Chapter Eleven

That evening, Gray returned an exhausted, sleeping River to his parents and focused on her mission of finding a Leo on Mercurious. Well, technically, she first spent a couple of hours procrastinating by playing her newest videogame, one where she played a cat burglar nabbing priceless artifacts from museums to return to their countries of origin. But eventually she did return to her astrological mission. Her first date had almost ruined her chance of working peacefully with St. Charles Collegiate Academy, but now she was a third of the way through the zodiacwheel. And even though her most recent date had been a bewildering bust, it had helped her bond with Veronica. It seemed that the French Quarter psychic was right: Gray was on the path to finding true love and her destiny.

With a cup of tea in hand, Gray settled into her favorite armchair and scrolled through profiles. Madame Nouvelle Lune's website described Leos as the "kings of the jungle," persuasive, born with natural leadership skills and an ability to easily win people over. If Gray were to generalize based on the potential matches on Mercurious, she would describe Leos as hot. It seemed every photo she swiped through was more attractive than the last. And as she started a few conversations with matches (using Cherry's suggested icebreaker "If you could have a superpower, what would it be?"), she found it challenging to pick just one Leo to pursue. Flirting with Leos was entertaining enough to be a lifelong hobby. If she wasn't meant to be with another Aries, maybe she could find her twin flame in another fire sign.

Finally, Gray narrowed the playing field down to one: Aisha, a strikingly beautiful woman whose preferred superpower was teleportation. She traveled a lot for work, so magically popping from place to place would allow her more time at home in New Orleans. Gray pointed out that their dream powers weren't that different; Gray would choose to never need sleep, another way to give herself more time. As they bonded over their shared love of videogames and nineties rock, Gray was grateful her dating project coincided with Aisha's brief time in the city between business trips. By their second day texting, they were already sending suggestively flirty messages. Aisha sent a selfie with a glimpse of the side of her naked breast while Gray was at her desk in St. Charles Collegiate Academy's administrative office and Gray blushed so hard that Superintendent Donovan's secretary asked if she was feeling all right.

She didn't have to wait long for her date. On Saturday morning, Aisha invited Gray to a cocktail lounge on the top floor of a hotel north of the French Quarter. The lounge was known for its sweeping view of the New Orleans skyline, and for having an artsy Tennessee Williams theme that fit the sounds of the streetcars passing below. Hoping to approach something near Aisha's level of attractiveness and still shaken from being so quickly rejected by Carolina, Gray spent a couple of hours trying on different outfits and messing with her hair. She eventually settled on a short-sleeved button-down shirt with a cactus print, jeans that made her ass look fantastic, her favorite brown leather boots, and a tiny gold hoop in her nose piercing. Her hair was styled to one side, emphasizing her undercut.

By the time she hopped out of her rideshare at the old hotel, Gray couldn't deny that the twitchy energy coursing through her veins was caused by nervousness. She was even more anxious than she'd been before her date with Carmen the Aries, the first date she'd been on since she was eighteen years old. It was hard to shake the sense of failure from her terrible date with Carolina, as much as she tried. Traveling up the elevator to the roof, Gray took a series of deep breaths and tried to give herself a silent pep talk. It's just one date, she thought. You've already been on four. You'll go on seven more. At best, you have a great time and meet someone cool. At worst, you go home and forget it ever happened.

But her jitters weren't soothed when she arrived at the bar, Aisha nowhere in sight, and arranged herself in a velvet booth with a dark wooden table. When Aisha eventually arrived, looking like a lesbian goddess in an emerald-green jumpsuit and voluminous curly hair swept to one side to show her own fashionable undercut, Gray's nerves grew even stronger, causing her to accidentally knock over a glass of water onto the table. Wasn't she usually the one attractive enough to make people clumsy? "Sorry about that," Gray said as she wiped up the spill with a wad of napkins. "Can I get you a drink?"

"Sure," said Aisha, her voice as smooth and lush as the velvet seating. "Blanche Bijou, please."

Gray moved toward the bar, trying desperately to stop acting like she'd never seen a beautiful woman before. Aisha's skin seemed to actually glow in the lounge's low lighting. Waiting for the two carefully crafted cocktails gave Gray a moment to collect herself, and by the time she returned to the booth, she was able to look at Aisha's face without turning bright red.

"So," Gray began, taking a sip of a whiskey-based cocktail named The Gentleman Caller. "How long are you in New Orleans?"

"Well, my time is already almost up," Aisha said, draped across the booth with a cocktail glass in hand like she was on the cover of Vogue. "I'm mostly here from December through February, which is nice because I get to spend the holidays with my family. I start traveling a lot between here and Orlando in the early spring and then I'm all over the place during the summer and fall." She took a sip of her drink, then smacked her perfectly shaped lips in a way that made Gray almost forget what they were talking about. "I love the travel aspect of my job. I just wish I could have a cat, you know?"

"Yeah, totally." Then, remembering her most recent date going south, she said, "Wait, Orlando…You don't work at Disney World, do you?"

"I'd make a great Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, but no," Aisha said, batting her eyes.

Gray breathed a sigh of relief. "Probably for the best, what with all the frog kissing. So what is it you do, exactly?" She realized that she had no idea, despite the dozens of messages they'd exchanged on Mercurious.

Aisha rolled her eyes, somehow making the expression look elegant rather than petulant. "Ugh, talking about my job is so dull. Let's talk about something else."

It was hard to imagine anything about Aisha being dull. Gray wondered if Aisha's job was something glamorous, like an actress or model. Or maybe, since she was reticent to talk about it, she did something dangerous and secretive. Was she a spy? Gray could certainly see how anyone could accidentally spill all their secrets in an effort to keep Aisha's lovely gaze on them for a minute longer. Despite the questions running through her mind, Gray followed Aisha's lead and changed the subject. "Got it, no job talk. So…" Gray stretched for something Aisha couldn't accuse of being boring. Picking a topic she already knew they could comfortably discuss seemed like the right call. "Have you tried that museum-robbing game I told you about?"

It was the perfect move to put both of them on more comfortable ground. Aisha, also a dedicated videogame lover, excitedly told Gray that she'd already made her way to level five, the Field Museum. The conversation eased into a comfortable back-and-forth, and Gray's feelings of awkwardness faded away.

Videogame talk morphed into board game talk, which turned into a heated game of Scrabble, thanks to a stock of games on a shelf next to the bar. The competitive spirit of the date reminded Gray a bit of pub trivia with Carmen. Cherry had advised her that now that she was dating her second fire sign, she might start to recognize the repeating themes of the elements in the grand wheel of the zodiac. There was more than just the competitive spirit that reminded Gray of her date with Carmen; there was also the touch of heat between them, an escalating connection, the sparkle in Aisha's eye as she flirted with Gray over a triple score on the word "cheeky." Madame Nouvelle Lune had warned that two fire signs could bring too much heated conflict to a relationship, but maybe Gray was learning that the heat was what she craved.

After they tallied up the final Scrabble scores—Aisha won by a narrow three-point margin with the word "nutmeg"—Gray went out on a limb. "Do you want to grab something to eat? I saw a restaurant down the block with an oyster happy hour," she suggested while arranging the game pieces in the box.

"Wow," Aisha said, a mischievous grin on her face. "I see what you're up to."

"What do you mean?"

"Oysters," Aisha said, stretching an arm across the back of the booth. Gray couldn't help but notice the sleek outline of toned triceps ripple as she moved. "An aphrodisiac. Clever."

"Oh, I didn't mean—"

"And I like where you're headed," Aisha said.

Gray felt a warmth rise in her cheeks—among other parts. "Then let's head in the same direction, shall we?" She pulled her wallet from her back pocket. "I'll close the tab."

As Gray and Aisha rode the elevator down to the ground level, Gray's mind raced. Sleeping with Aisha had seemed an impossibility from the start because she seemed so thoroughly out of her league—an unusual power imbalance for Gray. Even more, Gray had already had sex with a fire sign. If she were to go all in with Aisha, it wouldn't be part of the one-of-each-element challenge. But what was Gray if not an overachiever? Now that it seemed like a real option, Gray realized she really wanted it. Aisha was more than beautiful. She was smart, funny, magnetic. And maybe if Gray leaned into that magnetic pull, she'd learn more about herself along the way, more about who she was meant to love long term. But mostly, how could she possibly pass up the opportunity to sleep with the coolest person she'd ever met, who just so happened to be into her?

Gray and Aisha made eyes at each other while slurping fresh oysters out of the half shell, swallowing the ice-cold delicacies whole. They made suggestive jokes about the briny taste and smooth mouthfeel, gently poking each other with the tiny forks. When the oyster platter was finished, Aisha paid the check and Gray followed her back onto the sidewalk in front of the restaurant.

"Do you want to walk for a few blocks?" Gray suggested, highly anticipating the night ahead of them but also enjoying the evening air. Just as she finished speaking, a group of drunken tourists walked by, one crying loudly about losing her ID and another shouting at her for getting them kicked out of a bar. Once they passed, Gray said, "I hear the city is lovely this time of year."

Aisha looked toward the tourist group and back at Gray, then laughed. "Yeah, sure." She looped an arm through Gray's elbow and started walking south.

They fell into an easy pace, with Aisha pointing out some of her favorite restaurants and Gray asking questions about spring in the city. After a few blocks, they were stopped by a curvy woman wearing what looked like a fringed, sequined bikini set. "Hello, ladies!" she called from outside of a lounge, the window behind her filled with flashing neon signs. "Queer burlesque starting in fifteen minutes. The gayest, most titillating show in the city!" The woman shimmied her shoulders, setting off a flurry of dancing fringe.

Aisha looked at Gray, her eyes lit up. "Do you want to?"

Gray could tell from the expression on Aisha's face that she wanted to go. "I'm down for a little titillation," Gray said with a grin. They approached the door and Gray reached for her wallet. "What's the cover?"

The woman in the fringed bikini did a double take. "For you?" she said to Aisha. "Free."

"That's sweet of you," Aisha said, grabbing Gray's hand and pulling her toward the door. "Thanks a lot!"

Once inside the dark lounge, Aisha led them toward a stage area with folding chairs arranged in front of it, most of them already full. They were walking toward the back row when someone waved from the front, shouting, "There are two seats here!"

After settling in and thanking the kind stranger, they resumed chatting about the New Orleans Jazz Festival. But after a few minutes, the couple seated to their right asked if Gray could take a picture of them with Aisha.

Aisha looked sheepishly at a confused Gray. "Would you mind? Easiest to just say yes and get it over with," she said quietly.

"Sure?" Gray grabbed the stranger's phone. "Say pasties!" she said, then snapped a photo. Gray handed it back and leaned in to Aisha's ear. "Are you some kind of celebrity on the burlesque circuit?"

Aisha shushed Gray as the lights dimmed.

A moment later, the first burlesque performer started their number. It was a sexy, jazzy version of the chicken dance where she pulled feathers from her outfit and blew them into the audience before stripping down to nothing but two rubber duckies taped to her nipples and one attached to the front of a bright-yellow thong. Gray quickly forgot about Aisha's apparent fan club, instead lost in wondering what ducks had to do with the chicken dance.

Each performer upped the ante. By the finale, when a performer lit their tasseled pasties on fire and swung the flaming tips in circles, the entire audience was on their feet, cheering and stomping in appreciation. Aisha and Gray burst back onto the dark street a few minutes later, adrenaline rushing through their veins from the exhilarating show.

Aisha boldly tucked her hand into Gray's back pocket. "Wanna go back to my place?" Aisha asked. "My apartment's only a half a mile from here."

"Absolutely," Gray said without hesitation, a desire to kiss Aisha coursing through her veins. "But you'll have to forgive me for forgetting my rubber duckie thong at home."

The ten-minute walk toward the river passed in what felt like no time at all, with the sounds of various jazz bands mixing to create a soundtrack to the date. As they strolled, Gray and Aisha's hands found new places to roam on each other's bodies, across the back of a neck, along the side of a thigh, brushing a swinging hip. Aisha led Gray to the elevator of a stately old apartment building that had been luxuriously renovated with modern touches. Gray noticed Aisha fumbling with her key in a rush to open the door into her spare but tastefully decorated studio apartment. But Gray had only a moment to take in her surroundings before Aisha pushed her up against a marble kitchen counter, her fingers pushing through Gray's dark-blond hair. Responding instinctually, Gray reciprocated the kiss and ran her hands down Aisha's thighs. She couldn't help but notice how muscular they were.

The heat between them rose quickly. Aisha pushed Gray's jacket off her shoulders onto the counter and kicked her own fashionable sneakers across the room. Their lips hardly left each other's skin as they stumbled toward Aisha's queen-size bed. Gray almost fell to the ground when she tripped over a set of dumbbells and a yoga mat between the kitchen area and her destination. Before she could regain her balance, Aisha shoved Gray onto the lush duvet and began unbuttoning her jumpsuit.

Gray's pulse beat loudly in her ears as Aisha stripped away her clothes, revealing a stunningly fit body. Literally the most muscular body Gray had ever seen in person. "Holy shit," she said, her jaw dropping. "Are you, like, an underwear model or something?" It made some sense in Gray's head, suddenly remembering the reactions of the woman at the door to the burlesque, and the strangers who'd asked for a picture.

Aisha laughed a short, hoarse chuckle. "No."

"Well, you totally could be," Gray said, her eyes stuck on—was that an eight-pack of abs?

"Enough of me," Aisha said, pushing a tuft of curly hair behind her ear. "Your turn." She slinked toward the bed, the muscles in her thighs apparent with each step, and started unbuttoning Gray's shirt.

"I, uh, I'm not…" Gray said, the feeling of Aisha's fingers against her sternum burning her skin. "You're, like, really hot. It's kind of intimidating," she finally managed. Although she wasn't as fit as she'd been at the height of her college softball days, Gray was typically happy with her body. But looking at Aisha made Gray unexpectedly self-conscious.

"Easy fix." Aisha paused undressing Gray to clap twice, and the lights in her apartment dimmed to a faint glow.

"That is…an incredibly sexy apartment feature," Gray said, breathless as Aisha unhooked the last of her buttons and whipped Gray's shirt off, then turned to peeling off Gray's tight jeans. Within seconds, they were both completely nude, their clothes thrown across the room. Aisha shoved away the duvet and Gray felt the smooth, cool texture of silk sheets on her bare skin. She didn't have long to appreciate the lush fabric, as Aisha was suddenly all over her, moving her hands and mouth quickly between Gray's neck and breasts and untoned abs and between her thighs.

Their sex was frenzied, a sprint to the finish line. This was the passion between two fire signs, Gray was beginning to believe, like gasoline and a match. But while she enjoyed the quick burn of her night with Aisha, Gray found herself also struggling to keep up. The athleticism of Aisha's moves pushed Gray to do more, try harder. Aisha climaxed, her back arching and voice rising in response to Gray's tongue between her legs, then flipped both of their bodies around to reciprocate. As Gray came next, something in her body made a distinct popping noise and she cried out in pleasure and surprise. She was still assessing the situation when Aisha jumped up on her knees over Gray's hips, leisurely stretching her arms high above her head and then running them down the sides of her body. When she reached her knees, Aisha leaned forward and began sliding her fingertips from her own skin to Gray's hips and waist.

"Ready for round two yet?" Aisha asked, the enthusiasm in her voice making it clear that she could do this all night.

"I would love to, but…uh…" Gray gave an experimental shift of her hips and cringed. "I think I did something to my back."

Aisha rolled off Gray, her slender frame immediately assuming a standing position next to the bed. "Yeah? How bad?"

Afraid to make the situation worse, Gray tried gently to sit up, but only made it a few inches before falling back onto the bed. "It's like I pulled something? Or cracked something? I can't really turn or move it."

"Where does it hurt? High or low?"

"Somewhere in the middle? Lower middle?" Gray said.

Aisha jumped back onto the bed, the sudden movement causing Gray to take a sharp breath in through her teeth. Straddling Gray's hips again, Aisha grabbed Gray's wrists and pulled her arms above her head. "Keep these up here," Aisha said, pushing Gray's palms to the headboard. Gray nodded, and Aisha ran her hands beneath Gray's body until she reached her hips. Grasping each hip firmly, Aisha pulled up, and Gray's back made a second popping sound. This time, Gray felt a sense of relief instead of pain. She sighed and started to move her hands from the headboard. "Not yet!" Aisha commanded. She slid one hand under the center of Gray's spine and placed the other on Gray's sternum between her breasts, then arched Gray's back by pushing on both spots. A second crack sounded, and Gray was surprised to find herself feeling more limber than she had in several years.

"Can I move my hands?" Gray asked.

Aisha moved from on top of Gray to her side. "Yes."

Gray lowered her arms and sat up, then gave an experimental twist of her spine. "Damn. You're good."

Aisha hopped off the bed and strode over to the kitchen cabinets, her naked ass swaying side to side in the low lighting. She returned to the bed with a full glass of water and two Advil tablets. "Take these. They'll keep you from feeling it worse in the morning."

Gray obeyed, then set the glass on a nightstand. "So about that round two?"

Aisha sighed. "It's less fun once I've had to play chiropractor."

"Oh," Gray said, feeling a hint of disappointment. Aisha holding her hands above her head and bossing her around had had a surprising effect on Gray's libido. "Not into a little doctor-slash-patient role-play, then?"

"I'm not against it, but your spine is sensitive right now."

Gray's back did feel a bit weak, now that Aisha mentioned it. "I guess you're right."

"And I'm running a marathon in the morning, so it's probably for the best anyway," Aisha said, reclining on one arm.

"Oh, wow. All right, then, I'll leave you and your fully functioning spine to get some rest." Gray rose from the silk sheets, stretching her shoulders before searching for her discarded clothing. Aisha lounged in the bed, looking like a mythical goddess in the moonlight streaming in through the window, as Gray silently dressed. Once she'd slid on her jacket, she returned to the bedside, running a hand over the shaved side of her head. "This was really fun. Thanks for fixing my back and…for everything else." She leaned down and pressed a kiss on Aisha's cheek. "And, uh, good luck with your marathon tomorrow. Hope I didn't ruin your prep time or something."

Aisha waved off Gray's words. "I do a handful of marathons a year. I'll be fine."

Gray tried to hide her astonishment at Aisha's abilities. Maybe she was a semi-famous fitness instructor. Or a social media influencer, like Carolina but clearly more popular. "Wow. Well, good luck, even though you don't need it. See you around, maybe?"

"See you around," Aisha said through a yawn, pulling the duvet over her naked body. Gray backed through Aisha's apartment door and closed it behind her, already doubting that such a wild, sexy, weird night could possibly have been real.