Neel N. Patel

Neel N. Patel’s short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Indiana Review, The Southampton Review, The American Literary Review, and on Nerve.com. He lives in Los Angeles, where he is at work on a novel. For more information, visit www.neelnpatel.com

April Fiction: "Just a Friend" by Neel N. Patel

April Fiction is an original story by Neel N. Patel about a whirlwind romance between a young man and a slightly older Indian man who has a mysterious wife he never talks about. The story explores the fine line between dreams and fantasies, of belonging and passing, and leaves us thinking about the complicated intersections of class, race, and sexuality.

— Karissa Chen, Senior Fiction Editor


Every now and then, I asked Ashwin about his wife: in line at the movies or after a beer.

After we’d screwed.