Page 67 of Lessons in Chemistry

“Plus, most of those terms are irrelevant to us anyway.”

I raise my eyebrows.

“I know, I know. If you were leading this study session, you’d tell me everything so I could understand the context.”

“I would, but that’s not why I’m staring.”

“Oh. Okay. Why are you staring?”

“Us?”

“Yes. You, me, and Casey.”

I can’t do anything but blink.

“Why else would I be looking up poly relationships? Get with the programme, Emory. Anyway, you need to know what vee and polyfidelity mean.”

“Okay—”

“So, think of a vee relationship like a V.” He smirks. “Or like a right angle. You can thank Casey for that one, by the way. Not that I’ve mentioned any of this to him. But he said the three of us were more of a love right angle rather than a love triangle, and he was probably onto something, although I doubt he realised it.”

I put my hand on Auggie’s knee. “You’re rambling.”

He laughs. “Sorry. I’m nervous.”

“Nervous?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?”

I shake my head.

“I’m telling you all this because I’m suggesting we should form a poly relationship. Wow, you are clueless about relationships.”

I rub my hot cheeks. “Apparently so. Vee relationships?”

“Right. Yes. A V-shape. You’ve got one person at the bottom of a V, and they have two romantic partners. But those two people aren’t in a relationship with each other, only the person at the bottom of the V. Or the corner of the right angle.”

“You mean the vertex?”

“I’ll take your word for that. In our case, you would be at the—”

“Vertex,” I fill in when he falters.

“Right. You’d have a romantic relationship with Casey and a romantic and sexual relationship with me. If you wanted to and if he wanted to, obviously.”

I gape at him. “This is a thing?”

“Yes. Absolutely. It works for a lot of people, including people who are on the ace spectrum. I spent about four hours reading a forum where people in poly relationships gave tips on how they make it work. It was fascinating. I can send you links if you want?”

“I’d like that, thank you. You said the other type of polyamory I needed to know about was polyfidelity?”

“Yes. Polyfidelity is where all the partners are committed to each other and aren’t looking for partners outside the group. According to my research, they’re most commonly triads or quads but could be any number of people. It’s probably not relevant to us. Casey and I don’t know each other that way, but I can’t deny I find him attractive. Maybe one day.”

“You, me, and Casey in a triad?”