Page 15 of Brad & Finn
“Thank you, Ms. Willson. It’s been tough without Dad, but we’re excited to get Mom up north with us. We were actually on our way to her house, but we walked by The Roll and couldn’t pass up a batch of cinnamon rolls to take with us,” Chloe said, and his mom turned to Finn, the other member of the “us” and “we” Chloe kept throwing around.
“And who might you be, dear?” his mom asked, completely unaware of the chasm that question opened up in Brad’s chest.
At the bar last night, he’d promised Finn he’d help them uphold their fake dating scheme, but that had been before their late-night talk—and before Brad’s tumultuous night.
“Mom, this is, uhm…” Brad started to say, but his eyes met Chloe’s, and he lost whatever he was going to say.
She’d always had pretty eyes. They were nothing compared to Finn’s, but they were a soft brown, with hints of gold that used to be set off by the yellow Gomillion cheer uniforms. He remembered Kendall having rather flat blue eyes that always reminded Brad of a cloudless sky: full of potential, yet also somehow empty whenever she looked at him.
As an adult, it was easy to see that he and Kendall had never been right for each other. They’d started as best friends and had let their teammates push them into dating over and over again. Their friendship slowly degraded until they broke up one final time before graduation and fell out of contact until their early thirties. He’d sent her a few Facebook messages over the years, congratulating her on getting married and having her first two children. She’d commented on every LinkedIn job update he made and DMed him happy birthday every year. Truthfully, he felt closer to her now than he had back then.
Chloe’s pretty brown eyes narrowed at him, and she stepped forward, sinking her bright purple talons into the sleeve of his Henley. “This is Finn, my boyfriend. He was asking me about some flowers we saw on the walk over, and I know you usedto keep that gorgeous garden out back of the house. Would you mind entertaining a few of his questions, and Brad and I will get us all some coffee while you wait for a table?” She turned and glared up at Brad. “Assuming you still drink coffee? You used to drink a whole gallon in first-period history.”
Brad looked to his mother and then to Finn, hoping one of them would object to what he was beginning to suspect might be a kidnapping. Unfortunately, Finn had already turned to his mother and was listening to her say something about petunias or begonias or some other flowering plant.
“Uhm, I was planning on getting coffee with breakfast,” Brad began.
“That’s alright. Extra caffeine might do us all some good,” Chloe said as she dragged him towards the counter.
Brad was rather concerned for the safety of his shirt, so he stumbled after her, roughly knocking his hip against the counter when she wheeled to a stop in front of the cash register.
“Four coffees, please,” she said, whipping out a credit card from seemingly thin air and slapping it down on the counter.
Ethan, the owner's son, who’d graduated a year after them at Gomillion High, grinned widely and said something or other about the reunion and how excited he was to see folks over the next few days. Chloe nodded along; meanwhile, her nails continued to carve grooves into Brad’s forearm.
They stepped off to the side of the coffee bar, where a divider blocked them from Ethan’s view, and the only thing around them was a supply closet and a brick wall. Chloe stepped into his space, forcing him to back up against the wall.
“What exactly are you planning on telling your mother about Finn?” Chloe whisper-shouted, her voice somehow having a growling quality even at such a low volume.
Brad blinked a few times, his sleep-addled brain stumbling to keep up. Was she talking about how he hadn’t been able toget Finn out of his mind for the past twelve hours and counting? Why would he tell his mom that?
“I wasn’t planning on telling her anything ‘cause, I mean, nothing happened. We had a drink and went back to his room—to talk! We just talked, that’s all!”
Her eyebrows furrowed, and she opened her mouth to speak, but for some reason, Brad couldn’t seem to stop talking.
“I mean, even if something had happened, I wouldn’t tell my mom about it. She’s way too eager for grandbabies,” Brad babbled. “Seriously, the last time I had even a semblance of a boyfriend, she started sending me adoption paperwork for Illinois. I wouldn’t want to get her hopes up about me dating Finn or anything.”
Brad was finally able to shut his mouth, but it was clear the damage had been done. Chloe’s mouth was hanging open, and her fingers were slack on his arm. He didn’t mind that he’d, in essence, just come out to her. They were friends on social media, and while he didn’t have his sexuality in his bio, he liked a lot of pride posts, shared the queer crisis hotline whenever it made the rounds, and donated to publicly visible fundraisers.
No, that was all fine with him. What he felt conflicted about was saying “Finn” and “dating” in the same sentence.
“I’m sorry… You wouldn’t want to get your mom’s hopes up about datingmyboyfriend?” she said slowly.
Brad’s heart launched itself into his mouth. “I…but Finn said—you’re not–”
“No, we’re not, but that’s the story we’re going with,” Chloe said even slower, as if she was teaching a preschooler how to tie their shoes. “So, of course, it wouldn’t make sense for you to tell your mom anything about Finn,especiallynot how you knew him back in school.”
Brad’s heart slammed back into his chest as he finally caught on to what she was saying. “No, yeah, of course not, that’s what Imeant! I’m not going to tell her anything because there’s nothing to tell. Finn and I had a drink together, we talked, and he cleared up a bunch of things for me.” At Chloe’s flat stare, Brad hurried to say, “The most important of which is that you two are doing the fake dating thing so that you can go to the reunion, have a good time, and he doesn’t have to come out, and I would never out him! That’s why I’m not planning on saying a single thing to my mom about it.”
“Or anyone else,” Chloe said, her fingers tightening against Brad’s arm again.
“Or anyone else!” he said.
She finally released her grip.
As blood rushed back into his arm, his shoulders sagged. “I…wouldn’t do that, Chloe. I’m sorry if I’ve ever done or said something that made you and Finn think I would. I, truly, just miss you both, and I’m excited to get to spend the weekend with you…if that’s something you both want, too.”
Chloe studied him, her arms folding across her chest like the mean girl she never really was in high school. None of the three cheerleading captains had been anything but sweet to the general student population and kind and loyal to Brad as friends. Standing here with Chloe, after his night with Finn, Brad came to the sinking realization that he’d never filled the hole they’d left in his life after graduation.
