Page 28 of Brad & Finn (Gomillion High Reunion #3)

Chloe hummed softly before giving him a tight squeeze and pulling away. This time, Brad let her go, and she gave him a reassuring smile before turning to stare pointedly at the elevator.

“Finn had to get his things from his room,” he explained, grasping at the offered subject change with both hands. “He asked if we could go to the other coffee shop instead. I think it’s called Fresh Brews?”

Chloe dramatically lifted her watch to her face and tapped her foot on the cracked tile floor.

“Well, if he wanted to dictate where we got our first caffeine hit of the day from, he should have been down here?—”

“I’m here, Chlo, jeez,” Finn said, coming up behind them from the stairwell.

Chloe threw her arms around him as well, but he looked much less eager for morning canoodling.

“Can we please get actual coffee?” Finn pleaded. “Your mom’s Keurig gives me heartburn, and I think I lose a year off my life from every coffee I drink at The Roll.”

“God, you’re so needy. Always making demands, requiring so much to get through the day,” Chloe said, glancing at Brad with a wicked smirk. “Good thing Bradley’s here to take care of your needs now.”

Finn sighed, turned on his heel, and stalked out of the lobby. Chloe skipped after him, and Brad hustled to follow.

“I don’t tend to think of Finn as a needy person,” Brad mused as he caught up with Chloe. Finn was several paces ahead, seemingly ignoring them.

“Oh, no, he’s not. He’s basically a succulent. If you give him too much attention, he’ll start losing leaves, but if you water him once every few months and place him near sunshine, he’ll stay alive forever.”

“And douse me in coffee at least once a day,” Finn called as they turned down a side street.

Chloe pulled out a set of car keys, once again producing them from inside a corduroy jacket that didn’t appear to have any external pockets. At Brad’s skeptical look, Chloe gave him a big, toothy grin. “I know someone amazing at sewing. He sews pockets into the inside of all my coats and sweaters.”

“Is it Finn?” Brad asked as he climbed into the back seat of the sedan.

“Absolutely fucking not,” Finn grumbled, collapsing into the passenger seat, yanking the seatbelt into place, and glaring impatiently at Chloe.

He hadn’t been this grouchy when they’d been having sex. Maybe he was feeling overwhelmed now, too. Brad wasn’t sure if it was his place to inquire about that, especially in front of Chloe.

“His name is Christian, and he’s a wizard,” Chloe said proudly.

She slowly arranged herself in the front seat, adjusting the mirrors—which looked fine to begin with—and steering wheel, much to Finn’s very vocal displeasure.

“You could have grabbed some coffee in the lobby,” Chloe said as she finally pulled away from the curb. “Or, you know, not stayed up all night playing tonsil hockey.”

Finn slapped the On button for the radio, and one of their local music stations came on. Chloe tried to turn the volume down, but Finn turned it right back up, causing Chloe to shout over it to continue poking fun at them.

Brad leaned back into the leather seats, enjoying the staccato cadence of their bickering voices. Even though the drive was less than five minutes, he dozed off, waking up with a start when Finn closed the passenger side door.

Finn was already inside before Brad could get his seatbelt undone. By the time he and Chloe entered the coffee shop, they found Finn standing off to the side of the bar holding a receipt. Brad walked up to his side, stopping a little closer than strictly necessary.

“I ordered three large coffees with room for milk and sugar,” Finn said. “If you want anything else, they have some, admittedly, sad looking cinnamon rolls and pastries, but Chloe’s mom usually has treats for us.”

Chloe wandered over to the display case as they waited, and her grimace was enough to deter Brad from grabbing anything to eat. When they all had caffeine in hand, Brad took a tentative sip and then a much deeper drink when the brew didn’t immediately turn his stomach.

“Wow, this is like an entirely different beverage from what The Roll serves,” Chloe said, placing the lid of her cup back on after dumping what looked like around five tablespoons' worth of sugar into her cup.

Finn had added a fair amount of milk to his, and Brad could have sworn he caught the scent of maple. He chose not to say anything since Finn was clearly still undercaffeinated.

The drive to Chloe’s house was quick and familiar. He’d been to her house a handful of times to collect her on the way out to a hike or attend one of her backyard parties.

Her mom met them at the door with cookies in hand, and this time, Brad was positive he smelled maple.

“Only the best for one of my two favorite men,” Chloe’s mom said, patting Finn’s chubby cheeks, since he’d just stuffed two cookies in his mouth.

When her mom caught sight of Brad, she held an arm out, giving him a rib-crushing side hug. Brad cast Chloe a knowing look, finally understanding where she got her impressive arm strength from.

“It’s wonderful to see you, Brad,” Mrs. Abernathy said. “I’ve heard you’ve been keeping Chloe and Finn company.”

“Yes, ma’am. It’s good to see you, too, and amazing to see Chloe and Finn again.”

They chatted for a few minutes in the entry hall before Chloe announced it was time to get to work.

“Today, we’re going to be packing boxes in the second guest room. Almost everything has been sorted and now needs to be wrapped, taped, and packed,” Chloe said as she led them upstairs.

Finn was distinctly more bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, having finished his coffee and eaten half a dozen cookies. Brad had eaten four. If anyone asked, he would staunchly deny it, but mostly it was because of the way both Finn and Chloe’s mom grinned each time he reached for another.

They got to work with Chloe in one corner, Brad in another, and Finn sitting on the floor of the closet. There were stacks of all different kinds of media, ranging from VHS tapes and cassettes to Blu-rays and flash drives.

“My dad was a bit of a digital hoarder,” Chloe explained. “Thankfully, it didn’t take up a huge amount of space, especially as time went on and he could put all of his extended editions and complete series on flash drives.”

There were also a few boxes of records and an old record player that Brad thought he recognized as having formerly been in the living room.

About an hour into their work, Chloe sighed and banged the back of her head against the wall. “I have no idea where we’re going to put all of Mom’s craft stuff.”

She slapped packing tape on a third box labeled “crafts” and pointed to two more boxes.

Brad hadn’t said anything about it for almost two days now, but he finally lost hold of his tongue. “When you say ‘we,’ do you mean you and Finn? Is he moving in with you to help with your mom?”

Finn was currently bent in half, his head shoved into the back of the closet. He didn’t respond to Brad’s question, so Brad turned to face Chloe. However, she was also looking over at Finn.

“Oh, I sort of thought he’d already told you,” she said.

Brad’s stomach sank, and he leaned against a sturdy stack of boxes.

“Why would I share something that isn’t mine to tell?” Finn called from inside the closet.

Chloe tucked her hair behind her ear and shrugged one shoulder. “It’s not some big secret.”

Finn popped his head out of the closet and scowled at her. “It is literally the reason we’re doing this fake dating scheme!”

“No,” Chloe said, stalking across the room towards him.

Finn stood up to face her. “You said you didn’t want to bother explaining your relationship dynamics, but you also didn’t want to tell everyone you were single, so this was a win-win,” Finn said.

“It is a win-win because you got to go to the reunion, reunite with Brad, and I didn’t have to delve into all the queer details about my life to our hetero-stupid classmates.

” She cocked her hip and planted a hand on it.

“Although I have to say, we have a lot more queer classmates than I would’ve guessed.

I actually might have been able to say I’m in a QPR, and they’d have been totally understanding. ”

“Hi, hey, hello, your best friend over here, still completely in the dark. What’s a QPR?” Brad asked, dodging around a pile of blankets to form the third point in their little sharing triangle.

“Best friend, huh?” Chloe teased.

An embarrassing knot formed in Brad’s throat, causing his words to come out a little squeaky. “You called me ‘bestie’ this morning!”

Chloe dropped the lock of hair and shook her head, a bemused smile on her face. “Because we are besties, hon. Once a bestie, always a bestie. I mean, you and Finn are just besties? Really?”

Finn flapped his hand in the air, refusing to make eye contact with Brad. “Stop meddling in our relationship and explain yours.”

Brad’s stomach was on an interesting roller coaster ride, and it felt a bit like it had crested the peak of a hill and he was now at zero G’s.

Chloe looked like she was going to say more, but Finn shoved a box towards her with his foot. She dutifully took a seat, primly crossed her legs, and folded her hands on top of them, like she was gearing up for story time.

“A QPR is a queer platonic relationship,” she said. “Everyone defines their own QPR differently, but for me and Christian–”

“The guy who sews pockets into her clothes,” Finn interjected.

Chloe nodded. “The guy who sews pockets into my clothes and I define it as living together, committing to spend our lives together, and, as of later this summer, caring for my mother as she starts to get older.”

Brad understood all the words she was saying, but still felt like he was missing something. “How is that different from a standard relationship?”