Chapter Seventeen

After spending the morning helping the SCCA middle school librarian organize all the newly donated books, Gray arrived right on time for Niko's lunch reservation at a seafood restaurant on the outskirts of the French Quarter. It took only a moment to spot her date looking at his phone on the other side of the waiting area. He had short dark hair in a carefully styled high fade and was wearing a burgundy suit that was a tad formal for a Friday lunch, but it looked nice on him. Seeing Niko's outfit, Gray was grateful she'd opted at the last minute for navy slacks instead of jeans, even if they'd picked up a little dust while moving bookshelves.

"Niko, right?" Gray said as she approached him.

Niko looked up and his brow seemed to release some tension. "Great, you made it."

Influenced by the formal attire, she offered a handshake and Niko returned it. "Nice to meet you. Shall we?"

A hostess seated them at a table for two along a side wall, then placed two menus on the white tablecloth in front of them. Gray lifted the menu and glanced over the offerings. "Do you have any favorites?" she asked.

"Favorite what?" Niko replied. Gray looked up. He hadn't touched the menu, but was instead staring over Gray's shoulder in the direction of the door. She glanced behind her. There was nothing to see but a few more customers entering and servers attending to seated diners.

"Dishes here," Gray prompted, sensing Niko's unease. She certainly couldn't judge Niko for letting his nerves get the best of him. At least the awkward tension wasn't her doing this time.

"Oh," Niko said. "No, I've never been here before."

Gray was a little surprised, given how set Niko had been on coming here. Returning her attention to the menu, she said, "I've never eaten alligator. Have you?"

"Yeah," Niko said. "Tastes like chicken, but chewier. Anything is good when you deep-fry it."

"A ringing endorsement," Gray said. "Maybe they should call it chicken of the bayou." Gray thought the joke was at least a B-plus, but Niko offered only a weak smile.

After a server dropped by to take their order, they were again left in uncomfortable silence. Gray racked her brain for any details in Niko's Mercurious profile that might kick-start their conversation. "So, you're into poker?"

That earned a bit of Niko's attention. "Yeah, I am," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Started out as a hobby and now it's more of a side hustle. I'm currently ranked twenty-sixth in the state."

"Wow," Gray said. She knew very little about the game, but that sounded impressive. "So you must have a really good poker face, huh?"

"I'm a Scorpio. Comes with the territory."

"I've heard Scorpios get a bad rap," Gray said, happy to wade into the more familiar topic of astrology. "Are the rumors true?"

Niko started to talk about the symbol of the scorpion hurting their image, but seemed to lose the thread halfway through, watching a young queer couple settle in at a table across the room. Gray wondered if he felt the same relief she did, now that they weren't the only queer people in the restaurant. Being the token gay wasn't as common in New Orleans as in Tulsa, but it was always nice to be in good company. After a moment, she prompted him with, "You were saying? About scorpions?"

"Right," Niko said, sitting up a little straighter and smoothing the lapels of his suit jacket. "When you've got a symbol like the scorpion, you're destined to be a villain. But scorpions aren't so bad, you know? They only hurt you if you mess with them first. Scorpios are the same."

A server dropped off the appetizer, and Gray picked up a piece and popped it into her mouth. "You're right," she said after swallowing it. "Tastes like chewy chicken."

Niko plucked a piece from the basket and dipped it in a cup of creamy sauce on the side. "Better with ranch."

But rather than take a bite himself, he reached across the table, and as the ranch-dipped alligator approached in what felt like slow motion, Gray realized with intense embarrassment that he intended to feed it to her. Before she could decide how to say no without being rude, politeness overruled, and she opened her mouth to accept the bite. "I guess that is tastier," Gray said awkwardly, then quickly grabbed another piece, dipped it in some ranch, and stuffed it in her mouth to try to signal that she was not about to reciprocate. Niko laughed loudly and, with a glance at the other couple's table, said, "You're hilarious!"

Gray raised her eyebrows. After some stilted conversation about favorite spots in New Orleans, their meals arrived, and Gray busied herself with her catfish po' boy. An awkward silence stretched between them. When Gray chanced a glance at Niko, he was smiling and nodding at her as if she'd just said something particularly fascinating.

Gray couldn't help but remember another date that had gone poorly: her date with a Cancer. While she'd been thrown off by Carolina and her sister ending the date so abruptly, she ultimately appreciated the honesty. They really hadn't been compatible, and it was a relief to stop pretending things might turn out differently. Gray signaled a passing server. "Could I please get a to-go box for this? Thanks so much." She wiped her mouth with her cloth napkin and looked up at Niko resolutely. "It's clear that we're not really connecting. So I appreciate the lunch invite, but I'm going to head out."

"What?" Niko said, seeming to turn his full attention to the words coming out of Gray's mouth for the first time all afternoon. "Why?"

"I've been trying to get to know you, but you seem more interested in their date than in ours," Gray said, nodding toward the queer couple. "And I've got to get back to work, anyway."

A look of desperation reached Niko's eyes as he put a hand on top of Gray's. "Wait, wait, please stay!"

"Not unless you tell me what's going on," Gray said.

"Okay, fine," Niko said. Gray settled back in her chair, one eyebrow raised. "That woman over there? In the buffalo plaid?" Gray nodded. "That's my ex and her new partner, who happens to be my former friend. They met through me. Before we broke up."

Gray's scolding expression softened. "Oh. Wow."

"Yeah, wow." Niko took a deep breath. "That's what I said too when I found out, but, you know, angrier."

"This reservation," Gray said, all now becoming clear. "You knew they would be here, didn't you?"

"Our online calendars are still linked," Niko said under his breath. "I saw when she scheduled it."

"And you invited me because…"

Niko scratched his forehead. "Do I have to say it?" Gray nodded, and Niko looked down at the table, embarrassed. "Because you're hot and I wanted to make them jealous."

Despite the unusual situation, Gray couldn't help but warm to Niko from the honesty. And the compliment. "Well, you should have said that from the beginning." Having recently been through her own breakup, although not nearly as messy as the one Niko described, she could sympathize. Gray reached across the table and smoothed a tuft of Niko's dark hair. "So I could help you instead of sitting here thinking you were a weirdo."

A look of delight crossed Niko's face as he realized Gray was on his side. He grabbed her hand and brushed a theatrical kiss on her knuckles. "You're my hero."

Gray glanced across the restaurant, then looked at Niko with a lovesick expression on her face. "Quick, they're looking this way. Feed me another gator bite."

Niko complied. "You're right, this is much more fun."

Gray chewed and swallowed the appetizer like it was sexier than a chocolate-dipped strawberry. "Mmm. Nothing tastes better than making your ex jealous, right?" If McKenzie had cheated on Gray, she would have wanted someone to do the same thing for her. Still feeling the weight of the other couple's eyes on them, Gray had an idea. "Kiss me."

"Really?" Niko said, looking like Gray had just told him he'd won the lottery. "You don't mind?"

"Consider it a good deed from one recently single queer to another," Gray said. She'd promised Cherry she wouldn't bring up McKenzie, but this felt like a special exception. Puckering her lips, Gray leaned across the small table. Niko met her halfway, and Gray was pleased to find that the kiss wasn't bad. It was surprisingly steamy, actually, although the fire between them definitely felt more like sweet revenge than real chemistry. Losing themselves in the heat of the moment, Gray and Niko started full-on making out, and Gray's hand was creeping around the back of Niko's neck to draw him even closer when an exasperated grunt interrupted them. They peeled apart to see Niko's ex standing at their table, hands on her hips and a look of outrage on her face.

"What the fuck, Niko!" the ex yelled. Several tables stopped their conversations and turned their heads toward the evolving scene.

"Oh, hey, Jenn," Niko said, his delight barely concealed under a calm gaze. "Didn't realize you were here."

"Like hell you didn't!" she shrieked. "I'm supposed to believe you just happened to be making out in the same restaurant where Gabe and I are having lunch? Please."

The server returned at just that moment with the to-go box Gray had requested. "Everything all right over here?" the server asked, eyeing Jenn.

"All good!" Gray said, her voice higher pitched than usual.

The server backed away and Jenn resumed yelling at Niko about ruining her date. Gray pretended she couldn't hear a thing as she loaded the last half of her po' boy into the box. When she'd decided to voluntarily support Niko's efforts, she hadn't intended to cause a scene.

"If you're so in love with Gabe, why are you worried about me?" Niko yelled back, no longer able to play it cool. "You cheated on me with my friend, you have no right to tell me who I can and can't make out with."

A few people at nearby tables gasped at that revelation, and others started whispering among themselves.

"Oh, that's a nice moral high ground you've got there considering you're the one who cheated first," Jenn said scathingly, eliciting more gasps from their audience of diners.

"Maybe I should go," Gray whispered.

"No, sugar muffin," Niko said, grabbing Gray's hand again. "Stay. She's all bark and no bite."

"You gave her the same nickname you gave me?" Jenn said, her voice cracking with emotion. "How's this for no bite?" Jenn picked up Niko's pasta and Gray watched in what felt like slow motion as she dumped the creamy linguini and shrimp on his head. The people at the tables around them gasped and stared at Niko as he sat in stunned silence, noodles strung over his head and one piece of shrimp curled halfway into his jacket pocket.

Gray wiped a stray splash of Alfredo sauce from her cheek and licked her finger; she had to admit it was pretty tasty. But Gray was starting to get what Cherry meant about not getting on a Scorpio's bad side. As Niko and Jenn continued their stare-off, Gray pulled two twenty-dollar bills from her wallet and slapped them on the table. "Well, that's my cue. Good luck, Niko. I hear vinegar is best for dairy-based stains."

And before Niko could reply, Gray strode out of the restaurant with her to-go box in hand, wondering if her final date with a water sign would make such a splash.