and then dropped his hand midway. "I texted-"
"I went to-"
They'd both spoken at the same time, and Rishi stopped and made an after you gesture with his hand. "Go ahead."
Dimple bit her lip. Gods, she was beautiful. So, so perfect. His chest felt warm and way too tight. There was intense yearning inside him; he needed to tuck her head under his chin and smell her shampoo. That was the only thing he wanted right now, the only thing. But he kept himself rigid, held himself at an angle so as to not get too close.
"I, um . . ." She tucked a curl behind her ear, and he saw her hand shake a bit. "What are you doing here?" Her eyes searched his, trying to find answers.
Rishi tucked his hands into his pockets so he wouldn't be tempted to reach out and stroke her cheek. "I, ah, I go here."
Her eyes widened almost comically. Gods, she was cute. "You're an SFSU student now? What about MIT ?"
Rishi shook his head and smiled. "I had a long talk with Pappa about how I'm an artist at heart."
He caught a glimpse of Dimple's full throttle smile, just for a second, before she put it away. "And he was okay with that?"
Rishi shrugged. "Eventually. He's still getting used to the idea, but I think he wants me to be happy more than anything."
Dimple nodded, like she got that. "But weren't you too late to apply for admission?"
He rubbed a hand through his hair and forced himself to hold her gaze. "Leo Tilden spoke to them. They're big fans of his, so . . ."
"So he e-mailed you?" That big grin was back, but then she tamped down on it again, cheeks flushing a deep burgundy, and looked away. "That's great."
"Thank you," he said quietly.
Dimple looked at Rishi. "For what?"
He was still looking at her in that unfathomable way. His honey eyes were speaking volumes, but she was too afraid to guess what they were saying. "For sending him my pictures. He e-mailed me a couple of weeks ago. He was actually the one who helped me show Pappa how important this is to me. And he helped bolster my courage so I could take this leap. That was an incredible thing you did for me. And I'm sorry I didn't see it before. I didn't see a lot of things."
Did he mean . . . ? Was he talking about . . . ? No, of course not. Dimple blinked, her throat tight. "It's okay. It would've been a disservice to the world if you hadn't pursued it, you know?"
He smiled, a gentle, soft thing like fading light. "And what about you and your app?"
"Jenny's been incredible. We're nearing completion; maybe another month or two." She adjusted her glasses. "Thank you for doing that for me. I don't think I was very grateful at the time, and I'm sorry too."
Rishi nodded slowly, sadly. "Maybe we were both too caught up with other things we needed to sort through." He took a deep breath. "What are you doing here, by the way?"
Dimple flushed and looked away, hands tightening around the iced coffee cup. "Nothing," she said quickly. Then she took a breath and tried again. She'd come all this way. She'd wanted a chance to make this right. Well, this was it. This was her chance. Maybe Rishi didn't feel the same way anymore, but she still owed him an apology. "Actually, the truth is, I, um . . . I went to the airport first. I thought you'd be there."
Rishi's heart began to trip along in his chest. She'd gone to the airport to find him? "I wasn't there," he said, stupidly.
Dimple smiled a little. "Yeah, I see that. You weren't going to MIT after all."
"But why . . . why did you want to find me?" he asked, his breath speeding up. He tried to calm his pulse and was only marginally successful.