Page 15 of Brad & Finn (Gomillion High Reunion #3)

FINN

Finn had thought he was ready for the reunion, but standing in line, with the glaring overhead lights buzzing above him, he felt like the entire room was staring at him.

He probably would have gone back to the hotel if Brad hadn’t shown up and Chloe hadn’t launched into her caffeine-fueled dramatics.

She was the only person who’d ever been able to distract Finn’s racing thoughts.

Back in high school, she’d make up silly stories on the bus ride to a competition, distracting Finn, Kendall, and the rest of the team from their pre-performance jitters.

Just last week, she’d planted herself on Finn’s couch the night before a tough presentation at work.

She’d rambled on about some celebrity drama or another until he’d finally been able to catch his breath.

Usually, her distractions would come with hair pets and cuddles, but since this trip was full of surprises, it had been Brad’s group hug that unwound the final coil of anxiety in Finn’s gut.

He didn’t mind Chloe’s teasing; she’d been doing it to him for their entire life.

He couldn’t gauge if it was bothering Brad, though.

They’d shared one kiss two decades ago, and they’d nearly shared another last night in the hotel hallway.

After everything Finn had told him, he had no idea if Brad was still interested in a repeat performance of their life-changing kiss.

At least, for Finn, it had been life-changing. He’d only kissed two people in high school, Brad and Chloe, but each kiss had gotten him one step closer to discovering himself.

For most of his childhood, Finn had known there was something different about him.

Kissing Chloe sophomore year had shown that the “something different” about him wasn’t that he was lesbian.

Funnily enough, it had also helped Chloe come to terms with being asexual.

He’d spent the rest of that summer researching the ace spectrum with her, which had helped Finn determine he wasn’t ace either.

Then he’d kissed Brad and found that even though he liked kissing boys, he still didn’t feel like Kendall or the other straight teenage girls he’d known.

After kissing Brad on the cold cement floor of Cory’s basement, Finn had left the party with plans to spend the rest of the summer investigating gender and all of its confusing forms. He hadn’t been expecting to, quite literally, run into his classmate Atlas as he left the party.

Atlas had been his usual colorful self, blonde hair dyed neon blue with matching eyeshadow and a flowing skirt.

Finn still remembered the way his hair and skirt flew out around him as he rounded the corner of Cory’s house and slammed into Finn’s side.

Finn had always quietly admired Atlas for his refusal to be anything other than his bright, overtly queer—and possibly genderqueer—self.

Of course, they hadn’t had the words for that back then.

All Finn knew was that something in his chest reacted to the way Atlas always seemed to say “fuck you” to the gender he’d been assigned at birth.

He and Atlas ended up walking to the town’s nicer playground, the one with the swings that didn’t pinch his hips.

They’d talked until the sun began to rise over the general store behind them.

The kiss, the conversation, and that night weren’t the final steps in Finn realizing he was trans, but by the end of that summer, he’d known for sure.

Kendall and Chloe had been his biggest cheerleaders—which seemed appropriate, all things considered—during and after college, and he’d sworn to himself that if he saw Atlas again, he would thank him.

Sadly, as they spent the first hour of the cocktail party bouncing from person to person so Chloe could find her chocolate-y match, Finn didn’t see Atlas.

It didn’t help that so many of his classmates had shot up like beanstalks after high school.

He’d been one of the cheer team’s best flyers for a reason.

Even after puberty, and his second puberty on T, he was only 5’5” on a good day.

Thankfully, Chloe’s heeled boots meant Finn could keep an eye on her in the crowd.

Brad’s height also wasn’t hard to miss as he walked around, squinting down at the noticeably crumpled card in his hand.

“Chloe! It’s so good to see you!” a tall Black woman called over to them.

Chloe and Finn turned around, and Finn wasn’t sure who she or the equally tall Latina woman she was standing with was.

Chloe let out an excited squeal and darted towards them, throwing her arms around the first woman’s neck in an excited hug before releasing her and thrusting out her hand to the second woman.

Brad, who’d been in the middle of asking them what their cards were, smiled ruefully at Finn as he walked up.

“Oh my gosh, I saw your wedding photos online, and I swear I would have unliked them so that I could like them a second time!” Chloe exclaimed, causing the other two women to beam at her.

“I didn’t know you knew Naomi,” Brad said, tossing the Black woman a megawatt smile. “She was my savior in Algebra II.”

Naomi rolled her eyes, and her wife–Finn assumed by context clues–leaned her head against Naomi’s shoulders. If he squinted, he could just make out the name Mariana on her name tag.

“She was mine in Chemical Hazard Analysis, sophomore year of college,” Mariana said.

Naomi laughed, a warm sound that Finn thought sounded sort of familiar. “And you were mine in Multivariate Calculus.”

Brad scratched the back of his head, his smile dimming down to a bashful grin. “Yeah, I tapped out before calculus in college. Didn’t need it much for sports medicine, and I definitely don’t need it for coaching.”

“Well, as you witnessed in bio, science and math are not my strong suits,” Chloe said to Naomi. “I ended up majoring in lit, and now I’m a legal editor.”

Ah, that’s where Finn knew her from. She’d been Chloe’s table partner in bio. Finn had been partnered with Cory, which meant Chloe spent just as much time at her desk as she did perched on the edge of theirs.

“Oh, no, that was not your finest work,” Naomi said with a laugh. “Speaking of bio, where’s your partner in crime? And Kendall?” Her tone was still warm, but this time, it sent a chill down Finn’s back.

This was the fifth time someone had asked about Finn, but thus far, they’d all been people he didn’t know. He’d talked to Naomi several times during class that year, and now that he really thought about it, he thought he remembered chatting briefly at homecoming senior year.

“Kendall is expecting her third!” Chloe gushed, just like she’d done the last five times. “She wasn’t able to get cleared to fly by her doctor, so unfortunately, I’ll have to report back with all the goss.”

“Three! You said I was loca for wanting two in this economy,” Mariana said, nudging Naomi playfully in the shoulder.

Naomi squeezed her waist but said nothing, presumably waiting for Chloe to answer the other half of her question.

A part of Finn considered coming out right then. He felt pretty safe in assuming two queer women of color wouldn’t judge him for being trans, but as it sometimes did, his anxiety sat in his mouth like a brick, utterly impossible to speak around.

The first two times Chloe had been asked about Finn, she’d glanced at him before speaking. By now, thankfully, she was an old pro at it. She kept her gaze firmly on Naomi and said, “As for my partner in all things that weren’t studying for biology—I haven’t seen her in a long time.”

Finn hadn’t realized he’d been drifting closer to Brad until, out of nowhere, he ended up pressed against Brad’s side.

Brad stiffened at Chloe’s answer, the muscles in his forearm rippling down into a clenched fist. Finn bumped his hand against Brad’s before stepping forward for the carefully choreographed next part of this dance.

“But,” Chloe said, her voice pitching up in excitement in a way that drew attention away from her previous statement. “I’d love to introduce you to my boyfriend, Finn.”

Finn held out his hand and shook first Naomi’s and then her wife’s hand. “Hi, I’m Finn. It’s lovely to meet you, Mariana,” he said, nodding at Mariana’s name tag as Brad shifted to stand next to Chloe.

Naomi gasped, turning to her wife with a soft pout on her bottom lip. “I’m so sorry! I can’t believe I haven’t introduced you. I just jumped right in after Chloe mentioned our wedding photos.”

“It’s okay, mi amor. I’m Mariana Sanchez. It’s nice to meet you as well.”

They went back and forth, sharing where they lived now, commiserating over how much had changed and how much was still the same in town. Chloe was disappointed to find that their cards were ketchup and toe.

“Do you think you’re looking for someone with foot?” Chloe asked, scrunching up her face in a way that caused three lines to form in her forehead.

“Your face is going to freeze like that, dear,” Finn said, before he realized maybe that wasn’t the sort of thing a boyfriend should say to his girlfriend.

Mariana burst out laughing, and Naomi scrunched up her own forehead.

“Don’t I tell you that all the time?” Mariana said gleefully. “Thank you, Finn, I’m glad someone else understands me.”

Naomi shook her head, and Chloe, very maturely, stuck her tongue out at Finn.

“Do you think maybe it’s a three-way?” Brad asked, and they all turned to look at him with various expressions of surprise.

Brad’s cheeks turned so red, they practically glowed, and he waved his hands in front of his chest. “Toe! Do you think it’s part of tic-tac-toe?”

Mariana threw her head back and groaned. “I didn’t even go here! Why did I get the hardest one?”

“If it makes you feel any better, Chloe’s really struggling with chocolate,” Finn said.

Naomi squinted at her. “Vanilla?”

“Strawberry?” Mariana offered.

“Wine?” Brad said, and Mariana tipped her glass of red wine at him.