Page 53 of Grin and Bear It

"Why?”

At my question, a look of pain flashed across Cole’s face as he tried to explain. But he didn’t, not really. This was something I saw all the time in kids’ essays. They’d know something about a topic, but not enough or they couldn’t work out how to frame their thoughts. So, instead of giving me hard facts, or relevant reasoning, they’d waffle around using far too many words to say very little. Things seemed to cool a little between us, and we finished up our coffees, then Cole took me home, making me promise to think about the deal he was proposing.

I knew it was ridiculous not to agree. He wasn’t asking for any money at all, so it couldn’t be some kind of scam. He was highly unlikely to be running an Only Fans shoot in my place while he painted and, to be blunt, as long as I got free access to the videos, I’d still have said yes. Despite me knowing logically that he was on the up and up, something had me turning potential ideas over in my head as I waved goodbye to him then walked inside my house. I’d made it as far as the lounge room, and was standing there, stuck in my head, inspecting all the possible negative reasons he might have for making the offer, when Coll popped her head out from her room. Her expression brightening, she walked down the hall and into the lounge.

“There she is! How was it?” she said.

“Cole wants to paint the whole house and he’ll do it without me having to choose paint colours and he promises it’ll look nice and I don’t have to worry about a thing.”

“OK.” She stopped, put her head on the side and looked me over carefully. “That sounds like your dream scenario. So, the problem with that is…?”

“He won’t tell me why.” I stared into her eyes, questioningly. “That’s weird, right? Like, why would he volunteer to do that?”

“Well, you’re gonna tutor the boys—”

“As you said, I’d do that anyway. So, I came right out and I asked him why.” Her eyes widened. “He tried to answer but he kinda weaselled out of actually telling me why. And there’s this whole dating thing. He wants me to date him and Lin and I think Nash and Tyson and why aren’t you looking surprised?”

“Because it's a thing,” she replied, crossing her arms.

“What kind of thing? Like, sure, you hear about poly families on TikTok, but how many actually are there?”

“Quite a lot, actually, though mostly they tend to keep it low key. Dale’s family are poly.”

“What, really?”

“Really,” she said, with a slow nod. “There’s a whole bunch of families that live fairly close together in one of the leafier suburbs in town. Instead of having Range Rovers and sending their kids to posh private schools, they are all poly families. They came over from the States some years ago—”

“To escape religious persecution or something?” I asked, knowing that men having multiple wives was a thing in branches of some religions and sects.

“Something like that,” she said. “But, listen, I’ve been waiting for you to get back so I can let you know that Dale and his friends are having a BBQ this arvo: it’ll be a relaxed vibe, late lunch type thing. I thought you could come with me and meet some other people living that lifestyle, cos there’ll be a bunch of them there.”

“Is that what you and Dale are into as well?” I looked at her intently. “You don’t have a whole lot of other boyfriends you’ve been keeping secret, that you’re planning to surprise me with today?”

“Nope.” She smiled slowly. “Just because a lot of people in the community love that way, doesn’t mean everyone does, and there’s no judgement either way. Being happy and treating the other person right, that’s what counts.”

“And you’re not gonna use this as an excuse to try and hook me up with some of Dale’s friends again, are you? Because that was bloody embarrassing.”

“No.” She was uncharacteristically serious as she stared at me with an expression I didn’t really understand. “I don’t need to find any guys for you now.”

And what the hell did that mean?

“But come with me and meet some of the guys he hangs out with and their partners. You’ll see how the whole poly thing works in practice.”

“OK…” I said, my mind turning to try to remember what else I had planned to attempt today. “Oh, shit! I can’t. I’ve got to mark the rest of those bloody essays!”

“Go and do that now,” she said. “We’re leaving in a couple of hours and you know you work best with a deadline.”

I did and I didn’t. Sure, the pump of adrenaline stopped me from having meandering thoughts and kept me on task. But, afterwards? I wasn’t sure whether I’d really be ‘on’. I nodded at her because, no matter what else I did today, I needed those essays done.

“El?”

“Hmmm?” I turned my head to see Colleen standing there, dressed a little more snappily now. “Oh. Hey.”

“The BBQ?”

“Right.” I pushed my chair back and got to my feet obediently, and then stopped to look down at the pile of essays. I was almost done. I just needed to finish the last few and then go back and review them all. If I—

“Uh uh. C’mon.” She walked towards me, tossing my favourite cardigan onto the table and grabbing my phone off the charger. “Let’s hit the road.” I flicked my eyes towards her then back to the pile of essays, but stayed where I was. She let out a hiss, then took a breath in. “It’ll be an early night. You can finish your marking afterwards.”

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