Page 86 of True Blue

I nod and Axel does the same. “What do you want to do, Blue?”

Janette stares at the phone in my hand, clinking her nails against each other. She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath and my hand unclenches.

Her eyes pop open, looking at Axel and me in turn. “We decide together.” Her face softens as she smiles at us. “Right?”

Axel beams, hugging her tighter. “Right.”

“Right,” I finish, feeling the rest of the weight above me start to give.

38

Ifold another pair of socks together, rolling the tops so that the pair doesn’t get disconnected in my suitcase. Tossing it in with the rest of my clothes, I turn back to my closet, continuing down my mental packing list.

My phone buzzes on my desk and I glance down to see a text. Rolling my eyes, I drop the shirt in my hands onto my bed and open the notification.

Hottie #2

Hurry up. I miss you.

I laugh, texting Axel back about patience and reminding him of the talk we had about changing things in my phone. A picture of his abs pops up on my screen a second later, calling me. I bark a laugh before answering.

“You’re two floors away, Axe.” I balance the phone between my ear and shoulder, picking up the shirt again. “Why not just come down if you wanted to talk?”

“Blue, you won’t get any packing done if I come down there.” I roll my eyes while he chuckles. “Remember what happened yesterday when we were left alone in your room?”

I smile, thinking about the slow worshipping Axel decided I needed while Bentley took his Spanish final.

Together, we decided to come out publicly online. Bentley and Axel didn’t want to bury the story and wait years to clear the air and I thought the idea would freak me out. But once I weighed the options, I realized I don’t want to hide being with them any longer. So once the decision was made, we pulled together a few of the photos Axel took the day before our presentation and wrote out a quick statement that Molly and Pietro approved. And then the joint post went live.

Given the rumors around our relationship, we want to set some things straight. There have been some photos of us leaked recently, without our consent, that started these rumors. They are all false and taken completely out of context.

The three of us are in a committed non-monogamous relationship with each other. No one is cheating and there is nothing scandalous about those photos. Give us whatever label you’d like; we don’t really have a name for the three of us other than love. We love each other and though we are making this statement publicly, we want to ask that everyone please respect our privacy.

The photos were cuter than the statement. One of them had me snuggled up to Bentley with Axel’s head on my chest as he shot the selfie. Axel kissed my cheek in the next one and Bentley kissed the top of his head in the third, eyes still on the camera as I laughed.

The responses started coming in immediately after we posted it. #loveislove started trending again with mixed results underneath. Bentley showed Axel and I how to curate our notifications, so we stopped getting something every time someone commented or tagged us in posts. We still got somestray texts, Axel’s ex Mason being the first to reach out from our high schools to congratulate us. There were some hate comments that made it through, but Molly and Pietro quickly had statements out from Mom and Bentley’s parents. Layla and Gwen handled things for Uncle Jack, liking and commenting on the post in support for the three of us.

On campus, the three of us got a few stares, but most things stayed relatively the same. Someone did take a picture of the three of us in class together, making up our missed presentation time in class this morning. Axel went to Howard's office hours right after everything got settled and he let us go last with ten points off for missing our first time slot. I'm sure the photo will end up online and we’ll see what the backlash at the Coast is, but at least we’ll be able to do it together.

The dean’s office did send out an email reminding students of the strict rules against selling photos of classmates and about security being increased due to an uptick in paparazzi trying to get in, so Bentley talked to Mira’s brother’s friend Royal about getting us extra security when we aren’t on campus. I wanted to tell Gwen about it to add to her mafia theory, but Bentley warned me against getting mixed up with the Ravens and her. So, now my new silent friend Lev will be accompanying me on my flight to Georgia and staying with Mom and I until I leave to meet up with the boys in Morocco. Heather and Michael’s security will take over after that.

The biggest surprise came from Mom though when she announced that she was stepping down from her position at the end of her term to focus on family and cooperate with the police in their new investigation into SMC Fund Management. With advice from her lawyer, she came forward with evidence she had on Paul and Christopher for embezzlement and insurance fraud thanks to her close relationship with him as her former backer.

I freaked out and called her when I read the article, but she insisted she wanted to do this, said Christopher doesn’t get to fuck over her daughter and get away with it. Her tone reminded me of the mama bear Aunt Tati used to have to hold back whenever someone was mean to Layla or me on the playground. And even though she'll have to change careers, she’s a little bit excited to have more time to deal with everything and be present more. Even mentioned that she and Uncle Jack are talking regularly again, and he’s mentioned wanting her to meet the woman he’s seeing.

The last two days were nothing like I imagined. The world didn’t implode, Mom didn’t freak out, though her career did end, and even though we got some hate, we ignored the small amount, focusing on the overwhelming positivity not just online but especially from our friends and family.

“Still thinking about how gorgeous my ass is, Blue?” Axel whispers through the phone.

I roll my eyes, dropping the now folded shirt into my bag as I smile. “Eh, it’s probably not as hot with my teeth imprints in it right now.”

“I would argue, it’s even hotter this way.”

Walking back to my closet, I take out the last thing on my list and shift the phone to my other ear. “Did you call purely to flirt with me?”

“So, what if I did? I can’t randomly call my girlfriend to flirt with her?”

Zipping up the suitcase after I shove my hair ties in the inner pouch, I wait for him to get to the point.

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