Silently Falling in Love: Race - #Wattys2017

Chapter 26 - February 1995

Arjun

I needed a break from studying so I called Anjali I knew she'd be home and if my guess was right she'd be curled up in bed with a book to help her unwind from the day.

On the second ring I heard a "Hello,"

"Hey, it's me."

"Hey you. How's it going?"

"Brutal as always. Do you think dental school is easier than med school? Do you think it's too late to switch?"

"Arjun not this conversation again. We all tried to warn you!"

"Such a supportive best friend! What do you think I should be doing building buildings with you?"

"I think you should be in Hollywood directing the next blockbuster film. That's what I think!"

"That would have meant I should have gone to USC for college in which case I would never have met you. Now wouldn't that be tragic?"

"I believe in destiny Arjun. I think our lives were meant to cross. Even if you had gone to USC you would probably have come to Stanford to visit some of your friends and we would have met and then you would have been compelled to cast me in one of your movies and I would be a movie star instead of an architect. Why didn't you go to USC?"

"You really think that we would have met even if I didn't go to Stanford?" I asked seriously.

"Yeah, I do. I think some people's lives are meant to intersect together and no matter what happens they will cross paths."

"Well by that definition we could have just bumped into each other in a parking lot for two minutes and that would be the first and last of our conversations. That's not the same as being my best friend."

"I didn't say we would have the same exact relationship if you didn't go to Stanford, I just said we would have met. Maybe I would have met you through Alex."

"He went to MIT! How is that possible? Plus he's a couple of years older than you."

"Hello! We might have met on the racetracks and gotten to be friends and then he would have introduced me to his famous brother who had made such a name for himself at an early age in Hollywood, completely unheard of, and then you would take one look at me and ask me to choreograph all of your dances in your movies and give me a few important roles too. It would all be so serendipitous."

"You're making me wish I went to USC which is crazy because I didn't even apply to USC because I didn't like USC. But, now that you're telling me that had I gone there I would be a famous movie director I'm wishing I had applied to go to college there. Can I have a do over?"

"Sorry too late for that, you're stuck with Cell Biology!"

"Wait one question why would I need a choreographer for my movies?"

"Because of your extensive knowledge of Bollywood movies, you were going to bring musicals to Hollywood and make them popular once again! You were going to revive the days of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, with maybe a little bit of hip action and some nice dhol to mix it up a bit."

"You do have an active imagination. Do you ever live in reality?"