The Contestant#22
Wait, wait, wait! Before you dive into this part of The Contestant Series, have you read ‘Small World‘?
The limo pulled up to Lucky’s, a small restaurant that sat at the end of a dead-end street. The cozy ma and pa restaurant sat right beside the beach; in fact, if you sat on the patio, you could hear the waves crashing into the sand.
Despite how close the restaurant was to the beach, it never really attracted the eyes of the tourist, which was fine by the owner.
Tucked away in a corner at the very end of the strip, Lucky’s was a gem, hidden in plain sight. Despite its popularity amongst the locals, there was no line stretching down the block, no jampacked seating areas, and even when every seat in the house was full, you could still hear yourself think.
Lucky’s was more than just a restaurant, it was a whole experience, and that’s what made Adriana love it. Adriana first learned of the restaurant when she and Ronnie came running in, seeking shelter from a down pour during a day filled with wedding planning.
As the bell above the door rang, Adriana shook off the memory, smiling as Kale, the owner of the establishment, wiped down the counter.
“Smiley! How’s it going buddy!” Kale said as he dropped his rag and rounded the counter.
With his arms wide open, Kale made his way over but stopped short when he spotted Adriana.
“Oh shit! Looks like somebody upgraded!” Kale laughed, moving in to hug Adriana first, then Corey.
“You know, I always told my wife that we should hook the two of you up, but you two were never single at the same time.” Kale said, wagging a fat finger between the two of them.
“But hey, leave it to the universe to bring the two of ya together!” He laughed.
Corey and Adriana looked at one another and laughed, but neither said anything.
“Come, come. You wanna sit in a booth, or maybe at the counter so you can tell me how this happened?” He said, making his way back around the counter to grab some menus.
Corey turned to Adriana and cocked an eyebrow, a silent questioning of what she wanted to do.
If this date had just been her and Corey, and they weren’t on a strict time restraint, Adriana would have taken Kale up on that offer; but atlas, not only did they not have time, Adriana also really wanted to spend as much time with Claudette and Ian as possible.
“While I’d love nothing more than to sit at this counter and talk your ear off, we’re kinda on a double date.” She said, hooking a thumb over her shoulder at Claudette and Ian.
The pair waived, causing Kale to nod as he smiled and waved back.
“Damn, alrighty then. But I do expect you two to come back and see me soon.” Kale said, causing the pair to laugh.
Clapping his hands together, he looked around, searching for the perfect place to seat the foursome. After locating the perfect spot, he turned back to Corey, Adriana, and their guests and smiled.
“You don’t need menus do you?” He asked, holding up the laminated booklets.
“I might need one.” Corey said, raising their hand.
Unlike Adriana, who had discovered both Kale and his restaurant on a whim, Corey was quite familiar with both Kale and the establishment. During the final years of their grandmother’s life, Corey moved to Maui to be with their grandparents. At the time, there was talks about extending the Smiley family business to Hawaii, and since Corey was already living there, it was their job to survey the land and get a feel for what the landscape was like food wise. And so for months, Corey and their grandparents ate their way through the islands of Hawaii. Starting on The Big Island, Corey and their grandparents ate everywhere; from carts and street vendors, to upscale and pricey restaurants.. Then, on their last night on The Big Island, Corey and their grandparents’ car broke down just outside of Kale’s family’s restaurant. And so, while they waited for Kale’s brother to fix their car, Corey and their grandparents’ headed inside where they stuffed their faces and talked with Kale and his family about their restaurant.
Before Vince signed Corey up for this competition they had little to no free time. Hell, Corey could barely even find the time to spend with Rodger, and their other friends that lived in New York, so there was no way Corey would’ve been able to make the time to spend hours on the phone, talking food and interior design with Kale.
“Alrighty then, follow me.” Kale said as he grabbed four menu’s and made his way over to a table in the corner of the diner.
After getting everyone’s drink orders, Kale placed his little notepad in his pocket and looked at Corey and Adriana.
“Did I ever tell you that I’m ordained?” Kale said, grinning like a small child.
“Go get our drinks!” Corey laughed, shooing Kale away.
“I’m just saying, in case you ever need one.” He said before turning around and making his way to the kitchen.
Corey turned to face Adriana and the pair shook their heads and laughed before turning their attention back to Claudette and Ian.
“You know this is your fault right?” Ian said, causing his wife to look at him like he’d grown a second head.
“What the hell are you talking about?” She asked.
“We could have hooked them up a long time ago, avoiding this whole competition thing.” He said, waving his hand in the air.
Claudette scoffed.
“Hook them up? When would we have had the time to do that? While Adriana was engaged? Or maybe while Corey was obsessing over work? Oh, I know, maybe after Corey’s girlfriend passed, and Adriana was country hopping! I spent a year and a half trying to find the right time to just introduce them to one another! Remember those back-to-back house parties we threw?” Claudette asked.
Ian laughed as the memory of his and Claudette’s week worth of house parties came floating back to him.
“Easily one of the most infuriating times of my life! Every time one of you would show up, the other would leave!” He said, throwing his hands in the air.
“To be fair, even if you had introduced us, I probably wouldn’t have gone out with Adriana. You’re notorious for hooking me up with the worst people. Remember the guy that was super into hotdog water?” Corey asked.
Ian tossed his head back and laughed.
“You said you wanted someone who had hobbies! Hot dog water was his hobby!” Ian said.
Adriana and Claudette looked back and forth between the pair with horrified looks on their faces.
“Look, you know me. I’m not one to kink shame, or ragg on someone’s hobby, but I draw the line at wanting to have sex in hotdog water!” Corey said, causing Ian to toss his head back and laugh.
While they waited on their food, Corey detailed horrific date after horrific date that they’d gone on, all thanks to Ian, who was convinced Corey and whatever person he had lined up next, were soulmates.
“Hey! At least I didn’t whore you out like Roger did!” Ian said.
Corey shook their head.
“No, that’s not even close to the same thing. Roger’s goal was to get me laid, which he accomplished by the way, several times..” Corey said grinning from ear to ear.
Ian scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest as he grumbled something in Italian.
A short while later, Kale returned with their food, and after hearing the back half of a pretty wild story from Ian and Corey’s childhood, he pulled up a chair, causing Ian to go into another story about the time he and Corey almost burned down Ian’s childhood home.
If you made it to the bottom of this post I take it that you liked this story, maybe you’ll like The Perry and Jasmine Series too! This one’s about a non binary person traveling to get top surgery, and the series is complete! Or maybe you just wanna read a one shot. If you’re just here for this series, that’s find too, be sure to give the site a follow and come back next Friday for another installment. In the meantime, you consider helping out by sharing the site with a couple friends, and if you have a couple bucks to spare, you can buy a cup of coffee! Buy Me A Coffee is a site where you can buy ‘cups of coffee’ for four dollars, and that money will go towards spreading the world of RBN and bringing you more quality queer content.
Thanks for reading, see you next Friday!-C
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