2019-10-28 - Waffle People

There are some people who would consider this ungodly hour part of Monday morning. While that's technically correct, for Sparrow it is most decidedly still Sunday night. She's still got some hope that she might sleep before needing to get to class. The redhead--whose black roots are definitely starting to show--takes up a good portion of her table with a couple text books (one of which is open), a wide-screen laptop, a smartphone, a plate with a half-finished bagel, egg, bacon and cheese breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee. It's an impressive sprawl which complements the way she has one leg half-stretched across the booth seat while she slumps forward, flicking her attention between her laptop, her open textbook, and the phone from which she'd answered Nicole's late night text to indicate where she is. And that she might be in need of rescuing. Even if she didn't entirely specify from what.

Her last late night trip to the Waffle Shoppe did not go as planned. She left without a single bite of waffle, strawberry, OR cream. So when Nicole receives the text from Sparrow, that craving returns and despite the hour, heads to meet her friend.

Before she enters, she looks down at the diewalk just outside the door, studying it curiously for a moment with a frown before finally pulling the door open and walking inside. Finding Sparrow easily enough when she arrives, Nicole takes residence on the other side of the booth, across from the red head. Looking at all the work set out before Sparrow, she asks, "cramming for an exam or something?" She then rises up and leans over the table to smooch the top of Sparrow's head (it takes some effort) in greeting, then sits back down.

Most death seems to happen at night, which is really quite inconvenient for Gabe Quintanilla's sleep cycles. But it means that he has to take the overnight shift quite often, a shift that comes with a "lunch" break ... right around now. He breezes on into the Waffle Shoppe in his blue blazer and gray slacks and white button-up dress shirt. Cop wear.

"Howdy neighbor," he says, when spying Sparrow. "And barber. Mind another?"

"Yeah," comes without looking up, confirmation without clarification. Sparrow pauses in her note-taking with she notices Nicole leaning in, gaze pitched upward just before that kiss is delivered. A vague suggestion of accusation lingers in her low-lidded eyes as she smiles across the table at her friend, but no actual indictment comes. Maybe because she thinks better of it. More likely because she's distracted by Gabriel's arrival. "Detective," she greets with a nod. She draws her knee down from the seat, leaving space either next to her or Nicole, and begins to tidy up some of her sprawl, laptop and textbook closed and stacked. To Nicole, she wonders, "Did you call in reinforcements?" with a tip of her head toward Gabe. "Did you bring me something pretty to distract me from my work?"

The hairdresser smiles up at Gabriel as he greets them. "Gabriel. Good to see you outside of the salon." She gives Sparrow a curious look at her expression towards her, but when the student begins moving all her studying paraphernalia to welcome Gabriel, she doesn't ask. Shaking her head, Nicole says, "no. I wish I could take credit for bringing you a present... but I suppose he did that all on his own."

"Seriously, Gabe is just fine. I'm Detective the rest of the day. I'm here among my people now." My people being his neighbor and barber, but that is neither here nor there. He seems to consider his seating options, but when Sparrow says he is 'something pretty to distract her,' he chooses Sparrow's side, sliding into the booth next to her. "I suppose if I have a role to play, I will play it." He also grabs a menu because, hungry.

"What are you studying?" he asks.

Sparrow casually categorizes, "Waffle People," in an aside to Nicole, in case she wasn't clear as to which people Gabe meant. Nevermind that it makes no sense, especially given her current lack of anything waffle-like. When he slides in next to her, she tilts in juuuust close enough to barely bump her shoulder to his in wordless approval of his willingness to play along. "Physics tonight," comes with a crinkle of her nose. "Which is mostly just applied trigonometry." With a high arch of her dark brows, she asks him, "What are you studying?" Those brows waggle suggestively before her attention shoots to Nicole, who she informs, "You totally could've taken credit. When the opportunity presents, always say yes." Beat. "Unless you don't want to."

Nicole nods, saying quietly under her breath in agreement, "waffle people." A crooked smirk lifts one side of her lips and she shakes her head, her imagination taking her to a place where waffle shaped people exist. That mirthful expression is ruined though when Sparrow mentions Physics and Trigonometry... horrifying words in the land of Nicole's reality. She grimaces and reaches across the table to rest a hand either on Sparrow's arm if it is there, or the table itself in a sympathetic gesture. "I am so sorry... That is an awful thing for you to have to deal with." She means the subject matter, of course. Nodding, she agrees, "I could have taken credit... and were it someone I knew better outside of work, I might have." She smiles towards Gabriel. "No time like the present to work towards that I suppose."

"What looks good?" she asks him next, after he's had a moment to look the menu over. "I already know what I want."

"Physics? Jesus. I am glad I was a Criminal Justice major that staggered through my Biology for Non-Science Majors with a gentleman's B-minus and got the hell out of there," laughs Gabe when Sparrow speaks on what she is looking into. At the waggle of the brows, however, he plays his role. "Oh, you know. That jawline and the lips they lead to."

At the question of what he is ordering, however, he decides: "Pancakes. And eggs. For protein." Can't be all carbs.

Sparrow snorts a laugh at the sympathy from Nicole. "Right?" It's half-a-lie, delivered convincingly enough to suggest she half-believes it. The term 'gentleman's B-minus' earns Gabriel a curious look, but that question is quickly forgotten when he answers her flirtation so deftly. Dark lashes dip low, barely veiling the curious look she pays to his lips as her own bow in a wide grin. "You're good," is half-muttered, as much a note to herself as a compliment for him.

Whatever might have followed is cut off by the waitress arriving to ask Gabe, "And how would you like your eggs, sweetheart?" having caught the beginnings of his order on her approach. When she looks to the others to see if they need anything more, Sparrow asks for, "More fries please." Nevermind that there's no evidence that there had been any fries next to that half-a-sandwich in the first place.

"Belgian Waffle with strawberries and whipped cream and a glass of milk please," The blonde requests to the waitress. After she walks away to give the orders to the cook, Nicole murmurs, "hopefully no gunshots will interrupt my meal this time..." Looking across the table, she shrugs. "I'm glad all I had to learn was ratios of mixing hair dyes and other substances." Grinning as she looks between the two. "Would you like some time alone? Seems to be pretty hot over there." To emphasize this, she lifts her hand to wave at her face like a fan, blowing a 'phew' from her lips.

Gabriel shrugs his shoulders at Sparrow. "I butter people up for a living." Sort of. But the waitress is here, and Gabe makes his order. "Scrambled, please. And the short stack of pancakes and some coffee." He surrenders his menu to the waitress then and looks over at the two.

"So how are things going for you, Nicole? I at least survived that stupid flu going around. Back on the case and all of that. Not that my Netflix queue didn't appreciate the quality time we spent together." At her quip about he and Sparrow needing some time alone, he laughs. But he does shoot a look over to the redhead to see her reaction. "Gunshots sound ... exciting?" He sounds concerned.

"I would never distract a gentleman from his pancakes," Sparrow, again, half-lies. Surely, there are circumstances under which she would do just that. But not tonight. With a sidelong look toward Gabriel, she notes, "Though I am curious to know about the application of butter in the criminal justice system," with an off-center smile. Looking back to Nicole, she assures, "I've told everyone to quiet the fuck down while I'm studying, so." Shouldn't be any gunshots. Right? That's how it works? "And, really, what you do is pretty much chemistry," with a pat to her... uh, physics text. "Just because you don't know all the fancy words that I do doesn't mean you don't get the basic principles and know what proportions to mix shit in to make magic happen." Plucking up her half-a-sandwich, she gestures toward the hairdresser with it and tells her, "You're pretty much a part-time chemist already," before taking a bite.

"Fairly good, myself. I am glad you survived the flu. Was it as bad as I warned? Ooh. watch anything good?" Nicole asks as she reaches for the jelly stand and begins playing idly with jelly packets, stacking them up in various shapes. "I think it was another bad dream. I don't know. Like.. yeah, it was weird." She shrugs, suddenly looking very tired. tucking one hand under her hair and against the back of her neck.

Nodding to Sparrow, she says, "this is true. A master chemist. Which... you need to visit, unless you are digging your roots." She smiles at the other woman. Eyes casting down to the book again, she asks, "will you have time this week for the beginning of our lessons? Or, the weekend, whenever. No rush of course. I just like hanging out with you."

"One Day at a Time," says Gabe with an immediate grin. "I mean, they're Cuban and my family's Mexican, yeah? But still. Hysterical shit. Can't believe Netflix canceled it. But it got picked up, so raised from the dead, you know?" His coffee arrives and he reaches over to grab milk and sugar to add to it.

There is a narrowed-eyes look at mention of dreams and the like. "But it sucked, the flu. Just glad to have it behind me and get back to work from more than my couch. What are you two taking lessons on, though?"

Though Sparrow casts a curious look aside at Gabriel when Nicole asks after his flu-time binging, that curiosity is short-lived, killed beneath the mention of what might've been a bad dream. Her humor dims. A little, at least. When her phone chirps and she takes a look at the incoming messages, her expression goes properly gloomy for a moment. She straightens in her seat as she quickly texts back, paying enough attention to her phone that one might wonder if she's listening to the conversation happening around her.

Until the question of lessons comes up, anyway. That has Sparrow peeking up, grinning again. "This week, yeah. Should be able to." Grin widening, she looks between Gabe and Nicole, telling the former, "I'm the teacher. And I think you should guess what I'mma show her." She then asks the latter, "He should guess, right?" though that's clearly rhetorical as she urges the detective to, "Guess."

Nicole looks a little perplexed. "One Day at a Time? Isn't that like, from way before we were born?" She tilts her head then reaches for her milk, which has also been delivered, and curls her fingers around the glass. "I am super glad you feel better. Did I say that already? I am up past my bedtime, but anything for this beauty..." She smiles, fluttering her lashes across to Sparrow, but seeing her expression as she looks at her phone, the smile disappears. "What's wrong?"

"Yeah. No. They rebooted it. It's good. You should watch it. Even though you're kind of late for the big campaign they did to try to save it from cancellation." Gabe is hung up on this. But he glances over to Sparrow, too, when she is distracted by her phone. Nicole echoes the concern in his face for a moment.

But then there is a demand that he guess. "Oh, shit, Sparrow. I can't say I know you well enough to know what you'd teach. Ahhhh." He hides his face behind his coffee to buy time with a sip before he says, "How to take up a maximum amount of space on a diner table. How to make explosives with a few easy ingredients found at home."

Sparrow blows a kiss across the table at Nicole, all low-lashed and happy. Damned near flirtatious. All the concern for her phone, which she gestures with vaguely then sets down face-up, is waved away with, "BFF just admitting I'm right about terrible things." The helpless shrug which follows suggests she just can't help it; she's just naturally right most of the time. Whatcha gonna do. She looks utterly unsympathetic to Gabriel's plight of being put on the spot, dark brows arched expectantly, practically disappearing beneath her bright red bangs. "Oooh!" sounds like approval. "I could definitely teach both of those." With a sly look to Nicole, she poses, "I know someone who would find his-and-hers explosives very exciting," right in front of the detective. That means she's joking, right? Right. When she looks back to Gabe, she lets him in on the far less interesting truth: "I'm educating her on music worth listening to. That isn't mushy love songs. Even if I like mushy love songs." With a curious cant of her head, she wonders, "What do you listen to, Gabe?" just as plates start to show up piled with fries and pancakes and waffles and eggs.

Nicole's attention doesn't stray from Sparrow at first. She is too concerned. "What kind of terrible things?" She frowns but then looks between Gabriel and Sparrow at the suggestions of what the redhead could teach. When 'his-and-hers explosives' are mentioned, her face goes through a series of looks, like an amateur actress practicing emotions. Confusion. Thinking. Realization dawning. A bit of horror when it hits what is meant. Her jaw drops and she stares at Sparrow before a blush 'explodes' onto her cheeks. "I..." Pressing her lips together as she does when trying to not blush, dimples press in hard and she listens to the true explanation instead, looking down appreciatively at her waffle when it is brought before her. She mumbles, "some mushy love songs are okay.. just.. " She shrugs, picking up her fork and poking at a strawberry.

Gabriel seems a bit confused at what, exactly, Nicole is reacting to when there is mention of his-and-hers explosives. "Well," he says finally. "Just don't blow anything up that requires my services." That is, don't kill anyone. And there are pancakes! Gabe picks up his fork and attacks the eggs first. "Me? Just a lot of Latin stuff. And then the Top 40 stuff I can get on the unmarked car's radio. I can't say I have deep taste, but I do okay."

"That not all dreams are seahorses and rocket pops," Sparrow tells Nicole a touch more quietly, a little rise at the end as if it were the beginning of a longer thought. Or maybe a question. Whatever the case, nothing more comes. Watching the part-time chemist's expression change, she leans in toward Gabriel, all conspiratorial-like, until her shoulder is nestled against his, with her eyes still turned across the table. "Fucking lovely in that color, isn't she?" Is that pride in her tone? Yep. No shame. And no explanation.

She maintains her Gabe-ward lean as her attention rounds on him again, as she crinkles her nose with a piteous sound in her throat. So concerned with his listening habits! She might even be talking about music when she tells him, "I think there's a thing or two I could teach you, too," before straightening to start picking at her fries.

Nicole risks a glance up at Sparrow at the comment about dreams, using her fork to cut a bite of waffle then stabbing it and a cream-covered strawberry. "Isn't that the truth?" she asks, then shoves that bite into her mouth; even though she doesn't know that she knows that dreams are... you know. Somewhere, somehow, she knows, even if she doesn't. But when Sparrow comments on the color in Nicole's cheeks, she pauses mid-chew and sticks her tongue out at her. There is amusement in her eyes though, and a small smile while she eats.

"I bet there is," she grins after swallowing though. This, a commentary on the fact Sparrow could teach Gabriel a thing or two.

"Yeah. I'm slowly beginning to figure out that dreams might not always be dreams," says Gabriel with his own half-finished thought hanging out there at the table. The things said and not. "Sometimes they're a little more permanent." Some maple syrup (flavored sugar concoction) is added to his pancakes and then he digs into that. "The hair?" he asks, looking at Nicole. "I mean, Nicole is stunning in anything, of course, but especially the hair and the blush." He tries to cover his bases on what Sparrow might have meant.

And then when Sparrow says she can teach him a few things. "If you've got a playlist I should try, willing to give it a spin."

Sparrow answers that stuck-out tongue with a swipe of a french fry through the whipped cream topping Nicole's waffles and a broad smile as she chomps down on that odd pairing of salty and sweet. "The blush," she confirms for Gabriel while looking at Nicole. She's still addressing him when she tries to amp up that color further by noting, "She's also stunning in nearly nothing," adding in a sing-song, "All the more reason to make it out for amateur night," with a look down his dress-shirt-and-blazered body. When her eyes make their way back up to his, she tells him, "Gimme some guidelines. Whatcha just don't like. Whether you like to shake your hips or bang your head or just relax or whatever. Somewhere to start." Is she ignoring the subject of dreams? YEP! For the moment, anyway.

Choosing to also ignore the subject of dreams for the time being, Nicole winks across to Gabriel when he notes that she looks stunning in anything, then gasps in mock shock that Sparrow would dare swipe her whipped cream. "Did you see that, Detective? She stole my whipped cream! Grand Theft Confectionary! Arrest her!" She smiles and leans forward to whisper conspiratorily, loud enough for Sparrow to hear too of course, "No really. Do, I bet she likes handcuffs." If Sparrow had meant to make Nicole blush more, in that, she fails. She swirls another bite of waffle in Gabriel's syrup from across the table without shame. "You should see me in completely nothing..." Adding on, "... not at amateur night though." She laughs then grins at Gabriel. "I'd bet they'd tip extra for a stripping cop though." And then Gabe's phone buzzes and he gives the universal hand gesture for 'I have to take this'. "Convenient timing," she snickers.

Sparrow's eyes go wide with unconvincing innocence as she looks to Gabriel when he's challenged to arrest her. The crooked skew of her grin might imply she's looking forward to him trying. It may well be confirmation of Nicole's assertion, but she doesn't speak a peep. Not until the hairdresser issues that bold invitation. Pointing a fry at herself, even if the detective had been the intended target, she asks, "Yeah?" That french fry then gets pointed across the table as she adds, "That's what I told him," even if that's not exactly what she'd told him. When Gabe gets up, she shamelessly tilts to the side to watch him leave before settling her attention back on her more familiar friend, all wide-eyed and smiling. "Fucking hot, right? Shit." Her phone chirps again, inspiring her to nom on her fry while she answers the text, talking with her mouth full all the while. "I am pretty sure I'mma get myself in trouble, and I'm pretty sure I don't care."

The comment about being seen in nothing was not aimed at any one person in particular. Winking at Sparrow she grins. "Sure, why not? I'm 'bangin'" She laughs and shamelessly steals more of Gabriel's syrup while he is busy. Yes, she could get her own, but she apparently thinks it tastes better coming from his plate than being put on her own with the waffle, strawberries, and cream. When he is gone, and Sparrow makes her observations, she chuckles. "Gabe? Yeah.. he's alright. His hair is super lovely to put fingers in...." Realizing that might sound a little weird, Nicole blinks and shrugs. "So you like the older men, huh? Or just..." She shakes her head as if to say 'whatever, there is no type, it doesn't matter. I like what I like' gesture. "I'm pretty sure I already got myself in trouble... not with him, mind. He's just a client.."

"Flirt," Sparrow accuses approvingly. She drops her phone back on her table and rests back in her seat, watching Nicole across the way. Brows arch at the fingers-in-hair comment, a laugh snorted for the belated realization that follows. Her nose scrunches at the phrase 'older men.' "Sounds so skeevy when you put it like that," comes with a shrug. "I just like people who can keep up. And he's doing alright." With a tip of her head in the hairdresser's direction, eyes wide with warning, she adds, "So are you." Going back to her sandwich, she wonders, "So. What kinda trouble?" far too casually, not matching the amusement in her eyes.

Gabriel makes his way back to his side of the booth, mumbling something about sorry and a call from dispatch, but it all seems to be handled now. "So who am I seeing in nothing where and handcuffing?" he picks up from where he left off when he stepped away from the table. But it passes on by as he waits to see where the conversation has ended up, tilting his head to see what trouble Nicole is in.

"Me? A flirt? No never...." Nicole shakes her head innocently. Shrugging again she says, "I mean, my fingers are in hair, like, all damn day. I appreciate the ones that feel nice, so... yeah, sounds weird maybe to hear your hairdresser say that maybe but... better than me saying, 'make sure you never put your fingers in his hair.' and wrinkling my nose. Right?" Shaking her head then she disagrees. "Older men doesn't sound skeevy... now, if he was like, near death old and I said something like, so you like possible inheritances, eh?' that might sound skeevy..." When it is mentioned though that Nicole also keeps up, she does a little bow, as much as the table allows. "Why thank you... and um.. just... you know...." A grin slips onto her lips again as the blush starts working its way back, just as Gabriel returns.

"I don't know, Gabe, who are you seeing in nothing?" Nicole points to Sparrow with her waffle-fruit combination on a fork and says, "handcuffing her."

Sparrow rolls her eyes at the redrawn line of where skeevy lies, sighing out, "Fiiiine," in half-laughed concession. Her curiosity intensifies as the question about trouble is met with stammering and blushing, as she watches Nicole go from shameless to shy in a matter of seconds. Before she can press further, her breath catches, Gabe's return not acknowledged until he's sliding in beside her. Is that some color in her cheeks? Just a touch. She croons, "Just say when, detective," with that poorly feigned innocence again, gaze lingering on him for a few seconds longer than necessary before she manages to look back to Nicole and ask, at last, "Arguably less sexy half of Double Trouble trouble or some entirely new and interesting trouble trouble?"

Gabriel looks down at his syrup like there is some missing, casting a jaundiced eye to Nicole across the table. Is she the syrup thief? It doesn't really matter, because he can just add more to his plate. He doesn't chime in just yet, arching a brow at Nicole, curious, perhaps, at the answer.

Oh wow. Look at how amazingly interesting this half a waffle that's been rather soaked by strawberries by now is. Strategic lines should be cut into it with the fork, so as not to mess it up. Keep it nice, and neat. Cut. Cut. "Uhhhh..." Nicole bites her lower lip and there's those dimples, even if she refuses to look up. Her answer comes out in a mumble, rushed before she puts that waffle in her mouth. "Thesexiestofthedoubles...in my book." Chew Chew Chew.

"I saaaaaaid arguably," Sparrow points out of that waffle-mushed mumbling. As a casual aside, she appends, "Still willing to jello wrestle you over it," with a glance to her phone. Like she might be considering getting that awful, terrible, very bad idea organized right now. Thankfully, she doesn't touch the device, even as the notification light blinks lazy and blue to let her know a message has come in since she last checked. "Does this trouble involve criminal activity or matrimony? Cuz if not? I'mma need you to convince me." That it's trouble, she means. Nevermind that she probably doesn't find her own current 'trouble' particularly troubling. While Nicole is so very focused on her food, the redhead scoots very purposefully closer to Gabriel as she tells him quietly, "You didn't answer my questions. Which means you're gonna get what I give ya."

"Didn't answer your --" And here, Gabe has to reeeach back into his memory banks before his phone call to figure out what Sparrow is asking him. "Oh! The music. Shit. I don't know. Definitely not move my hips." Gabriel does not look like a dancer. "But sing along to, bob my head, can't get out of my ear sort of stuff." At the continual discussion, he just listens. "So you've got a guy, Nicole?" He can get the gist.

Licking her lips after that bite, Nicole nods and says, "yes, you did say 'arguably' and I am arguing that you are wrong and he is precisely the sexier." She smirks, lifting a brow as she enjoys the play with Sparrow. "Still think we should... the ring is back up and stuff, Could put a pool in it... I need a bikini..." Sparrow's next question though has Nicole looking at her as if she has grown another head and instead of it being topped with fabulous red hair, it is that of a platypus with a pink mohawk. "Uh... neither. Just.. you know... trouble." Looking up to Gabriel her head cocks to the side slightly and she grins at him in an 'oh you poor thing, bless your heart' manner. "Sounds like you need lessons on how to move your hips more than anything, Gabe." She winks at him then looks back at her waffle, stabbing at another piece. "I have a um... well, he is a guy..." She nods. "And I like spending time with him."

"Bet I could make you move your hips," Sparrow boasts as she gives a wiggle of her own under the table, her grin going decidedly smug. "But yeah," comes after she bites into a fry, "that helps." Nicole's non-answer gets a playful roll of her eyes before she guesses plainly, "So the sex is good?" And then something dawns. "Or are you catching feeeelings? Cuz I know all about that. And the secret is to just. Not think. Be happy. Ya know?" With another fry-waggle in Nicole's direction as she leans in more comfortably against Gabriel, nevermind that he's trying to eat, she promises, "And I'll call your guy tomorrow. After I talk to mine. Make sure that he's alright with me defending his sexiness. Then we'll go bikini shopping. Fall clearance and all." So thrifty!

"Jesus, Sparrow. Physics had made you catch a mood, hasn't it?" asks Gabriel as he asks the waitress for more coffee. He needs it. But despite it all, he doesn't exactly move away from her. After all, he was the eye candy here to distract her from the books, right? "So you have the other one? I mean, the double of the double trouble?" The detective is detecting his way through the web of the relationships here.

Nicole grins as Sparrow teases Gabriel a bit. She looks up at the first question, grinning impishly. The second question gets a shrug and a bit of fidgeting. "Yeah, I mean, I guess... I just. I don't .. catch feelings," she says. "But, he does make me smile, more often than not. " She nods and grins. "Pretty sure Joey would be all for it, especially if it meant business." She laughs at Gabriel calling Sparrow out, then watches her as she waits for her answer to come.

"Math always gets me in a mood," Sparrow teases right back at Gabriel. She gestures to her own mostly ignored, mostly empty cup of coffee when the waitress comes by, accepting a top-off with a murmured word of thanks. With a snorted laugh as she leans forward to start doctoring her coffee with cream and sugar both, she explains, "He's my guitarist. Damned fine kisser." No shame. "But I don't think I can be said to have him in any way beyond bandmate." Her eyebrows knit together as she sinks back, coffee held between both hands, but whatever other thought has crossed her mind goes unvoiced. Maybe because she's staring across the table at Nicole. "Let's get scientific." Whether she likes it or not. "When you say you 'don't catch feelings,' do you mean historically, by choice or oh my god make it stop no no don't cuz I loves it?" Very scientific.

"I wish I knew enough math to make innuendo about that, but --" But Gabe doesn't. He doesn't even have enough math to even fill in the blank, honestly. "Anyway. What is your major, Sparrow?" As if he just realized he doesn't know this. But then there are questions posed to Nicole and Gabe falls silent so he might hear the answers.

Pushing her plate to the edge of the table, Nicole puffs out her cheeks and leans back. "I can't eat another bite." Dark eyes watch Sparrow as she weaves part of her web, tilting her head. But, the artful dodger that Sparrow is, turns the attention back on Nicole. The question makes her nose scrunch and her lips to lift like she's a little girl told to eat her brussel sprouts. "Just... historically, when I have, it was bad.." so bad... "so, I don't... didn't.. try not to....uh..." Eyes casting to the side and out the window, she sighs, slumps, and rests her hand on her heart. "Like... I dunno... I even tried to like, not....." She leans forward in a move of exasperation and says to Sparrow, "I even tried to go out with someone else and all I could do was think 'I wish I was with him instead' and that...." She flops back again, full of twenty-eight-year-old teenage angst. Eyes out the window again. "I should probably just tell him or something... I don't know. I am bad at this shit." So bad.

Sparrow holds up a finger to Gabriel to put a pause on that part of the conversation while the whole of her focus is on Nicole and her emotions. Her smile goes soft and sympathetic as the explanation goes on, lingering as she notes, "You sound like me when AJ got me all knotted up." Mostly, anyway. She's clearly comfortable in others' company and not pining too hard for anyone not currently present. "I'mma tell you what Corey told me. He said, 'Mena. Stop thinking about it. You have more fun when you don't think about it.' And he was right." She takes a sip of her coffee, and it looks like that might be the end of the Sparrow Jones advice hour, but then she adds, "And if you're worried it's gonna end bad? Make sure it's a whole fuckton of fun before then."

When the redhead's attention returns to Gabriel, she wiggles her shoulder against his a little, teasing, "And you. Skipping right past the band thing, huh?" She hesitates just long enough to suggest she might be waiting for him to ask before answering the inquiry actually made. "Chemistry." She seems to consider adding more, but she sips at her coffee instead.

Sparrow lets out an, "Oh!" as she draws her cup down. "And you don't need to know math to say something like how badly you wish you were my physics homework. Hard and what I'm doing on the table." Her smile goes impossibly wide.

"I mean, you have a band, you kiss your drummer, what else is there to know? You going to give me a flyer for one of your gigs or something? That's fine, but if I'm coming, I want back-stage passes." Gabriel keeps his response neutral at the question of her band, before nodding at her major, as if that makes sense to him.

"But yeah. You're an adult, Nicole. Have fun if you're going to have fun, and commit if you're going to commit. Don't let yourself get whipsawed in between."

Nicole sticks her tongue out at Sparrow. "I wasn't thinking about it until your questions." She sticks her tongue out again for good measure. "I don't worry about it or anything when I am with him, it's just... you know... chill. I mostly only think about it when you ask me specific questions. Mostly." Mostly. She doesn't address the ending bad part at first, but then says with a shrug, "I mean...isn't that like, what we should do with life in general?" But the comment to Gabriel, after all that, about physics being hard and being done on the table, well... Nicole just blinks at that a moment before busting out in a loud laugh, grateful for the shift in topic and energy. Still laughing, she shakes her head to Gabriel with a smile. "I'm not 'whipsawed'... what's a whipsaw?"

Sparrow's only answer for Nicole is to lift a hand and tap a finger to her nose. Got it in one. She joins in the laughter at her own terrible pick-up line when Gabriel ignores it, that too-wide smile lingering. "If you're coming, it's definitely backstage," she quips to him in a quiet aside. "And I'm the drummer. I like bangin'." The adorable, scrunched-up face that follows suggests at least some awareness of how awful that was, and the squeaked out, "Sorry," confirms it. But then she keeps going, squinting apologetically as she looks to Nicole and explains, "A two-handled saw with a guy on either side which, I dunno, sounds kinda hot. I'm so sorry. I can't stop. Hi." She all but buries her face in her coffee.

"That's a --" Gabriel almost goes ahead and corrects Sparrow's innuendo to the proper name for the guy on either side, but then stops himself. No. He is definitely not touching that. "Anyway. It means, like, going from one thing to the other. So between just fun and no strings attached and committed." He shrugs his shoulders. "Anyway." He rolls his eyes at Sparrow and otherwise ignores her scientist-in-heat wordplay.

With the heat of the interrogation light off of Nicole, she seems to relax, pressing her lips together as Sparrow's innuendo. "Oh my...." Then another one has her shaking her head with a chuckle. Then, the bit about the saw. Brown eyes look up at the ceiling for a beat then she looks back to Sparrow, glancing at Gabriel when he almost says something. She opens her mouth as if also about to comment, but nope. She closes it and shakes her head instead. She lets the state of her are-there-or-aren't-there-strings-attached romantic life fall aside in conversation and nods. "Anywayyyyyyyy...." She looks at Sparrow then and says, "I bet you keep a really nice tempo."

"Commitment doesn't have to have strings," Sparrow chirps from behind her coffee mug. The shame coloring her cheeks is gonna take a while to subside, her blush not quite as bright as her hair but certainly aspiring toward such a vibrant shade. "And fun doesn't need to be careless." With a shallow tip forward the confirms to Nicole, "I do," of her tempo keeping. She keeps her tone even as she adds, "Very steady," even as she gives a little brow-waggle. Maybe someone shouldn't be allowed coffee at this hour. Turning a look up at the man beside her, she asks, "Are you on duty, Detective Gabe?"

"Well. Let's see." Gabriel digs out his phone from his pocket, looking at the time. "I am off duty --" Three. Two. One. "Now. I mean, what am I talking about? I'm never really off duty. They just only pay me for certain times that I am working."

Gabe shrugs his shoulders and tugs away the phone, picking up his phone again. "I'm sure you're good at the ride cymbal," he throws out, because this is apparently what they are doing now.

"Now who looks good in that color?" Nicole teases Sparrow, gesturing with a wave of her hand at the blushing cheeks. Chewing on her lip as she tries to think of a one-liner relating to drumming, she eventually gives up and eyes the two across from her. "Is now the time for handcuffs then?"

Sparrow barks a laugh when Gabriel joins in. "I knew you were bad," sounds entirely approving, especially when paired with that bright, red-cheeked smile angled up at him. To Nicole, she notes, "Red's always been my color," with a wink. And a very, very belated callback of, "And yes. I'll be in soon. Maybe even before the party." She draws in a deep breath and sets her coffee down. "But. For now? I should probably settle up." Angling a sidelong look toward the guy beside her, she asks, "You need someone big and strong to see you home safely, Gabe?" Doesn't she have class in the morning..?