Beautiful Stranger (How I Met Your Mother)

01. How they met

(Barney, Lilly, Marshall and Ted are at their usual booth at McLaren's bar)

"Yes guys, Victoria was great, and simple. But I just don't think she is the one, you know. "

Everyone said in unison, "Here we go again... not the one..."

"Ted, you broke up with her because she isn't THE ONE?" Lilly stared at him hoping for a satisfying explanation about why he dumped somebody so perfect for him as Victoria.

Ted froze for a few seconds. Marshall continued, "She was the nicest girl, Ted. And, she was an amazing baker. Now, I don't know when I will ever eat those chocolate brownies she made last week." Marshall sighed, his lips curled up in annoyance.

"She was the nicest, yes. And hate me for saying this, but she isn't Robin." 

All his friends roared with frustration.

"Ted, Ted... please... you are bumming us all out. Please don't start with your plans for wooing Robin." Barney cried. He then turned to Marshall and Lilly sitting on the opposite side of their table and continued, "Now, how much would you give me for scoring with that Indian chick over there at the bar?"

Ted stopped mid-sentence. Everyone looked at once.

"Right. That girl is in no way letting you sleep with her. She just refused like the eleventh guy that hit on her. I mean... I am guessing." Lilly looked down at the base of the beer glass in front of her. She felt embarrassed for counting the number of guys making sexual advances toward some ethnic chick.

"Yeah man! Besides, Indians have higher standards in men." Marshall countered. He then took a big bite of a double cheese hamburger he had ordered. "Anyway, she is way too hot for you."

"Oh I can get her number if I want. Ted, come on, it's time for our good cop, bad cop plan." Barney then laid down Ted's role as his wing man. All he had to do was say something just enough to bother the girl, and Barney would swoop in trying to get rid of the strange weirdo.

"Sure. That's original. I bet no one's ever tried that on somebody who gets hit on eleven times in half an hour.

"Ted... just... Be cool... Okay?"

Marshall and Lilly let out smiles; who were now sharing a plate of chicken wings.

"Fine. Let's do this." Ted conceded.

"Alright." Barney sounded psyched.

 ***

Nisha was set up on a blind date by a friend from law school. "Don't be such a prude. He is a nice guy. You will like him. And I am sure he will respect your 'saving yourself' kinda nonsense." Her friend had relatively provoked her for going out and meeting some new people. She was brutally judged for spending most of her time either at the library or at the courthouse for an apprenticeship. Nisha never dated American guys. In fact, she had had only two dates since her time In New York. Both had been British. There was a connection with English people she had inherited from spending the first twenty-six years of her life in London.

That day, She didn't live up to her reputation of always saying no to a blind date, and two hours later, she saw herself waiting for a guy she didn't know, at a bar; a place that served nothing she liked - crowd and booze.

"Hi, I am Ted. And... you are....... beautiful." Ted had completely messed up Barney's structured sentence. He stole a glance at his friend who was still at their booth, waiting.

"Right. Umm... I have been noticing you have been here for like, a half hour and you haven't ordered a single drink."

Nisha shifted uneasily in her chair. Her sheepish smile was doing a hell of a job winning Ted's heart. He wanted to stay near her, look at her.

"I am sorry. I don't know you." Nisha flaunted a British accent, seeming more and more enticing.

"Can I buy you a drink?"

"No, but thanks." Nisha went back to drinking her glass of water.

"Why? Do you not drink or something?" Ted wasn't ready to leave.

Nisha was about to reply when she heard someone say, "I'm sorry Miss. Is this man bothering you?" Barney joined in.

"As a matter of fact he is."

"Sir, you should respect someone's personal space. This lovely lady isn't quite interested in talking to you. So could you please leave her alone?" Barney motioned Ted to leave.

"Right. I'm sorry. I'll just leave."

Barney waited for Ted to be back at the booth. He positioned himself comfortably on the empty bar stool right beside the girl and said, "Hi, I'm Barney."

"Hi, I am Nisha. And I am in no way going to sleep with you tonight."

"Okay. Right onto it, eh? How about tomorrow?" Barney winked.

"You know, to think like someone who is known for having many many moves to get a girl sent his friend to be the bad guy so he could come save me from him is, honestly, a little disappointing, and offensive might I add. And no, tomorrow doesn't work for me either." Nisha winked back.

"Do you know me or something?" Barney asked in bewilderment.

"What are the odds of having a friend who was one the many victims of your charm, or maybe say, have a batch mate who is one of your best friends?" Nisha said, sipping the last of the icy water. She turned ninety degrees and waved at Marshall, who waved back.

Barney faked a generous laugh.

"So... you know Marshall. Great." Barney had begun giving up on her. He started looking around the bar for his next prey.

Back at the booth, Ted asked Marshall who was in the middle of his fourth chicken wing, "You know that girl?"

"Oh yeah." He giggled. "I didn't wanna say anything in front of Barney. Yeah, she is my batch mate from law school.

"Okay. I have only seen half of her face, but I can tell she is really hot," added Lilly.

"Baby, you're so cool." Marshall kissed Lilly's left cheek.

Ted had been lost in thoughts. He suddenly said, "And she is British. That's the dream!"

"Hey... what happened to going after Robin?" Lilly hit Ted's hand.

"hmmm? Yes? Robin... I don't know. Okay, maybe I need to do some serious thinking before I go after her. What do you say?"

"Ted, I don't know how to tell you this, but YOU'RE CRAZY!" Marshall widened his eyes.

"You let Victoria go because you thought Robin's the one. And now, you see a beautiful woman with a sexy British accent, you wanna think if you really wanna go after Robin? Dude, I think you should stay away from women for a while."

"Sorry Ted. But he makes sense. You should take a break from this whole dating thing."

But Ted wasn't listening. All he wanted to do was talk to that beautiful stranger. He wanted to hear her talk. He had decided. He was going to do exactly that.