“I wanted to be a pastry chef,” Rishi smiles coyly. “I went to culinary school for a year. But my parents would never forgive me if I didn’t become some kind of doctor. So I settled for a doctorate in art therapy.”
“I totally understand. My parents wanted me to do literally anything but paint.” My smiles are genuine now too. “Maybe you should bake something for me sometime.”
“I’d love to! I keep trying to convince Jae to open his restaurant for breakfast so I can sell him my homemade pastries.”
“I’ll see if I can help convince him.”
“Speak of the devil,” Rishi looks up as Jae approaches our table, carrying a tall glass of something alcoholic and the tall blonde woman trailing behind him. “Again.”
“Hey there, you guys.” Jae stumbles over his words, clearly a little tipsy. “Sorry to crash your date, again, but my date, Trixie, here didn’t believe that I knew a real doctor. And it just so happened you were sitting across the way.”
“Yes, I am a real doctor.” Rishi smiles politely with a soft laugh, amused.
“Is it really that far-fetched?” I whisper in a laugh.
“Can you look at this mole on my back?” Trixie giggles sipping on her own fruity cocktail, also tipsy.
“I’m not that kind of doctor,” Rishi clarifies. “Anyway, we’ll let you get back to your drinks.”
“No, no,” Jae starts. “We have more questions.” He wraps his arm around Trixie and my heart pounds. This is not something I want to be seeing.
“Seriously, man, I think you should—” Rishi starts, but in one fell swoop, Jae releases Trixie, pushes me to the side of the booth, and sits down next to me, his drink clattering on the table. “—take Trixie back to the bar.”
“Look,” Trixie slurs. “We just want to know if…what did we want to know again?”
“If doctors really do have a lot of sex in the on-call room like onGrey’s Anatomy.” Jae reminds her. He looks at me, leaning in, his face bright red. “Have you ever seenGrey’s Anatomy, Riley?”
“I—I—” I stutter, getting flustered at his eye contact.
“They sure bone a lot on that show,” Jae remarks.
“Again, not that kind of doctor,” Rishi states calmly, but I’m seething inside.
“Don’t you guys have, like, another bar to hit up?” I ask, trying to get rid of them.
“But you went to medical school, right?” Trixie asks, turning towards Rishi.
“Yes, I went to medical school, but I don’t see how that relates—” He answers.
“That’s super hot,” Trixie says. Is she…hitting onmydate?
“You know what’s super hot? Artists.” Jae giggles, and he puts his arm around me, his hand resting on my shoulder. The contact sends tingles straight down my spine. His arm is so heavy, and I hate to admit that I like it. “Artists like Riley.”
“Jae,” Rishi says, still steely calm. “I think you and Trixie should…stop crashing our date.”
“Why? Do you want to take Riley home?” Jae asks bluntly.
“That’s what I’m trying to do, yes.” Rishi answers with honesty. “Do you have a problem with that?” He laughs, not taking Jae seriously. Trixie loudly slurps her cocktail.
Jae however, is dead serious. His grip on my shoulder tightens.
“What the fuck?” Jae’s stunned, and Rishi has nerves of steel.
“Um—” I say. “We don’t have to hash this out right now. Besides, I think Trixie could use another drink, yeah?”
“Riley, let’s get out of here.” Rishi says, shifting in the booth, encouraging Trixie to get up. I don’t like him telling me what to do, but I’m tempted to leave with him just to get away from Trixie and Jae.
“You’re not going anywhere with her.” Jae groans.
