I roll my eyes. “Let’s stop talking about me for, like, a minute.” I take a swig of beer.

“I’m an open book here, Jamie.”

I swallow. “Okay, time for twenty first-date questions with Zarar.”

“Shoot.”

“What did you want to be when you grew up, back when you were five?”

He shrugs and sticks up a finger. “I don’t think I’ve ever known. It’s why I’m job-hopping right now.” His lip tips upward.

“What’s your favorite food?”

He raises a second finger, counting for me, I guess. “A dish my mom makes, chicken biryani with fresh raita and aloo shami.”

“Favorite band?”

Three fingers. “*NSYNC,” he says freely.

I almost do a spit take and glance around. “Zarar, shut up, don’t say that so loud here. You’ll get fired; they’re way too pop.”

“I always liked watching them dance.”

“Have you tried dancing as a career too?”

Four. “I did dance classes growing up.”

I shake my head, smiling. “Of course you did.”

“What do you eat for breakfast in the morning?”

Five. “I’m an oatmeal guy.”

“Bleh.”

His forehead wrinkles up. “What do you eat for breakfast?”

“Here I eat Siri’s Special K, which tastes like nothing. At home I grab a breakfast burrito down the street, or a granola bar.”

“That sounds difficult. I like to go straight to the kitchen when I wake up.”

“Favorite movie?”

Six. “Jab We Met.”

“I’ve never heard of that.”

“Well, you should watch it. It’s on Amazon Prime.”

I nod. “I will.”

Seven. “Dream goal?”

Zarar leans back and takes a swig of his beer. “To settle down in the right job with the right person and find happiness.”

I look down into my drink. “You are such a dweeb.”

He shrugs. “That’s the dream.”

“Why did you and your last girlfriend break up?”

Eight. “She found someone else when we went to different states for college.”

“Did she cheat on you?” I ask, appalled. “You are a precious flower of a human.”

Nine. He quirks his head sideways, and my eyes dip to admire the muscles in his neck. “It happens. We weren’t each other’s lobsters.”

My brows pull together. “And you’re still such a sappy-ass romantic? How do you believe in that forever happy bullshit?”

Ten. “Because I do. It’s real.”

I roll my eyes, twisting to gaze out at the red lights of cars flowing down the veins of the city.

Zarar slides over till our legs touch and we’re side by side. He’s facing me and I’m facing outward.

He takes another sip of beer. “How exhausting is it to be over the entire idea of love?”