Manu grinned. “Sorry, buddy, but I was too much of a political pragmatist to support your man. Actually”—he checked his watch—“I showed because your sister promised to introduce me to this bigwig on the Rodham campaign—her words, not mine—who she swore would be here. I’m trying to escape, I’d like to do something meaningful, but at the same time, I don’t want to be an unpaid intern in, like, Iowa.” He shuddered. “Imagine Grindr in Iowa.”

Which was when Prachi arrived, arm in arm with one of the only unattached women in the room, who, it dawned on me then, was the reason my sister had so insisted on my attendance.

Prachi oozed hostess charm. “My brother’s going to be a professor, as I’ve told you, Keya. Neil, you’ve heard me talk about Keya. Her new company, Dil Day, is doing super well.”

“Dildo?” I coughed on my beer.

“Neil!” Prachi squealed.

Manu chuckled.

Keya, to her credit, seemed only entertained. “Dil Day,” Keya said, giggling. “Dil, Hindi for heart?”

“I told you, Neil, it’s the dating app Hasan and Farha met on!” Prachi cried.

“Shit,” I said. “Sorry. It’s for brown people?”

“It’s for future-oriented South Asian professionals.” Keya lowered her voice. “Believe it or not, they’re—we’re—willing to pay more in the marriage space than any other group.”

“Eat the rich, right, Neil?” Manu said.

“Let’s leave you two.” Prachi steered him away. “Christine is coming, Manu, she is…”

I wistfully fingered my vape in my pocket. It could put me to sleep. It could eradicate me. These days I sought out things to remove me from what felt like an increasingly constricted world. There had been a few years, in college, when I’d believed in life’s ever-unfolding variety. But now, as my compatriots entered the promotion and canine-adoption and splitting-the-rent and wedding seasons of their lives, reality had narrowed again, with little warning.

“I consider myself generally oriented toward the past,” I said to Keya.

Keya edged to the counter to pour wine, then filled a paper plate high with cheese. “I was supposed to meet you earlier, but when you didn’t show, I got drunk. Now I’m starving.”

“I should say,” I said, popping some cheddar in my mouth. “I’m seeing someone. Prachi didn’t know.”