Page 33 of Brad & Finn (Gomillion High Reunion #3)

In the end, they probably could have brought their parents, the townsfolk, and their entire places of employment into the photo without anyone noticing.

It was a chaotic mess. Finn couldn’t think of a single group photo he’d been a part of that wasn’t, but one would think that by their late thirties, they’d be able to organize themselves by height in some semblance of order.

Speaking of tall people not doing what they were supposed to do, Brad stuck to Finn and Chloe’s side like an overgrown puppy.

When the organizers came around to their section, he dropped into a rather impressive sorority squat and assured them he was fine where he was.

Chloe almost peed herself laughing, which she announced quite openly to everyone within earshot.

Finn was beyond stimulated and ready to go back to the hotel room for a nap when the photographer got up on a chair and waved for everyone’s attention.

Upwards of fifty photos must have been taken, and when the photographer invited them to do a silly photo, Finn nearly made a break for it, but Chloe wrapped an arm around his waist, and Brad wrapped one around his shoulder.

The camera started flashing, and Finn was unable to think of anything funny to do. Usually, he would throw a peace sign or do something with his hands, but both of his hands were occupied holding onto the two most important people in his world.

“You’re not being very silly,” Chloe said out of the corner of her mouth.

“I don’t want to take a silly photo!” Finn shot back, not bothering to speak through his still-smiling teeth.

“Let me help you, then,” Chloe said, tickling his side.

He yelped, much the way his dog did when someone stepped on his tail, and tried to pull away, but he was trapped against Brad’s firm body.

“I don’t know why you’re whining,” Chloe said. “Not only did you consent to this photo, but you also asked us to take a small group photo after this.”

Finn buried his face in the side of Brad’s chest. “I did not,” he mumbled.

“Did, too,” Brad said.

His warm laugh was less welcome than usual when it made Finn’s head bob uncomfortably against his chest. Finn begrudgingly stood upright again just in time for the photographer to say he was taking five more photos.

“You got me excited about this group photo, Finn! What did Chloe say? The five most attractive folks at the party? Can’t wait to get it framed,” Mariana said from behind them.

Something ruffled the back of his hair. He tipped his head back to try and see what it was and was barely able to spot the tips of Mariana’s fingers giving him bunny ears.

“You get one normal photo and one silly photo on one camera, and that’s it,” Finn grumbled. “We can all text it to each other or something.”

“Oh, you mean not like the football moms who demanded we stand there in our sweaty uniforms and pose for every single camera?” Brad asked.

“Ha!” Mariana burst out, her breath tickling Finn’s hair. “It was like that at our wedding, too. We hired a professional cameraman and everything, but every single tia and auntie had to have a photo on their phone so they could be the first one to post it in their group chats.”

Brad laughed, and Naomi sucked her teeth. “Just you wait, Brad. If you ever get married, your mom will do the same. She was one of those football moms for sure, wasn’t she?”

She patted Brad’s arm, which was still resting around Finn’s shoulders. Her fingers brushed against Finn’s back and then she stepped forward next to Mariana so they were all pressed together.

“Yeah,” Brad murmured, so softly it had to be only for Finn. He shifted his weight so his entire flank rested along Finn’s side. “I’m sure as long as I’m marrying the right person, it’ll be worth it.”

Even with all four of his friends keeping him grounded, Finn felt like he was at high risk of floating away.

When the very public torture session was finally over, Finn tried in earnest to make his escape. This time, it was Mariana who caught him around the shoulders and walked him a little ways away with the rest of Finn’s traitorous friends.

Naomi was able to borrow a tripod from the organizers, and Mariana had a smartwatch, which let her control her phone camera from far away. This was incredibly lucky for them because Finn had planned to be the one to volunteer to press the timer button and then run in the opposite direction.

Chloe quickly tired of his whining, which at this point he was doing mostly on principle.

She began bodily moving him, placing him exactly where she wanted him in each photo.

That was fine by Finn, especially because she was pretty particular about always having him pressed up against, leaning on, or bent over, hugging Brad.

At one point—when she wanted some sort of sitting on the grass photo—he ended up practically in Brad’s lap.

Brad also seemed quite pleased with the arrangements, if his ear-splitting grin was anything to go by.

Mariana and Naomi didn’t seem fazed in the least. Halfway through the photo shoot, Mariana jumped on Chloe’s back, and the poses became more and more extreme from there.

When Chloe quietly asked Finn if he remembered any of his cheerleading lifts, he finally succeeded in running for the school building, and thankfully no one stopped him.

He took a quick trip to the bathroom and was only slightly overwhelmed by the fact he now got to use the men’s bathroom. He wandered down a few back halls, trying to remember where his locker used to be, but he’d spent most of his time at Chloe’s locker on the opposite end of the school.

When he ran out of ways to kill time, he grumpily emerged back outside to find a new chaos had descended.

Alumni were wandering about with yearbooks, Sharpies, glitter pens, and stickers.

Finn vaguely remembered seeing something about yearbook distribution on the schedule.

He hadn’t really cared that they never got yearbooks.

By the time they would have been issued, he was well on his way to being tired of looking at his own face.

As rumor had it, sometime in the past year, a teacher had found the original 2005 files, and the Reunion Committee had printed copies for their class.

As Finn searched for his friends, he passed by someone drawing that “S” shape they’d grown up doodling, and another person writing HAGS in bright red ink.

When he finally found Chloe, she was standing in front of one of the pickup desks, trying to juggle five yearbooks and a handful of over a dozen colors of Sharpies.

He rushed forward and grabbed three of the yearbooks from her before they could crash to the dirt.

“Who are these for?” he asked as he hefted them into his arms. They were pretty sizable, given how small their graduating class was.

Chloe crammed half the Sharpies into one of her sweater pockets, and the others she distributed between her back pockets.

“Two are for Brad and his mom, but he shouted, ‘I have an idea,’ and ran off, so I guess I’m responsible for them now.

Two are for me and my mom, and the other is for Kendall,” she said, glancing up at the reunion committee members and back down at her books.

“For Kendall…?” Finn asked as they moved out of the way of the next person in line.

Kendall was one of the least sentimental people he knew.

While his and Chloe’s bedrooms had been full of Polaroids, photo booth print-outs, and disposable camera photos, Kendall kept her walls lined with posters and movie ticket stubs.

He’d only seen Brad’s room once, when they’d run upstairs to grab a book Finn needed for class, and even he had more photos on his walls than Kendall.

Although, come to think of it, from the way Brad had insisted on Finn joining the reunion photo and suggested pose after pose for their smaller group photo, Finn suspected Brad was, in fact, a big ol’ sentimentalist.

Chloe didn’t say anything as she led them over to a picnic table, quite far from the other alumni milling about.

She plopped her two books down, then grabbed the other three from Finn and began scrawling names in the corner of the inside covers, starting with herself and going from there.

When she got to the fifth book, she wordlessly handed it to Finn.

“Do you…want me to get this signed for Kendall?” he asked, slowly flipping through the pages, his eyes catching on a few familiar faces and names before he closed it again.

Chloe gave him one of those “it’s a good thing you’re pretty” looks she gave him from time to time. Typically, she would say it out loud, while stroking her hand down his face, but she seemed to be restraining herself today.

“No, silly, Kendall hates that sentimental shit. I got it for you. I just didn’t want to say that in front of everyone.”

Finn nearly dropped the book he’d been so determined to protect only minutes before. “I…I don’t think I want to get it signed–”

“Then don’t get it signed. Or get it signed by me, Brad, and maybe Atlas. Or you can ask people like Naomi to sign her name and not make it out to anyone. The choice is yours, hon, but I thought you at least deserved the chance to decide.”

Finn’s mouth felt heavy, something he wasn’t used to happening around Chloe. He pulled her into a rough hug, accidentally whacking her in the spine with the book.

“You know, if beating me up is how you show gratitude…” she tried to joke, but Finn pressed his hand into the back of her neck and rested his head against the side of hers.

“Thank you,” he whispered, and she wound her arms around his back.

He forced himself to keep going, even though it sort of felt like he was gargling rocks.

“Thank you for staying by my side all these years and for forcing me to come and supporting me while I explore this thing with Brad. And…thank you for making me take photos to remember the reunion and for letting me choose how to remember my time in high school.”