Page 47 of Brad & Finn
“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 jumpedat 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 tocome 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 toeatthose 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.”
Brad cherished the memories from that camping trip. It had finally become clear, to them and everyone else, that he and Kendall were over for good after that last breakup. Newly single, he felt no need to go to prom, and several of their friends had agreed and planned an impromptu camping trip. He’d ended up sharing a tent with Chloe, Cory, and Finn, and they’d stayed up late into the night, whispering ghost stories and passing a half-full bag of marshmallows back and forth between them.
He was pretty sure he’d never thought of Finn romantically back in high school. He hadn’t been able to identify it then, but as an adult looking back, it was pretty clear Finn had a wall up between himself and any romantic connections. That night in the tent, though, they’d slept back-to-back, cozy under a shared blanket. He’d had this one distinct thought before falling asleep: he loved Finn with his entire heart, just as Chloe had said. He knew they’d both probably be going their separate ways after graduation, as most of their class was, but for the remaining weeks of high school, he promised himself he’d take advantage of every moment he had with his friends.
He never regretted missing prom, not even for a second, but the knowledge that Finn might regret it bubbled in his chest like acid reflux.
“I’m not sure what I’d do for a prom…posal?” Brad said, even as ideas began pouring into his head.
“If you’re not sure how to put on a dramatic showing, I can help with that,” she said, but the twinkle in her eye hardened into steel as she stared directly into his eyes. “But if you’re not sure about Finn, that’s another thing entirely. He deserves someone who’s as sure as you can be about taking a chance on another person.”
Brad opened his mouth, no idea what was going to come out, when he heard a board creak in the hallway. He stood up, and when Finn walked in, Brad couldn’t help but notice howexhausted he looked—and not just from a night of no sleep. He looked like he’d been carrying around too much for too long.
Without stopping to think, he walked over and slid his arms around Finn in a tight embrace. Finn immediately tensed, curling forward and shrinking in Brad’s grasp. He could practically feel the tension and agitation Finn had been carrying all morning roiling under his skin.
“Did you get your cookies, sweetheart?” he asked.
A tense moment passed where Brad wasn’t sure if Finn was going to push him away, but when he lifted his arms, he threw them around Brad’s back. “Yeah. And another coffee.”
“How are you feeling?”
Finn tilted his head, looking around Brad’s arm at Chloe. Whatever he saw made him chuckle softly. “Better. Sorry, I was in a bit of a mood.” He shifted, his spine straightening as he pulled back, gazing up at Brad with some of that steel he’d seen in Chloe’s eyes moments before. “I have ADHD, which causes some trouble with executive function, and it can get worse when I'm low on sleep or stressed out. It makes it hard to concentrate and can make me kind of…”
