Chapter 3 - Saturday 10pm

Varun sat back smugly in the high back bar stool, and laughed his big infectious chuckle “Which one of you wants to introduce us to that lot over there?” He gestured toward a gaggle of gorgeous girls, that seemed to be enjoying a hen night. The girls were at the bar each holding drinks of different colours with umbrellas and flamingos pointing out of their glasses.

The boys were sitting around a glass circular table in the centre of the room. They had known each other since the first day of prep school, and remained close ever since. Despite going to different universities, they had stayed in touch and supported one another through all the big moments. Saq was the tallest of the bunch at 6’3”, he had blonde hair and blue eyes with olive skin as his mum was Irish and his father was Pakistani. Abs was the shortest at 5’11”, with brown eyes, dark black hair, dark skin and a torso that looked like it was chiselled out of marble.

“You do it!” Saq and Abs said in unison.

Raj smirked “If we are voting, I vote for Varun too!”

“You don’t get a vote… you’re a married man!” Varun responded, he winked at Raj and took a big sip of his drink as he watched his friend squirm.

“Huh?!” Asked Saq, while pushing his blonde hair out of his eyes. His signature Bieber move the others called it.

“He’s being an idiot, I’m not married. Mum wants me to check out an Indian girl.” Raj clarified.

“My Mum’s always showing me girls. Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, she even introduced me to a Spanish one last week! Whats the big deal?” Abs asked.

“She’s an Indian girl FROM INDIA!” Raj explained. “They want me to travel to Mumbai to meet her! She’s my dad’s school friend’s daughter. I think it’s a complete waste of time. I want to marry a girl I fall for, not one my mum likes the look of!”

“Personally, I think you’re over reacting, you get to go on holiday and check out a potential. If you don’t like her, you make an excuse and have a nice time talking to other Indian girls… Indian girls are hot by the way!” said Saq.

“I disagree completely.” chimed in Abs “You are literally backing yourself into a corner by going. People get offended when you don’t like their food, imagine how the uncle will feel when you turn down his daughter?”

“Shorty has a point!" Varun teased “You can’t turn her down… you’ll have to turn her off!”

“I have actually already thought of this.” reassured Raj "In the event I don’t find her attractive. I’ll do an impression of Varun and I’m sure she’ll start running for the hills!”

“Heyyy, I do alright with the ladies, they’re like bees to honey!” Said Varun.

“More like flies to shit!” teased Raj.

"I do better then you! Don't make me bring up the 'My name’s Raj but you can call me ‘Your-Raj’ incident!" Mimicked Varun "If you use that gem with Miss India you won't need to worry about a second date!"

"Hold up guys, there's a simple way to determine which one of you has more game. Whoever comes back with a number first wins.” Saq suggested with a cheeky grin. Abs nodded his agreement.

Varun rose to his feet “Game on!” He smoothed his polo, dusted off his jeans, and strolled toward a tall blonde girl in a short black dress standing at the bar, arguably the hottest girl in the group.

Raj stayed where he was and continued nursing his drink.

“Aren’t you going?” Asked Saq excitedly.

“No, he’s just going to pull the fake Dr Varun, plastic surgeon routine and come back with her number… I refuse to lie to get a girls number…”

Saq and Abs burst out laughing.

“I can’t believe girls fall for that, he’s only 26, don’t they know how long med school takes?” Abs asked incredulously. 

All four boys had been encouraged to consider medicine, but none of them had. Abs and Saq were both IT programmers and Varun had decided to study hard and become a Trader. The guys were constantly telling him that trading was more of a turn on than plastic surgery, but he refused to lead with his real career!

Varun handed the blonde girl a pen and promised her solemnly that he would call her tomorrow for brunch. As she handed the napkin back to him, he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek while winking at the guys from over her shoulder. He said goodbye, and strutted back to the boys. “Boom… that's how it's done!” he crowed as he placed the napkin on the table, number side up.

“Congratulations, you’re a douche bag!” Said Raj “Did you tell her you were Dr Varun?”

“Nah, she looked like she had a decent IQ, so I told her I’m an Arab Sheikh”

“Seriously, how drunk was she?” Abs asked, jaw wide open.

“Very, I told her I was here from Bahrain, on a business trip, and that my mum wanted to arrange my marriage… I drew inspiration from whiny Raj… Told her how i wanted to meet someone organically… Told her I felt like the luckiest guy in the world that I’d spotted her, and suggested brunch tomorrow!”

“Ah, you played the brunch card… why do women always think brunch equals commitment… I mean you literally just met her!” Said Saq “She’s gone from a 9 to a 7, because of her desperation!”

“Thats not the point boys, the point is that I got a number!” said Varun gleefully

“Dude, it's got no future… you lied.” Pointed out Raj.

“I’m 26, I'm not looking for a future… I’m looking for some fun.” Varun sat down in his chair and made eye contact with Raj. "Dude on a serious note, I think your parents are right, you are ready for a serious relationship. Whether its Miss India or another girl, you are definitely ready to settle down. Do you want me to come with you, I've got some holiday saved up?”

“Are you screwing with me?” Asked Raj a slow smile spreading across his face and his tense shoulders relaxing.

“No, I’ll come, if you want”

“Ok” replied Raj.

Varun looked at the other two “You in?”

“Nope.” 

“NO WAY” They said at the same time.