Chapter 12 #4
Charlie cast Noah a knowing look, and that tangle of emotions his mother always seemed to elicit rose up the back of Noah’s throat.
He could remember being marched off to photo studios his entire childhood so his father would have an updated photo to display on his desk.
Those stopped when Braxton began acting out, and instead, Noah was required to take stuffy headshots, crammed into whatever outfit his mom had bought him at the boutique her best friend worked at.
Noah hated all of them, but what was he supposed to say?
No, don’t buy me nice clothes and have Dad show me off?
He would have been called ungrateful–even more than he usually was.
He’d had no idea that Charlie had experienced something similar. Maybe that was why he was always so hard on Noah’s parents.
“Oh…I’m really sorry. I didn’t know,” Aspen said, hugging the packages tightly to their chest.
“No, of course you didn’t. You didn’t do anything wrong,” Charlie said, straightening his shoulders and standing up taller. “The memory makes me feel…not great, but the idea of you replacing that memory with something happy feels really good. Thank you.”
Aspen still looked unsure. They cast a glance at Noah and then looked down at the floor.
“Noah and I exchange fuzzy socks for holidays and birthdays. I wasn’t sure if that was something that would remain between just the two of us or if we’d want to loop you in.
I was standing in the store, and wanted to get us all something fun, but it didn’t really seem like the kind of question I should ask Noah over the phone, and I know the end of our trial is coming up anyways, and we’ll probably be having even more conversations, so I figured the clothing aisle wasn’t the best place to start one, so instead, I sort of just panicked and grabbed the first thing I saw. ”
Aspen managed to say all of that without taking a single breath. The second they finished, they took in a ragged gasp and shoved the garments at Noah and Charlie.
Noah accepted his and then caught Aspen’s wrist, pulling them in for a tight hug. “I’m more than happy to include Charlie in our fuzzy sock tradition–if he likes fuzzy socks.”
“I like fuzzy socks,” Charlie said, holding his new pajama set in one arm and stepping around the counter to wrap his other arm around Noah, sandwiching Aspen between them.
“This is such a sweet gift, pumpkin. I really appreciate it. I know this probably isn’t the Valentine’s Day you both were envisioning when you chose your trial relationship to end right around… ”
Charlie trailed off as Noah aggressively shook his head. “It was a total accident. It just coincided almost exactly with six months.”
“Well, either way,” Charlie said, setting the package down on the counter and rubbing his hand over the soft fabric. “I know adding me and the upcoming wedding to your plans hasn’t been easy, but it means a lot to me that you invited me to the party and to spend the night.”
He released Aspen and Noah, then grabbed his two envelopes and handed one to each of them. Aspen eagerly ripped into theirs, all their earlier angst forgotten, while Noah took his time sliding his fingernail under the edge and peeling it back.
Aspen gasped, but Noah focused on pulling out his own card and opening it. It was a store-bought card, but there was a small stack of handwritten notes inside. Noah put down the envelope and card and began reading through them.
“One coupon for: a dog walk with Charlie, where he picks up all the poop.”
“One coupon for: breakfast in (your) bed. Sorry, still no food in mine.”
“One coupon for: spending the day in Charlie’s house with Gordon.”
“Ten coupons for–”
“Massages! Do I get to pick where on my body you massage?” Aspen asked, and Noah snorted as he flipped past the massage coupons to see several more for meals and a few different group date nights.
He loved that there were options that applied to the three of them, but the first three were specific to Noah.
“Charlie…this is so sweet,” Noah said, looking up from the stack just as Aspen threw themself against Charlie’s chest.
“Careful, pumpkin,” he said, but his dimples were on full display as he leaned down and accepted several rapid-fire kisses from Aspen.
Noah waited his turn, but when it seemed Aspen had no plan of letting go, Noah stepped up to Charlie’s side and stood on his toes to kiss his cheek.
Charlie snagged him around the neck and pulled him into a real kiss.
He tasted like alcohol and sugar, and it stirred something in Noah’s blood–but it was his turn to give a surprise gift, and he needed to do that with a level head.
“I also have something for you both. It’s more like a conversation starter than a gift, so maybe we could talk on the couch?”
They took their mugs and walked over to the couch, with Noah on one end, Charlie on the other, and Aspen in the middle.
Noah handed the card to Aspen first. “This is for both of you. I just didn’t have two printouts, so I couldn’t do two cards. Also, if you hate it, I blame Talia and Rachel.”
“If I’m hungover in the morning, I also blame Talia and Rachel. They’re too good at hosting,” Aspen said, ripping the envelope open. They pulled out the card, and when the printout fell out, they handed Charlie the card to read and held up the printout.
They only looked at it for a moment before a huge grin split across their face. “Oh my god, this looks so fun! I want to do one!”
Charlie peered over at the printout. “Maybe we should read Noah’s first, pumpkin.”
Aspen sighed dramatically. “Okay, but remind me tomorrow that I want to do one. Can I sit in both your laps?”
Noah didn’t even bat an eye anymore at how fast Aspen could switch thoughts; he just pulled Aspen into his lap.
Aspen threw their legs up onto the couch, placing their fuzzy socks in Charlie’s lap as Noah wrapped his arms around Aspen’s equally fuzzy waist. Noah rather wished he was in cozy pajamas, too, but the ball was already rolling.
“Okay, so let’s see here. I’ll read it out loud.
” Aspen cleared their throat dramatically, and Noah was grateful they were sitting on his legs; otherwise, he would be bouncing them anxiously.
“Masculine gender and masculine presentation. Hella bisexual, with a bit of asexuality sprinkled in—he wrote reciprosexual over the diagram. Then also biromantic…”
Aspen brought the paper closer to their face, and Noah felt like he was going to throw up.
“Babe, I’m so sorry, I can’t read this—the dot is leaning towards aromantic…” Aspen burst out laughing and held the paper out in front of them at an angle. “Does this say romantic-ish? That’s amazing, that totally describes you!”
Charlie gingerly took the paper out of Aspen’s hands and squinted at it. “Is the other word greyromantic?”
He looked up at Noah with a soft brow, his eyes swimming with curiosity and none of the skepticism or hurt Noah had been worried about.
“Yeah,” Noah said, brilliantly.
He had a whole speech prepared, with notes and even a few jokes, to try to keep the tension light. All of that completely left his brain, and all he could do was wordlessly hand Aspen the folder.
“Oh, babe, I’m way too tipsy to read this whole thing. Are there cliff notes?” Aspen asked.
Charlie grabbed Aspen firmly by their hips and pulled them into his lap. “How about we read it together. If Noah went through all the work of printing them out, I’m assuming he’d appreciate it if we read them.”
Noah’s cheeks blazed, and he could almost see his mom shaking his head at how ridiculous he was, with his charts and printouts. “I mostly printed them out because I know Rachel prefers hard copies, and I wanted to ask her a few questions. I can text you the articles or try to summarize—”
“No, babe, you’re right,” Aspen said, waving the folder in the air. “I mean—Charlie’s right. You’re both right. I’m sorry. Of course you don’t have to give the cliff notes of your identity. I’ll read them.”
Aspen pulled out the first article, and Charlie took the rest of the stack.
Noah had painstakingly highlighted every line that felt like him or that he related to.
While they both began reading, he replayed Aspen’s laugh and them saying “that totally describes you” in their overly sincere way.
That seemed like a good sign, right? Charlie wasn’t showing any signs of being upset, and Aspen’s words had sounded accepting.
“Aha. I knew I would find it eventually,” Charlie said, and Noah lost the fight against his anxiety.
He found what? The reason he and Noah weren’t going to work? Proof he should just take Aspen and run, because they both wanted and deserved someone who would romantically love them to their alloromantic-hearts' content?
“Wh-what?” Noah whispered.
Without looking away from their article, Aspen reached out their hand for him.
When he didn’t immediately take it, because his arms felt heavy and numb, they began flapping their hand up and down.
Noah just barely managed to lift his hand in the air, and Aspen snatched it up.
They squeezed his hand roughly, painfully pressing his knuckles together, but at least it stopped his hand from shaking.
“Peanut, come closer,” Charlie said, not reaching out, but tilting his head at the middle seat. “I can’t rub your neck when you’re so far away.”
Noah could barely breathe. There was no way he was going anywhere. “What did you find?”
Charlie gazed at him steadily before banding an arm around Aspen to hold them against his chest. He scooted them both across the couch until he was pressing his entire leg and side against Noah. Before Noah could sink against him, Charlie reached up and gripped the back of Noah’s neck.
“Better?” he asked, and Noah nodded jerkily. “Okay, good. As I was saying, I knew I’d find the Gordy Simple truth somewhere.”