The café was the kind of place where hipsters thrived. Fairy lights hung like tangled constellations across the ceiling, and the air smelled faintly of roasted coffee and caramel. Aarav sat at a corner table, nervously wiping his glasses with the hem of his shirt. He checked his phone again. 7:42 PM. She was 12 minutes late.
He adjusted his shirt collar, feeling overdressed. The café was crawling with people in casual, effortlessly stylish clothes. Aarav, in his carefully ironed button-up, looked like he was interviewing for a bank job. He wondered, not for the first time, if meeting Priya in person had been a mistake.
A voice interrupted his thoughts. “Aarav?”
He looked up. Priya was standing there, hair spilling over her shoulders in loose waves, dressed in a flowy top that managed to look both careless and expensive. She was shorter than he’d expected, but her presence was anything but small.
“You’re late,” Aarav said before he could stop himself.
Priya blinked, then grinned. “Wow, you don’t waste time, huh?” She slid into the seat across from him, tossing her bag onto the floor. “Hi to you too.”
Aarav felt his ears heat up. “Hi. Sorry. I just—uh, wasn’t sure if you were coming.”
“I said I’d come,” Priya said, raising an eyebrow. “Although if this is the kind of welcome I get, maybe I shouldn’t have.”
He couldn’t tell if she was joking or not.
A waiter appeared, offering menus. Aarav glanced at his, trying to focus, but Priya waved hers away. “I’ll have a cappuccino and a croissant. Warm it up, please.” She handed the menu back without looking at it.
Aarav hesitated. “Um, an Americano. No sugar.”
Priya tilted her head. “No sugar? What are you, a monk?”
Aarav’s cheeks flushed. “I just don’t like sweet coffee.”
“Fair enough,” Priya said, smirking. “But you know, they have better drinks here than just black water.”
“It’s not black water,” he said, feeling defensive.
Priya laughed, leaning back in her chair. “Okay, fine. Relax. I’m just messing with you.”
He nodded, fiddling with the edge of his menu. This wasn’t going well.
“So,” Priya said, resting her chin on her hand. “What do you do when you’re not drinking sad coffee?”
“I’m a software engineer,” Aarav replied. “Backend development, mostly.”
“Figures,” Priya said with a grin. “You give off tech bro vibes.”
“I’m not a tech bro,” he said, frowning.
“Relax, I didn’t mean it as an insult.” She shrugged. “What kind of stuff do you work on?”
“Database optimization. API integrations,” he said, then immediately regretted it. He could see her eyes glaze over slightly. “It’s… not as boring as it sounds.”
“Uh-huh,” Priya said, tapping her fingers on the table.
“What about you?” Aarav asked, eager to shift the focus.
“I’m a content creator,” Priya said, her voice brightening.
“What kind of content?”
“You know, social media stuff. Brand partnerships, lifestyle blogging, a little video editing here and there.”
Aarav nodded slowly. “So… like Instagram?”
“Among other things,” Priya said, narrowing her eyes. “Don’t say it like that. It’s a legit job.”
“I wasn’t judging,” he said quickly.
“Good. Because I work hard, okay?”
“I believe you,” Aarav said, though he couldn’t keep the skepticism entirely out of his voice.
The waiter returned with their drinks. Priya took a sip of her cappuccino and sighed dramatically. “Finally. I needed this today.”
“Long day?” Aarav asked.
“Not really. I just hate being up before 10 AM,” Priya said, grinning.
He didn’t know how to respond to that, so he took a sip of his coffee instead.
“Anyway,” Priya said, breaking the silence, “how are you liking the whole dating app thing?”
“It’s… okay,” Aarav said cautiously.
“Just okay?”
“Well, I’m not used to it,” he admitted.
“Figures,” Priya said, smirking. “You don’t strike me as the swipe-right type.”
“And you do?”
“Of course,” she said, laughing. “It’s fun. Plus, I like meeting new people. Like you.”
He couldn’t tell if she was complimenting him or teasing him.
The conversation stumbled on, punctuated by long silences that Priya seemed entirely comfortable with and Aarav found unbearable. He kept catching himself overthinking everything he said, while Priya seemed to speak without a filter.
At one point, she launched into a story about a brand photoshoot that went wrong, complete with dramatic hand gestures and impressions of her team. Aarav couldn’t help but smile at her enthusiasm, though he didn’t really understand half of what she was saying.
When their food arrived, Priya immediately grabbed the croissant and tore off a piece, dipping it into her coffee. Aarav raised an eyebrow.
“What?” she said, catching his look.
“Nothing. I’ve just… never seen anyone eat like that.”
“It’s called multitasking,” Priya said, grinning.
“It’s called weird,” Aarav muttered under his breath.
She laughed, clearly not offended. “Okay, Mr. Americano-no-sugar. Tell me something weird about you.”
He thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I organize my books by color.”
Priya snorted. “What are you, a Pinterest board?”
“It’s practical,” Aarav said defensively.
“It’s psychotic,” Priya shot back, laughing.
Despite himself, Aarav found the corners of his mouth tugging upward.
As the evening wore on, they fell into a strange rhythm—bickering, teasing, testing each other’s boundaries. Aarav still felt out of his depth, but Priya’s energy was infectious.
By the time the check arrived, they were arguing over the merits of Bollywood rom-coms.
“They’re ridiculous,” Aarav said. “Nobody meets their soulmate on a train in real life.”
“Okay, Mr. Realism,” Priya said, rolling her eyes. “Not everything has to be logical. Sometimes you just have to feel things.”
“I don’t think logic and feelings are mutually exclusive,” he countered.
Priya stared at him for a moment, then shook her head with a laugh. “You’re exhausting.”
“So are you,” Aarav said without thinking.
Priya blinked, then grinned. “Touché.”
As they walked out of the café, Priya turned to him. “Well, this was fun. Sort of.”
“Sort of?” Aarav repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re not as boring as you look,” Priya said, smirking.
“And you’re not as obnoxious as you seem,” Aarav replied, surprising himself.
Priya laughed, pulling out her phone. “Give me your number. We’ll stay in touch.”
“Stay in touch?” he asked cautiously.
“Relax,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I’m not proposing. You’re good for coffee debates, that’s all.”
Aarav handed her his phone, feeling both relieved and oddly disappointed.
“Okay,” Priya said, handing it back. “See you around, Aarav.”
“See you,” he said, watching as she walked away.
He stood there for a moment, replaying the evening in his head. It had been awkward, chaotic, and completely out of his comfort zone.
And yet, he found himself smiling.
Sometimes, the people who unsettle us the most are the ones who leave us questioning the limits we’ve set for ourselves.
