FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

CHAPTER ELEVEN

NED

Lugosi's, Nolan and Scarlett's favourite Italian restaurant, was a waterfront establishment located not far from San Fernando's port, and not surprisingly, the menu featured a number of dishes that involved seafood with some variety of pasta. Awkward, Ned thought, reading through the various offerings, while Scarlett and Nolan argued quietly over what kind of wine would best suit the evening. Garrett was late; he'd agreed to a double date with Ned's friends without much hesitation, but now, as Ned glanced at his watch, he begin to wonder if this was a mistake. Double dates weren't something with which he had a great deal of experience, and there was still the issue of whether Nolan was entirely comfortable with being around a gay couple. Not that Ned felt guilty about being gay, but he was a private man, not taken to showings of public affection, or to being open about his sexual orientation.

He was musing over what to do if the waiter came to take their order and Garrett wasn't there yet, when across the table, Scarlett's ears pricked and she broke into a toothy grin. "Holy fucking coyotes, he's dazzling" she murmured dreamily, staring past Ned's head. He turned and sure enough, there was Garrett; the same black jacket and jeans, the same ear piercings, the same confident smile, and the same cute coyote wearing them. He was talking to the greeter, who nodded politely and pointed in the direction of their table. Ned sighed a sigh of relief and realised his tail was wagging.

"Hey, dude" Ned said as the coyote joined them, sliding into the chair next to him. "You look great."

Garrett's ears flicked back and forward, blushing slightly. "Speak for yourself, stud" he replied, glancing down at Ned's tail, as the wolf fought to control it. "Nice to see you again Miss Lewis; Officer Goodwolf" he politely held out a paw across the table.

"Just Scarlett" the other coyote said quickly, "and my boyfriend goes by Nolan." She and Nolan both shook hands with Garrett, who sat back down again and took off his jacket, revealing he was wearing a black and white striped polo. So far, so good, Ned thought. Nolan didn't seem uncomfortable, nor did Scarlett's comments about Garrett's looks seemed to have bothered her boyfriend.

There was an awkward moment of silence, and then everyone went back to reading their menus. Presently Ned noticed that Nolan had slipped his arm around Scarlett's shoulder, and that Garrett was looking at him expectantly, with kind of a half-smile.

What the hell, he thought. The restaurant wasn't overly crowded, and this was San Fernando. He scooted his chair closer to the coyote's and slid his arm around Garrett's shoulder, resting his paw on his upper arm. It felt right, holding someone, and when Garrett reached up and squeezed his paw, he felt his tail twitching again. He'd have to work on that. It reminded him of when he'd been a child and his father had told him to control his tail; it didn't control him. Hide your emotions, always.

"So I take it you're familiar with this restaurant?" Garrett asked at length, breaking the silence. He tapped the menu. "Anything you'd recommend?"

"Most of the seafood/pasta dishes are good" Nolan said. "The majority of it is locally caught, too."

Ned closed his menu, laying it on the red and white checker tablecloth. "If you want we could each order something different and split it. So you can try two different dishes." With them this close together, he could smell Garrett's unique coyote scent clearly, different than a wolf's, although distinctly canine, and not tangy in the way a fox's would have been.

It was a bold proposition, but damn it, he needed to start being more confident. Even if he dated men rather than girls, it was really all the same. People liked confidence, especially with wolves. "The omega doesn't get the girl" his father had said, more than once. Or the guy either, Ned thought.

Fortunately, Garrett seemed to like the idea, and two white-and-black dressed cheetahs appeared a minute later, one to take their order, the other to deliver a bottle of merlot. "I'll take the scallops with linguine," Garrett told them, after which Ned requested shrimp with alfredo sauce, and Scarlett and Nolan both ordered lasagne.

They relaxed back in their chairs for a moment, enjoying the wine, when Garrett spoke up again. "So how long have you two been together?" he inquired, interested. He wasn't talking to Ned, but that, Ned realised, was perfectly alright. In showing interest in learning more about Ned's friends, the coyote was showing that he wanted to learn more about Ned's world; about him as a person.

"About a year" Scarlett said. She nudged Nolan playfully. "And that's not counting the stage when we both liked each other but didn't admit it."

"Relationships between officers aren't usually encouraged" Nolan added.

"Well I think it's great" Garrett told them, sipping his wine. "You don't see wolf-coyote couples very often, even in these days." And yet there's two of them at this table, Ned thought.

Scarlett laughed. "I couldn't date anyone but. My mother always told me: 'marry a wolf; you'll never want for anything and your babies will be adorable.' Who was I to let her down?"

Garrett laughed with her, not loudly, but the mink couple at a nearby table looked up briefly, frowning. Coyotes had that distinctive laugh that placed them, along with hyenas and jackals, in that minority in which laughter was met with disapproving glares, as if their presence was an insult to other's solitude. Ned gave the minks a "want to do something about it?" eye-brow raise, and saw them blush and look back to their meal. That was another species stereotype; nobody fucks with wolves.

"I'm not going to argue with your mother" Garrett was saying. "Wolves are hot." The sly smirk that only coyotes can pull off perfectly appeared, and he winked at Scarlett. "And we've got two of them here tonight."

Ned gave Nolan an eye roll. Coyotes. "I still wanna see some sexy pics" Scarlett said, not quietly. "Have you started sexting yet?"

The mink couple looked their way again, this time definitely looking unfriendly, and one of the cheetah waiters glanced over as he walked past en route to a different table. Nolan's ears instantly flattened, his eyes darting to the side. "Babe," he muttered, embarrassed. "Remember where you are..."

"No, we have not" Ned said "Nor will we, ever." Good lord, Scarlett. What had gotten into her tonight?

"I don't know about that" Garrett said, but under the table, Ned could feel the coyote's paw on his leg, moving ever-so-slowly towards his groin, and he shifted uncomfortably.

Scarlett just gave Nolan a saucy, devilish look and narrowed her eyes. "You should" she insisted. Her eyes were darting between Ned and Nolan, and she leaned in closer to the other coyote. "Can you just imagine two wolves together?"

"Scarlett!" both wolves exclaimed, ears flat. No worry about a wagging tail now. Garrett's ears went down, then up again; just a little uncertain about this new development, but after a moment he started grinning nervously from ear to ear, and his tail wagged, though not as much as before.

"Your mind is delightfully dirty" Garrett commented, as Scarlett raised her middle finger at the hostilely staring mink couple, who both made expressions of horror and disapproval before looking away.

She shrugged. "If you think I'm bad, try dating a fox."

"Let me remember never to date one, then" Ned muttered sarcastically. "Anything worse than this and you two would be seducing us right here in the restaurant." Garrett's inching paw was dangerously close now to his groin, and he tried to think of anything else - their dinner, which had yet to arrive; the watercolour impressionist paintings on the restaurant's wall; the noisy group of guys eating on the other side of the room; a business group, maybe.

Scarlett's yellow eyes slid upwards to meet Nolan's. "Oh, I don't know" she purred. Even though Nolan was shorter than average for a wolf, he was still a good deal taller than Scarlett, who was a small woman, and she had to look up to meet his eyes. She traced a finger up his shoulder. "I could do that now."

Nolan slid his arm out from around her and grabbed her wine glass. "Okay," he muttered, drawing out the word. "I think you've had enough wine for one evening."

Ned put his own paw over Garrett's just in time to stop it touching anything, although he noticed that his coyote did seem slightly uncertain about this latest exchange of scandalous teasing. "Let's remember not take these two anywhere public together again" he told the other wolf. "At least not while under the influence of alcohol, anyway."

"I'm not going to argue with that" the grey wolf said, shaking his head. "What they say about coyotes being crazy...."

Garrett laughed nervously. "You can't say you weren't warned."

They were saved from further embarrassment by the arrival of dinner, which turned out to be pretty decent. The momentary embarrassment had waned, and Nolan had thankfully not been offended by the suggestion of he and Ned being a couple. Ned glanced at the other couple. Nolan wasn't a bad looking guy - but why was he even letting his mind go there? The good thing was that Garrett had hit it off so well with Scarlett - although maybe too well, if he had to be honest. He chewed thoughtfully on a scallop. Garrett was fitting quite well into his circle, and he wasn't arrogant or better-than-thou like some actors were. So why hold back if it seemed to be going so well?

That was why when Garrett's paw started to slide up his knee, he didn't stop it again, even when the coyote put his paw on Ned's groin and pressed down gently.

Ned instantly felt himself stiffen, and glanced across the table to see if their table guests had noticed. Thankfully, neither had, and to Garrett's credit, he didn't try doing anything further, just left his paw gripping the bulge in Ned's jeans. Strange that now that Garrett wasn't trying further, Ned almost wished he would. The coyote had resumed talking to Scarlett between bites of pasta, casual stuff about their families and careers. Turned out that Garrett was from Idaho; he had a mother and stepfather there, and a brother who was away at film school. "He's into BMX biking and ski competitions and crazy stuff like that" he explained. "While I'm down here acting. We both wanted to be something more than just small town nobodies."

"I can understand that" Ned said, and he did. "I wanted to a cop in a place that had more serious crimes than drunk driving or marijuana use."

Garrett laughed. "You certainly came to the right place then. Crime is running rampant in this city."

"Not for long" Nolan muttered darkly, putting his fork down, but Garrett just smiled.

"So should I expect to see you in a blockbuster movie someday?" Scarlett asked. They'd mostly finished the meal now; just relaxing while draining the last of the wine from their glasses. The restaurant was quieting down, as most of the customers had left.

Garrett shook his head. "Not at all. I don't want to act forever."

Oh? "And why would that be?" Ned asked, interested. "You have the talent."

The coyote looked up at him, expression serious. "Because spending all my life doing the same thing would be boring." He gestured at the window. "There's too much world out there to see. I want to travel. I want to see London and Paris and Rome and Cairo; I want to climb the Swiss Alps and swim at Bora Bora and meet people who are different from me in every way. I want to find a one-and-only to spend my life with. And I'd like to have a few children."

That got Ned's attention. Well, all of it had, to be honest - Garrett sounded genuinely like the kind of person who wanted to live life to the fullest, who wasn't willing to settle for second-best. That meant he was the kind of person Ned could admire. But children? Ned had not given much thought to the idea of having a pup.

"Kids?" he asked. "You didn't strike me as the type, for some reason."

Garrett nodded, dead serious. "Oh, definitely. I have very strong parenting instincts."

Well, Ned thought, I can go with that. "Do you want to adopt or go with a surrogate?"

"Definitely a surrogate" the coyote replied, draining the last of his wine, and leaning into Ned's shoulder contentedly. "I want my own flesh and blood. Of course I always thought if I ended up with a guy, we'd both biologically father a child, to keep things even."

"Oh, ok" he said. Was this too fast? Only the second date, and they were already talking about pups, of all things. Nah, he told himself. In reality, this was smart. Kids were a big deal, and if they had different ideas about them, there would be no point in dating. It was good to establish such boundaries early.

Scarlett was giggling. "If you ever have a pup, Ned, you have to let me be its doting auntie" she laughed.

"You'll probably have one of your own by then" he predicted.

"Only if this guy agrees to it" she replied, elbowing Nolan good-naturedly. "My mother keeps asking me when I'm getting married and providing her with a grandchild, preferably one that's half-wolf." She sighed. "Of course, he would have to be a boy. I'd be the worst mother of a daughter. What teenage girl wants a nerdy cop for a mom?"

"I'm fine with having a couple" Nolan said softly. "A boy and a girl. You'd be a fine mother for either."

Oh, Ned thought. Nolan had just implied that he and Scarlett were serious, that serious. Not that he found that surprising; they'd been seriously dating for a long time now, but still, the idea of Scarlett married and with children was somewhat amusing.

"You two are a cute couple" Garrett observed, smiling. He turned back to Ned and grinned at the wolf. "Although not as cute as us."