Chapter 10 #3
Charlie put his large hand on the back of Aspen’s neck, and a hundred memories of Noah doing the same thing to Aspen played through their mind like an old-timey photo reel.
Had he picked this up from Charlie? Or the other way around?
Now that Aspen thought about it, they were pretty sure Noah hadn’t done this when they were in college, or in the few years after.
“Noah gave me pretty much the exact same speech in the storage room,” Charlie said.
Aspen tried to jerk away in surprise, but Charlie held them firm.
“He wanted to make sure I knew that I was free to pursue whatever I want with you, and he wouldn’t get in the way.
Which is almost laughable given that you and I were flirting with each other by talking about my interest in him. ”
Aspen let out a huff of breath through their nose, and it condensed in front of them into a small cloud. “Yeah, that sounds like our Noah.”
Charlie’s grip tightened, pressing into the tendons at the back of Aspen’s neck that held a lot of their stress. He rubbed gently, making Aspen’s shoulders collapse lower than they’d been in weeks.
“Oh, god. That feels good.”
Charlie stepped closer, fully shielding Aspen from the cold air while also blocking them from view. He bent down until they were almost at eye level, and Aspen realized that in addition to his eyes being a gorgeous brown, there was a pretty band of green around his pupils.
“I’m going to keep this Gor–very simple for you.”
“I’ve heard about Gordy Simple, don’t worry,” Aspen said, tipping their chin up so the back of their head was resting fully in Charlie’s palm.
Charlie’s dimple returned. “Okay. Gordy Simple: I think you’re very sweet, and your love for Noah brings me a lot of joy.
Up until today, that meant I wanted to be your friend, but…
” he lowered his voice, and it somehow got even deeper.
“I saw you getting out of his car and knew immediately I wanted more from you. Then, seeing you two kiss?”
Aspen’s breath caught. Was this where he was going to admit that he couldn’t do anything with either of them? Was he opposed to polyamory and wanted to claim one of them for himself? Caveman style?
They were immediately ashamed of their thoughts, but that didn’t stop their little butterfly from swan diving towards their stomach.
Charlie brought his mouth right next to Aspen’s ear.
“Seeing you both kiss made me realize two things. The first is that the two of you belong together. The way you feed off of each other and build each other up is beautiful to watch. I don’t believe I would be getting in the way of that, but I know for damn sure you two aren’t at risk of getting in each other’s way with me. ”
Aspen’s butterfly battered against the walls of their stomach, and they thanked their lucky stars they’d forgotten to eat breakfast that morning. “What’s…the second thing?”
Charlie chuckled, his breath skimming across the shaved side of Aspen’s head. “The second is that I would be the luckiest man on earth if I had the chance to see if maybe I could belong with you both as well. In whatever way you’ll have me.”
Aspen’s knees threatened to buckle, but Charlie stepped forward and allowed Aspen to collapse against his chest. “Sweet gay Jesus…what am I going to do with not one, but two men with sexy voices and sexy words?”
Charlie laughed, and it shook through Aspen like an earthquake. “Stay after the fundraiser and have dinner with me?”
Aspen batted their eyelashes in a way they hoped was flirty. “Just dinner?”
“At least dinner.”
An effervescent laugh that reminded Aspen of butterfly scales bubbled out of them. “Gordy Simple.”
“That’s the best way to be.”
The small dog, which Charlie was still holding the leash for, nudged Aspen’s calf, and when they didn’t immediately give it attention, it began humping their leg.
“Oh god.”
“Now, Princess, that’s not very nice,” Charlie scolded. For a second, Aspen thought maybe he’d misspoken Aspen’s new nickname, but then he palmed the small dog and lifted it in front of Aspen. “We only hump with consent here, Princess. Say you’re sorry.”
The dog’s beady brown eyes stared in two opposite directions, and Aspen wasn’t sure which one to look at. Charlie patiently petted Princess’s head until she gave a soft bark, and then he placed her back down on the ground.
“Uhm…I accept your apology?” they said, looking down at the poor creature. Her fur was patchy, but someone had put a sweater and little boots on her. If that didn’t get her adopted, nothing would.
“I watched you with the relay dogs. You’re very good with them. Why don’t you like walking them?” Charlie asked, straight and to the point in a way Aspen had come to like about him. He texted the same way, a little blunt but always clear in his intent. It was a reputable trait to have in a partner.
“I had a bad experience walking one with my ex.”
Charlie scrunched up his nose. “Are you sure that wasn’t your ex's fault?”
Aspen barked out a surprise laugh, which startled Princes so bad she peed.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry,” Aspen said, looking around frantically for paper towels to wipe down the sidewalk with.
“It’s fine, pumpkin,” Charlie said with a laugh.
He nudged Princess gently with his foot onto the grass, and she squatted down and peed some more.
“She’s really not the sharpest tool in the shed.
She prefers to pee on the grass, which is good, but she can’t always find it, even when it's right in front of her face, so accidents happen. I’ll hose down the whole sidewalk later. ”
Princess finished her business and then immediately laid down on top of the spot.
“I will also be washing all of their outfits.”
Aspen laughed and found themself leaning into Charlie’s side. He immediately wrapped his arm around them, and they had to stifle a groan of satisfaction.
Perhaps misinterpreting the noise, Charlie cleared his throat. “If you feel up to talking about it, what happened with your ex?”
Ugh, Aspen really didn’t want to talk about that, but they supposed if they were going to start something with Charlie, they should probably get it out now.
“I came out as nonbinary, and our marriage sort of fell apart. I think it was already on its way down, but–”
“Uh, sorry,” Charlie said, his voice a little breathless as he squeezed Aspen’s shoulders tightly. “I meant, what happened with walking dogs with your ex?”
“Oh!” Aspen exclaimed, and Princess flopped over onto her back.
Charlie sighed at the dog, who clearly took after her name. “Please ignore her.”
“Okay,” Aspen said, leaning so that they could feel every inch of Charlie’s side.
He definitely had some muscle to him, as well as a soft layer of fat on top that Aspen wanted to curl up against. “It’s honestly pretty stupid, but we took this dog for a walk, and the volunteers didn’t tell us he had really bad diarrhea.
We took him pretty far out into the woods, and the dog had pooped all over this pile of leaves—and just to give you context, I was dressed really cute, cause I’m always dressed cute—”
“Oh no,” Charlie rumbled.
“Oh yes. After he finished doing his business, the dog kicked the leaves, which I guess is a thing they do?” Charlie nodded, his side shaking against Aspen’s side in what they suspected was poorly contained laughter.
“Well, he kicked them all over me and my outfit, and one of them…landed in my mouth.”
Charlie’s booming laughter seemed to carry all throughout the yard. Several humans and a bunch of dogs turned their heads to look at him. Princess, naturally, didn’t even bat an eye.
“Oh, pumpkin, I’m so sorry that happened to you,” he said, laughter still ringing in his voice.
“It was traumatizing!”
“I bet.”
“Seriously, I had to throw away everything I was wearing. We couldn’t get the smell out.”
Charlie ran his hand down Aspen’s side until it came to rest right above their hip. They were wearing their winter coat, so he wasn’t touching their skin directly, but their hip was bare under the jacket, and they swore they could feel his warmth.
“I won’t make you walk any dogs, I promise. Everything you’ve already done for me is more than I could ever repay.”
“You don’t have to repay anything. I’m happy to help, and very happy to finally get to meet you and spend some time with you.”
“Me too, pumpkin,” Charlie said, and Aspen tried not to melt onto the dirty sidewalk.
For the rest of the morning and afternoon, Aspen tried to enjoy every interaction they had with the excited visitors.
They smiled extra wide at the kids squealing over the new litter of puppies and shook hands with all the adults.
Aspen would never have described the sound of barking, yipping, and shrieking children as relaxing, but seeing the shelter so full of life did feel like a bit of a release.
Working with Charlie over the past several weeks had really driven home for Aspen how important this place was.
It was more than just a temporary home for dogs.
It was a place where volunteers came to connect with each other and with their nurturing sides.
It was a haven for both Charlie and Noah, and if the number of new volunteer signups had anything to say about it, it would be a safe place for even more folks moving forward.
Aspen wished they’d come to visit sooner, but watching the way Charlie and Noah orbited around each other, maybe it was a good thing they’d waited as long as they had.
Noah’s relationship with Charlie was like a beautiful, twinkling star that Aspen couldn’t help but stare at any time he passed by them.
Now they just needed to see if there was potential for the three of them together. Or not now exactly. Right now, Rachel was collecting the final family’s adoption paperwork, while Aspen received a hug from one of the salon clients who had just adopted a schnauzer-looking dog for her daughter.