There’s Something about Sweetie: Chapters 21–27

by Sandhya Menon
In this companion novel to When Dimple Met Rishi, Ashish Patel allows his parents to set him up on a series of dates with Sweetie Nair, an athlete who wants to prove to her traditional mother that she can be happy at any size.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–5, Chapters 6–13, Chapters 14–20, Chapters 21–27, Chapter 28–Epilogue

Here are links to our lists for other works by Sandhya Menon: When Dimple Met Rishi; From Twinkle, with Love
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. aural
    of or pertaining to hearing or the ear
    She did not just say that out loud. Please, God. Please let it have been an aural hallucination or something.
  2. entail
    impose, involve, or imply as a necessary result
    “It entails standing up for myself, for what I believe to be true. It entails me overcoming sixteen years of crap messages from my mom and the media and other people in my life—both kids and adults alike—who think I’m less than them because of how I look.”
  3. succumb
    give in, as to overwhelming force, influence, or pressure
    He felt like a sharp rock that had been softened by a gently flowing river, succumbing to its beauty without even realizing he’d succumbed at all.
  4. sultry
    attractive and suggesting hidden passion
    Her voice, low and sultry, did things to his heart and body that he’d forgotten about.
  5. seamless
    perfectly consistent and coherent
    She got him, and his cocky, arrogant side fit seamlessly with her.
  6. flamboyant
    tending to attract attention; marked by ostentatious display
    I ran into your mom at the aquarium, Saturdays are my day to volunteer at the flamboyant cuttlefish exhibit, and she was there for some board meeting thingy.
  7. disheveled
    in disarray; extremely disorderly
    Samir’s mom answered the door then, looking slightly disheveled in a wrinkled sari and with frizzy hair.
  8. potpourri
    a jar of mixed flower petals and spices used as perfume
    It was always neatly organized and vacuumed (his mom cleaned it for him every day), with a potpourri bowl on the desk.
  9. valiantly
    with heroic courage or bravery
    “It’s a dangerous world, but somebody’s gotta live it,” Rishi said valiantly.
  10. woebegone
    affected by or full of grief
    He was just about to text Sweetie a picture of himself looking all woebegone and lost when his phone beeped.
  11. hubris
    overbearing pride or presumption
    She grew still, feeling suddenly trembly again. Her earlier hubris had disappeared.
  12. veritable
    not counterfeit or copied
    Sweetie knew what she wanted to say, the words were building behind her teeth, like a veritable ocean wave.
  13. facet
    a distinct feature or element in a problem
    She thought of the Sassy Sweetie Project. How the whole point was to be brave in every facet of her life.
  14. presumptuous
    going beyond what is appropriate, permitted, or courteous
    What if he thought she was being presumptuous?
  15. dismal
    causing dejection
    So Ashish held his doubts and his mojolessness close to his vest, and he stood there, all alone in his cold, dismal pessimism.
  16. harangue
    address forcefully
    When she’d had enough with Amma’s constant haranguing and her self-esteem was hanging in shreds around her, seeing Anjali Chechi’s caring face and hearing her tell her about her successful life had kept Sweetie from screaming and jumping out the window to run away from it all.
  17. masquerade
    pretend to be someone or something that you are not
    But now that he was off putting out art history fires in college, Ashish was the only one who had to spend one Friday night every month eating charred bricks masquerading as veggie burgers and pretending to like them.
  18. moot
    of no legal significance, as having been previously decided
    “This is all a moot point. You guys can’t come.”
  19. wry
    humorously sarcastic or mocking
    He pulled a bell pepper (“capsicum,” as he called it) off the kebab stick, grunted, and said wryly, “Be sure to bring a very, very nice present.”
  20. preen
    pride or congratulate oneself for an achievement
    Ashish pretended to preen. “Hey, a guy could get used to flattery like that. Especially since pretty much everyone in my family prefers Rishi over me.”
  21. amicably
    in a friendly manner
    “Okay,” she said amicably.
  22. woo
    make amorous advances towards
    “Ready to meet some more of my ‘interesting’ family?” And hopefully be wooed off your pretty feet?
  23. penchant
    a strong liking or preference
    I’m sure Gita Kaki’s perfectly nice, her penchant for calling you Rishi aside.
  24. unseemly
    not in keeping with accepted standards of what is proper
    It was an unspoken rule that you never introduced your girlfriends as girlfriends to the elders in your family, that was too unseemly.
  25. testy
    easily irritated or annoyed
    “Yes, yes, parrots,” Gita Kaki said testily, waving her hand, as if they were the difficult ones.
  26. emanate
    proceed or issue forth, as from a source
    A strange snorting sound emanated from Sweetie.
  27. steadfast
    marked by firm determination or resolution; not shakable
    Ashish darted a glance at her and noticed she was holding her glass of juice in front of her mouth and looking steadfastly down at the carpet.
  28. livid
    furiously angry
    Ashish studied her for a moment, his expression livid.
  29. revel
    take delight in
    She laughed and slapped him on the chest, reveling in the way her hand bounced off the muscle there.
  30. settee
    a small sofa
    She was sitting on a little settee with Elijah, and Samir was across from them, his nose buried in some comic.
  31. errant
    moving in an uncontrolled, irregular, or unpredictable way
    Not that that was important when his two best friends were having a lovers’ quarrel, obviously. It was just a random, errant thought that deserved no more airtime.
  32. subdued
    quieted and brought under control
    They were subdued after that.
  33. conceivably
    within the realm of possibility
    Demonic possession. That was the only explanation. That was the only reason she, Sweetie Nair, would conceivably have signed on for this.
  34. ploy
    a maneuver in a game, conversation, or situation
    Or...was it all a ploy?
  35. elusive
    difficult to detect or grasp by the mind or analyze
    “The thing is, Ollie, I feel so incredibly fortunate to know you. Love is unpredictable and so...so freaking elusive. I just can’t stop thinking about how damn lucky I am.”
  36. sequester
    keep away from others
    But he saw the bands were all sequestered over to the far right. He couldn’t even see her, thanks to the line of tall dudes in the front.
  37. abashed
    feeling or caused to feel uneasy and self-conscious
    Samir crossed his arms and looked a little abashed. “Let’s just say when people don’t like you, they don’t talk to you...”
  38. hokey
    very sentimental or emotional
    He really, really wanted this to work out for them, he realized. And maybe Samir’s plan seemed totally hokey, but he couldn’t help hoping.
  39. allot
    administer or bestow, as in small portions
    The first band, Hot Cup of Tea, finished up right at their allotted five-minute mark, and the second band went on.
  40. sinuous
    curved or curving in and out
    Sweetie closed her eyes and felt the music flood her blood, it wrapped around her bones like sinuous vines and filled her heart to bursting with light.
Created on Wed Jun 26 18:31:47 EDT 2019 (updated Wed Jul 03 11:30:28 EDT 2019)

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