Page 29 of Brad & Finn (Gomillion High Reunion #3)

“Well, as the word ‘platonic’ might imply, we’re not what allo folks would call ‘in love,’ and we don’t have sex because we’re both aroace.

We do many of the things people typically think of when they think of relationships, though.

We co-own our house, have shared bank accounts, and make pretty much any and every life decision together. ”

Brad’s head was spinning, and he sort of wished Finn had kicked him the box to sit down on instead. “I…wow. That’s…I mean, congrats? It seems like you’re really happy, based on that dopey look on your face.”

Chloe took off her slipper and threw it at him, which he dodged easily. He had so many questions, but he wasn’t sure what he should ask first—or if he should ask anything.

“Now who’s making the dopey face?” Chloe said, gesturing at Finn to retrieve the slipper for her.

Finn did so with a huff, brushing gently against Brad’s side as he passed by. “Feel free to ask her the most invasive questions you can think of. God knows the second you leave she’ll ask me about last night.”

Chloe grinned. “I can ask both of you at the same time if you prefer?—”

“When did you know?” Brad burst out, surprised to find himself asking the same question twice in one weekend.

Chloe fell silent as Finn brought the slipper over to her.

“About being aroace? I knew sophomore year after kissing this one out there,” she said, jerking her thumb at Finn and then behind herself at her mom’s backyard.

“We both realized we weren’t lesbians that night, and—well, you know that for Finn, that’s because he’s actually a gay man, and for me it’s because I’m aroace. ”

“But…didn’t you date Cory for several years after that?”

Chloe sighed dramatically, throwing her arms out to the side and collapsing backwards onto the box. She let her head hang over the edge, so she was speaking to the wall behind her. “Yes, which is one of the main reasons why I didn’t want to get into this with anyone from school.”

Brad’s stomach raced towards the bottom of that rollercoaster, and he rubbed his hand up and down his forearm. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.”

Chloe threw her slipper at him again, completely missing him and clocking Finn in the side.

“Okay, that’s quite enough of that,” Finn declared. “Me and your slipper are going downstairs to get more cookies.” He marched out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Chloe sat up and glared at Brad. “I wasn’t talking about you , obviously.

I meant everyone else who was going to wonder if I dated Cory as some kind of experiment, or if I denied him sex, or if maybe I ‘haven’t had the right dick yet,’ and if only I’d ‘give another dick a try,’ things would be different because, yes, I have had every one of those things said to me before. ”

Brad switched from rubbing his forearm to pressing his fingers into his bicep.

He had tension in all sorts of places after two sleepless nights, and he dug his finger into a particularly painful spot.

“I’m really sorry, Chloe. That’s shitty and completely unacceptable.

You don’t deserve to have people question you like that. ”

Chloe shrugged, but her shoulders only moved an inch or so and then fell into a tense line.

“Yeah, well… I guess the extra complicated part is they wouldn’t be completely off—at least about the experiment part.

The thing that I wouldn’t tell any of them, and—” She pointed at him and then raised her thumb into a finger gun shape.

“—what I’m only telling you on threat of death, is that it was an experiment, but both of us were in on it. ”

Brad couldn’t hide his confusion even if he tried.

“Cory, much like Finn right before we kissed, was questioning his sexuality, and we both wanted to figure out if we were queer, ace, or some other rainbow-y flavor. So, we made out a few times, and he got to second base before we both realized that we were definitely something—and that something was for sure not straight. I talked to Cory a few years ago, and turns out he’s gay and graysexual, but at the time, he thought he might be aroace as well.

We ended up forming a pact to be besties who cuddled a lot—because cuddling is amazing –and to serve as each other’s beards so long as we were in this tiny, mostly close-minded town. ”

Brad slowly sank to the floor as his entire high school history rewrote itself in his head. He’d spent a lot of time being jealous of Chloe and Cory. They seemed to have their lives all figured out, both independently and together, while he and Kendall were a walking disaster.

“You know,” Chloe said, drawing his attention back up to her face, “it was mostly because of what happened to you and Kendall. We watched both our teams pushing you together, even when it was clear you weren’t right for each other, and we decided we wanted nothing to do with that.

He’s such a sweet guy, and I had a blast hanging out with him all the time—and, again, the cuddling was top tier.

Like, ten out of ten would absolutely recommend.

Don’t get me wrong, I love Christian and Finn with my whole heart, but those two bony boys have nothing on Cory. ”

She appraised him up and down, and he laughed despite how topsy-turvy his stomach still felt. “I would happily cuddle with you anytime, Chlo.”

Chloe raised her eyebrow at the nickname but chose a different line of questioning. “You think you’ll be around more often? You’re more than welcome to come to our place in Indianapolis—and I’m assuming you’re going to have a standing invitation to Finn’s house.”

Brad wasn’t sure that was true, but he also decided to take a different line of questioning. “Would Christian be alright with that? Oh, and where is he?”

Chloe sagged a little, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

“Unfortunately, he’s in Europe for a work trip.

If he’d been here, I would have brought him with me and just called him my partner, but we’ve known for months he wasn’t going to be able to make it.

When Finn offered to come down with me, I jumped at the opportunity.

He always asks how our old friends are doing from time to time, but I don’t check social media all that often.

This whole fake dating thing seemed easiest—and, I guess, a bit poetic, since I graduated in a fake relationship as well. ”

Brad shook his head in wonder.

“Oh, and yes, Christian would definitely be okay with you coming over for some platonic cuddles,” Chloe said. “Finn does it almost every day, and a lot of times the two of them cuddle as well.”

Something itched at the back of Brad’s brain. He had initially been wondering if Finn was moving in with Chloe to help care for her mom, but now it felt like there was something else to worry about. Would he be stealing Finn away from his other possible partners? Could you steal someone from a QPR?

“Does…that mean you’re in a QPR with Finn, too?”

Chloe tipped her hand back and forth in a kind-of-sort-of gesture.

“Not exactly? I mean, I think some people would consider it that, and I guess our current arrangement does look a bit like a QPR, but…no. Finn and I have been each other’s ride-or-die since the day we met.

He’s my family, and I will love him forever… ”

Chloe trailed off as she stared down at the floor, something sad playing across her face. Before Brad could ask or apologize again for his probing, whatever it was, she looked up at him.

“Until I met Christian, I didn’t know what a QPR was, and I thought there were friends and then there were boyfriends, girlfriends, and partners.

And they were different things, and one was supposed to be more important—or more intense or just…

more —and that was the way it was. Christian showed me there’s a world of possibility in friendship and platonic love.

The life I’ve built with Christian—and with Finn—is all I’ve ever wanted.

But, ultimately, I know that Finn is looking to build his own life.

I think he wants the whole shebang, someone to come home to at night, someone who’ll coparent his dog with him, go on weekend trips to Vermont to get maple candies…

and then go back home to eat those maple candies,” she said, her voice dripping in innuendo.

“As well as all that other wonderful, gay, alloromantic and allosexual stuff he deserves. He wants someone to choose him and to love him the way his mom never got the chance to and his dad never could.”

Brad’s stomach was cresting that damn ride again, making his head feel almost disconnected from his body.

“I think…I might want all that, too. I feel like I’ve been aimlessly searching for years, and while it might be a little too early to say for sure, I think maybe Finn could be what I’ve been looking for. ”

He cringed, expecting Chloe to wave away his dramatics and to remind him that relationships took logistics and work. Instead, her hand flew to her mouth, and her eyes sparkled with twenty years of pent-up excitement and that ever-present hint of mischief.

Chloe had been the one to drag both Finn and Brad into that spin-the-bottle game. She’d sat with Finn on one side and Kendall on the other, claiming that if Brad got any one of them, they could exchange friendly cheek kisses. Of course, that’s not what happened when the bottle landed on Finn.

Brad shook his head, dislodging the memory. “Chloe, you can’t?—”

“No, of course not. I’m not going to say a thing. But…are you?”

“Going to…say something?”

“Yeah, are you going to do some kind of big prom-posal for Finn or declare your intentions with him in the middle of the dance floor?

You know he never got to go to prom. We all ditched ‘cause you and Kendall were finally broken up for good, and while I loved that camping trip, I think a part of Finn always wanted the whole prom experience.”