If you love me, sing to me

The Dinner Party

My eyes droopy, I swirled a fork around in the fettuccine I had ordered, looking down at the masses of food and cringing. That was weird.

Normally, I had a big appetite. Well...I had a big appetite for things I liked. And I definitely liked fettuccine. But this evening...Not so much.

I hadn't come here expecting to have a good time, but I thought it would be bearable. WRONG. I was so miserable that I felt like killing myself.

I never really liked meeting new people, but I could pull it off with a fake movie star smile and make everyone love me. Today though...I seemed to be radiating a sense of, "Back off," to everyone that approached me. Not that I was doing it on purpose.

My mom nudged me, her eyes flashing dangerously. "Go talk to the others. And the director."

"No." I mumbled.

She sighed in exasperation. "You're only jeopardizing your chances in the show by acting like a touch-me-not, Sana."

I felt my hands go numb as I realized she was right.

In a daze, I stumbled up and approached the nearest girl I saw. She had short, curly black hair and big eyes.

"Hi!" She turned to face me. "I don't think we've met."

"We haven't. I'm Sana, Sana Sharma."

"I'm Simran Singh."

"It's nice to meet you, Simran. You have the best name ever, you know?"

She asked, "Why do you think that?"

I merely smiled. "The heroine in one of the most famous Bollywood movies of all time is named Simran."

She threw me a cheeky smile. "Let me guess, DDLJ?

I laughed. "Yes, and it's one of my favorites too. I'm surprised that you know about it though."

"Like you said, it's one of the most famous Bollywood movies of all time. Correction, it's probably the single most famous Bollywood movie ever to be made. How could I not know about it?"

I sighed. "Well, it's a very old movie. I mean, it's from 1995, and nowadays, you rarely meet people who watch old Hindi movies, let alone any Indian movies at all."

She replied, "That's true, but I'm one of those rare people, I guess. Besides, my parents made me watch it with them at least ten times."

"Ten times? That's it?" I said jokingly.

"That's actually why my parents named me Simran. They love the movie so much. And we have this running joke in my family that I have to marry someone named Raj or they'll disown me."

I laughed. "Well if you did, that would be perfect."

"Yup." She stared off into the distance. "That would be perfect."

Clearing my throat, I asked her, "So where are you from?"

"Colorado." She replied enthusiastically, "But I go to college in North Carolina."

"Really?" I say, interested. "What college do you go to?"

"Duke." She replies, a hint of a smile on her face.

"Wow. Duke is really good."

She picked up a glass of Pepsi. "Thanks. Where do you go?"

"UPenn."

"Wow, that's impressive. So what do you want to be?"

"Honestly, everyone around me seems to know exactly what they want in life, but I'm just trying to get through each day without dying. I mean, the course work is hard, and my classes are tough. Not to mention my professors seem to be bent on ruining my life. But honestly, I just want to be a singer. I love to sing, and I can't imagine myself doing anything else. What about you? Have you decided on a career?"