Page 52 of Brad & Finn
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.”
Chloe gripped him tightly, but shook his hand off her neck so she could press their foreheads together. “I cherish every memory I have of us. I know there were some bad memories from high school, just like there were in college and since then, but I don’t ever want to forget how we got here. Because I am so happy with Christian and with you and our lives. I know things are going to keep changing, just like things changed when Kendall moved away, but I’m so excited for you!”
Something twisted in Finn’s stomach. Chloe did this a lot, adding caveats to their friendship, differentiating between what she expected from Christian and what she expected from Finn. As far as Finn was concerned, his love for her was unconditional, unmatched, and would last the rest of his life. Kendall had always been a bit more sparing in her love, but Finn always tried to give all the platonic love he had to his friends. He opened his mouth to say something, anything, but that rock was back in place.
Chloe squeezed his shoulders and kept talking in the absence of Finn’s words. “I hope you know I genuinely mean that. I’ve gotten to watch you grow up and blossom into this amazing person, and it’s like being here with Brad has let you finally show all your colors. You’re so vibrant, it’s almost hard to look at, and—” She pulled away, and her smile changed but didn’t dim. “And speak of the devil. What you got there, Bradley?” she asked louder as Brad jogged up to them.
Finn had to take a moment, so he turned his back on them and idly began flipping through the yearbook again. He wasn’t anywhere near as certain as Chloe that “things were going to keep changing.” There was a very real possibility that nothing would change when they went back to Indianapolis. He’d return to his warm, safe apartment with his dog and his quiet job. He’d spend weeknights with Chloe and Christian, and maybe one weekend sometime soon, they would visit Brad in Chicago…or maybe not.
His fingers skimmed over the pages until he found his photo. He heard Brad’s heavy footsteps a moment before his familiar hand landed on Finn’s shoulder. Brad stepped up behind him and grabbed the corner of the yearbook with his other hand so Finn was almost, but not quite, cradled in his arms.
“You never liked that photo, even back then,” Brad said.
Finn glanced around and saw that Chloe was walking towards Naomi and Mariana a dozen or so yards away, her two yearbooks in hand. Brad’s were still on the table, and next to them was Chloe’s polaroid camera and a roll of tape. There was no one anywhere near them, which Finn now realized Chloe must have done on purpose.
“Yeah,” Finn said slowly, working his jaw back and forth to try and limber up his tongue. “I hated pretty much everything about it. I told my dad I had yearbook photos coming up, and he bought me this hideous dress, even though I never wore dresses and openly talked about how much I hated them to anyone who would listen.”
Brad snorted and slid his hand up along the edge of the yearbook until he could thread his fingers together with Finn’s where he was holding the other corner. “You know, I do seem to recall hearing that once or twice.”
Finn could remember at least seven times he’d subjected Brad to his thesis on how annoying it was to have to be awareof how he sat, walked, bent over, and existed when wearing a dress. That wasn’t even to mention how he felt wearing pinchy ballerina flats, which seemed designed specifically to destroy the arches in his feet, or high heels, which only made it harder to walk, harder to drive, and harder to chase after Chloe when she set off on one of her hairbrained adventures.
“So, I had an idea,” Brad said, his breath on Finn’s cheek almost as good as a kiss—but not quite.
“I heard.”
“Oh…did Chloe tell you?” Brad asked, a definite note of hurt in his voice.
Finn turned out of his grasp, clutching the yearbook to his chest and looking up into Brad’s concerned face.
“No, I meant Chloe said you ran off to chase down an idea, and that was why she was carrying five yearbooks.”
