Page 31 of Not Your Basic Love Story

“ooOOOoooh!” Someone catcalled.

I looked over, blushing, not having noticed his car parked right there and two guys grinning from the back seat.

Dev shook his head at them, then took my hand and led me to the passenger side of the car. Always the gentleman, he opened the car door for me.

“Becky, this is Sanjay and Ravi. Guys, Becky.”

I greeted them politely as I buckled my seatbelt. The two in the back seat continued their previous conversation as Dev navigated to the pub. Something about... Stonks? Tendies? I couldn’t follow the conversation at all, though I wasn't sure if it was because of the age gap, our opposing genders, or our different cultures. Instead, I let Dev’s confident hand ground me as he moved from shifting gears to my thigh.

We wound our way through the busy weekend traffic to the pub. The dimly lit building smelled of deep-fried food and stale beer. The music blared, its heavy bass making it difficult to think properly. A whole crew of people shouted boisterously at our arrival. Holy hell, he had a lot of friends. It didn’t surprise me, but still.

Dev released me, giving half-hugs and hand slaps to a huge group of young guys and a few girls.

As he introduced me, I couldn’t help but feel out of place. Everyone was so... young! Not only his friends but everyone else in the building. This pub must be close to the University because most everyone looked like they’d freshly turned nineteen and were eagerly using their real IDs instead of their fake ones.

On top of that, I was probably one of only like three white people in the whole building. It wasn’t often I found myself in the situation of feeling like a minority, even though the Greater Vancouver Area boasted a beautiful tapestry of people from all over the world. I took a deep breath and embraced the feeling, though. Dev probably felt like this whenever he left the city limits of Surrey. I wondered if he still faced discrimination based on the colour of his skin or his religion.

We sat amongst the crowd at a sticky bar-height table already littered with half-empty glasses and plates of mostly eaten food. The servers must have been overwhelmed because it took forever for us to get a drink.

Dev was busy talking to people he hadn’t seen since classes ended, so I turned my attention to a group of young women before me.

“How’d you and Dev meet?” a girl asked after introducing herself as Neetu. Three or four other girls halted their conversations and turned to me with assessing eyes.

I leaned in and shouted over the music, going over the story about the plane and Miranda’s wedding up to now.

“Moe told me Dev met a stranger in Mexico.” She wagged her eyebrows at me, a grin on her face.

“Yeah, I was that stranger.”

The girls exchanged glances.

“You’re the reason he’s always driving into the city, then?” Neetu asked.

“I live in Vancouver, yeah.” I smiled despite the uneasy tension in my stomach, recalling the conversation I’d had with Dev the first night he'd stayed over at my apartment about keeping premarital activities quiet.

The girls' gazes seemed judgmental, but they continued to be polite and made small talk. I tried my best to keep conversations flowing, but it was challenging. My throat hurt from shouting over the loud music, so I gave up, letting the girls return to their own conversation. I sipped my vodka cranberry and tried to suppress the migraine forming in my frontal lobe. From afar, I watched Dev as he interacted with his friends, his charismatic smile lighting up the room.

Sanjay and Ravi returned from the bar carrying a flight of shots and set one in front of each of the girls, myself included. We clinked our glasses together and drained them. I was pleasantly surprised it was whiskey, not tequila. The other girls coughed and gagged, but I, an expert whisky drinker, drained it without making so much as a face.

I licked my lips. “Crown Royal?”

The boys raised their eyebrows, impressed.

I smiled, mischievous. “Next round on me?”

We probably had like, three or four more rounds. It all started blurring together. I’d been having so much fun drinking with the guys that I’d lost track of time. Dev interrupted Sanjay and Ravi's argument about their stock trading schemes, me nodding along dumbly, and decided it was time for all of us to go home.

Quite intoxicated, I had to agree. After paying our tabs, we all headed outside. The crisp night air and cool rain was refreshing, sobering me up a bit. The boys took turns hugging me and slapping Dev on the back, telling him I’m a ‘keeper,’ before climbing into a cab. After ensuring the cab driver knew the correct address, Dev led me to his car.

“Whew,” I said, fumbling with my seatbelt. “Did you have a fun birthday?”

“Yeah, it was good.” He started the car up and headed back towards Vancouver.

“Good? Only good?”

He shrugged noncommittally.

“Well then, I guess it’s time for your birthday present.”

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