They walked into the bathroom, and Dalton quietly disposed of the condom and washed himself off with a warm cloth. He tossed the washcloth in the clothes hamper and turned to go.
“Hey, where you going?”
“To my bedroom…”
“Sleep with us. There’s plenty of room. After all we’re a couple aren’t we?”
Dalton grinned at Cole. “I’d like that.”
“Yeah, well, fair warning. Tara snores.”
“I do not!” she yelled from the bedroom, “But if we’re sleeping together, you can show Dalton any body parts that grew bigger while you were asleep. Maybe he’ll be more impressed than I am.”
They chuckled and Cole cleaned up. They joined Tara in the enormous bed and curled with each other, with Cole managing to cuddle both Tara and Dalton.
Dalton drifted off feeling fulfilled for the first time he could remember.
Cole had come to enjoy the trips with Dalton to the farmer’s market on campus. The pedestrian mall was a nice location and one of his favorites stalls was the produce from Cornercopia, the university-run farm that set the bar for quality. He smiled at the orderly white ribbon of canopies that flanked the bustling sidewalk. In spots the grass was sprinkled with a dusting of frost and the trees were wearing their autumn finest in reds and yellows.
Today was the last market day before they shut down for the season, and Cole planned to stock up on the last of the produce. He grinned at Dalton. Last weekend had been amazing, better than anything he’d imagined. Cole also enjoyed having someone to do stuff with, like going to the farmer’s market. Things Tara didn’t really like.
“Hey, what are we looking for?” Dalton pulled his light jacket around him as they walked across campus.
“Kale, cabbage, stuff a light frost won’t hurt. This is the best time for them, actually—they’re a little sweeter.”
Dalton nodded, his face an unreadable mask. Cole could imagine some of the issues he was struggling with. They were probably similar to the gay versus straight argument Cole had with himself when he was first coming to an identity. The idea of a relationship with two other people was still difficult to wrap his head around sometimes. When he’d told his parents he was bi, it had gone badly.
I might not even survive if I told them I was in a relationship with a girl and a guy. Which would have been worse in their eyes.
He still didn’t know exactly how everything fit together. The triad relationship had never been more than an interesting conversation before. He thought about everything that had happened in the past few days.
We need to talk about what happened.
Dalton was walking beside him, his gaze firmly on the sidewalk. He took a long step and spun so he was walking backward in front of Dalton. Cole snapped his fingers in front of Dalton. “Earth to Dalton. You on this planet?”
Dalton chuckled, and a smile crept onto his face. He grabbed Cole and spun him off the walkway. “I’m here. Where’re you?”
The two horsed around, roughhousing as they covered the remaining distance to the line of stalls. By the time they arrived, they were both grinning and red cheeked from the cool nip in the air. They worked through the booths until they found the produce from the student-run farm. Cole went through their offerings until he had gathered up a mound of vegetables Dalton thought could feed a dozen people for a month. The pile of kale alone was intimidating. They carried the veggies to the checkout. It was manned by a guy who was so blond his eyebrows and lashes were almost white, but his ice blue eyes sparkled as he helped the couple in front of them. He wrote out their receipt while he chatted with them. They seemed to be regulars, from their conversation.
It didn’t take long for him to finish with them. Once they’d left, he grabbed Cole in an enthusiastic hug. “Hey Cole. How’re things today?”
Cole gingerly placed their haul of produce on the table and grinned. “Doing fanfuckingtastic, Nate. We’re just here to grab the good stuff before you run out.” Without a thought, Cole introduced Dalton. “This is my boyfriend, Dalton. Dalton, this is Nate. He’s an organic hort major and works at the student farm.”
There seemed to be hesitation and a slight cringe from Dalton. But he stepped up and held out his hand. “Hey, Nate. Nice to meet you. Cole raves about the food from the farm all the time. What we’ve had before was excellent.”
Nate’s smile never wavered as he shook Dalton’s hand. “Same here. You’re a brave guy to be with Cole and Tara. They’re a handful.”
Dalton blushed and glanced over at Cole.
Cole grinned. “Nate and I are old friends. He knew we were looking for someone.”
Dalton’s face turned redder than the ripest tomatoes Nate had on display and he began to rock back and forth. After a few moments, he glanced down the row of booths and muttered, “I need some soap. Looks like they have it down there.” He shot Cole a strained expression and raced down the sidewalk.
Nate grimaced. “Sorry, man. I didn’t mean to make trouble. It’s just that you’ve always been so open about it.” Nate shrugged. “Please let him know I didn’t mean to make him uncomfortable. I’m real happy for the three of you.”
Cole considered what had just happened while he stashed the produce in his backpack. “Don’t sweat it. It’s totally my fault. We haven’t really talked about some of the details.”
Nate nodded and handed Cole the last of his purchase. “Yeah, I get that. I’m sure you’ll get everything ironed out.”
“Oh yeah. We will.” Cole tossed the bag over his shoulder and headed down the booths in the direction Dalton had fled.
He found Dalton a few displays later looking at a vender with bouquets of fall flowers. He stood quietly at his side for several seconds. “Sorry if I made you uncomfortable. Nate’s an old friend, the stuff about us just sorta rolled out.”
Dalton turned to Cole with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Oh, no problem. Totally fine. I just thought I saw someone I knew, but I was wrong. It’s all good.”
Cole hesitated for a moment. “I thought you said something about soap?”
Dalton froze for a second before continuing to walk. “Oh. No. Just thought I saw someone.”
The two of them worked their way from one stall to the next. The tension gradually lessened, but didn’t leave. They were shopping the goods in the last booth when Cole heard, “Dalton?”
They turned to find four guys, all in the prescribed hipster knit hats and skinny jeans. Cole thought the one talking looked a little more put together than the others, but this sure wasn’t his crowd.
“Hey! Zach!” Dalton said, obviously excited to see the dark haired guy. They grabbed hands and pulled each other into a
bro-hug
with their hands still between them.
“Long time no see, dude. What’re you doing here?” Zach said.
“Oh we were trying to grab a few things to eat, you know, just some green crap to have in case the rents show up,” Dalton said.
“Hey, I hear ya. Parents can be a pain. Hey these are some buds of mine.” Zach introduced the three guys with him and Dalton shook hands with each one. Once he’d finished Zach stood quietly, obviously waiting for Dalton to introduce Cole. The silence was becoming awkward when Dalton moved with a jerking motion. “Oh sorry, hey this is my—” Dalton paused again, “—friend, Cole”
Cole felt his chest constrict, hurt by the denial. He shook hands with Zach and the other three but the injury of Dalton’s rejection dominated his thoughts.
As soon as the others left, Cole threaded his arm through the backpack straps and started for home. He was on autopilot as he went to their house. Dalton trailed a step behind, both of them wrapped in silence, not exchanging a word. They were almost home when muffled words came from behind him. He spun on Dalton. “What?”
“I said I’m sorry. I didn’t—”
“Yeah, whatever. I need to get busy. Tara will be home soon.”
Dalton’s face contorted into a mask of pain and he stood unmoving. As Cole walked past he muttered. “Okay, Tara. Right.”
Dalton picked at his plate. The meal was delicious. Cole was a good cook. But with his stomach knotted the way it was, it might as well be cardboard.
I eat any more and it’ll come right back up.
Everything was screwed up now.
Tara laid her fork on the table and looked first at Cole and then at Dalton. “Okay, what the hell happened? This morning you two were like long lost army buddies who couldn’t get enough of each other, now neither of you is talking. Spill it.”
“Nothing. Everything’s fuckin’ great,” Cole said.
“No problems. It’s all good,” Dalton said.
“Okay, here’s the way this is going down. You’re both going to tell me what’s bothering you in the next sixty seconds, or you’ll see my raging bitch persona, and you never want to meet her.”
Cole choked out a laugh. “I met her once, I’d just as soon not see her again. Thanks.”
Dalton couldn’t help but smile.
“Okay, so someone start.”
“I think I offended Cole today, but I’m not sure how,” began Dalton. “We were at the farmer’s market, talked to my friends and all of the sudden he was pissed.”
Tara turned to Cole to find his face was deep red. His jaw muscles clenched and he refused to meet anyone’s gaze. After a few minutes passed, he spit out. “I’m apparently just Dalton’s buddy.” He snarled at Dalton. “Ain’t that right—buddy!”
Dalton’s mouth worked for several moments before he scowled and lashed back at Cole. “Well you outed me! What the hell was that? At least I respected your privacy, I didn’t announce it to everyone in the fucking farmer’s market.”
“Fuck, it was only Nate. He and I go way back. I told you I’m not good with secrets.”
“Well, this is kinda new to me. It would have been nice if you’d let me get used to it for at least a little while before you crap on me.”
“Crap on you? You fuckin’ asshole! I’m the one who brought you into this relationship, and I—”
“Stop it!” yelled Tara. She shot a venomous look at both of them, then turned to Cole. “Don’t you ever play that card again. Not unless you want to be alone. We’re all in this together, and you didn’t recruit Dalton.”
She turned to Dalton. “You have the right to decide, but we need to talk about stuff, too. Otherwise we’re going to keep having these pointless arguments.”
Cole burst out. “Fuck that! He wants the bennies of the relationship without any fuckin’ commitment. Well, he can go to hell.”
Cole jumped to his feet and stomped down the hallway to their bedroom. Tara watched him go, wincing when the door slammed. She waited for a few seconds, then sighed. “Give him some time to get over being hurt.”
She held up a hand when Dalton started to protest. “I’m not saying you don’t have the right to decide who and how people get told. But you have to understand, Cole is falling in love with you. I’d imagine it’s killing him that you said he was just a friend. He falls fast and hard, honey. He said the L word long before I was at that point.
“I know, I know. It’s not fair to expect you to be as comfortable about this arrangement as we are. At some point, Cole will remember that it’s been months since he and I started talking about this.” Tara walked to Dalton and kissed his cheek. “Give him a little time. Well, maybe more than a little. We’re all going to have to be open and honest, at least now you know why you’re pissed at each other. Wait until he cools off and then talk to him.”
“Yeah, I guess so.” Dalton looked around the room and sighed. “I’ll do the dishes, then I have some homework. I probably won’t be back until late.” His sigh was laced with regret and confusion. “I think I’ll sleep in the other bedroom tonight. That would be easier on everyone.”
Tara patted his shoulder. “I have a feeling we’re all going to spend some time in the guest room before we get all the bumps smoothed out of this relationship.”
A smile tugged at the corner of Dalton’s mouth. “You’re probably right.”
* * * *
Dalton knocked on the apartment door.
I hope Zach’s home. I’d really like to talk to someone about today, and Zach’s usually good to listen.
He waited for several long minutes, then turned to leave. He punched the elevator button and waited for the car to return. Thinking of what to do next, he blindly walked into the elevator when the doors opened—and he collided with Zach.
“Hey. Dalton?”
“Zach!” He paused for a second to get his thoughts together. “I came over to see you.”
Zach studied him for several minutes with one eyebrow cocked, then nodded and motioned Dalton ahead of him. Without a word, he let Dalton inside his apartment and poured them each a pop. He brought the foaming glasses to the living room and handed one to Dalton and then sat down on the opposite end of the couch, tucking his feet under him.
“This is about the big guy you were with today, isn’t it?”
“Damn it, Zach. Am I really that easy to read?”
Zach shot him a sympathetic smile. “Only to me. So, did you finally find your gay side and now you need to get the low down on playing for the other team?”
Dalton chuckled and took a drink before answering. “You’re sort of right. It’s more complicated than that, though.”
“It’s more complicated than my best friend, who has never dated anyone other than the hottest women, to have fallen for a guy?”
“Yeah, well. It’s not just Cole. I mean it was him first. But now Tara is involved. And today I hurt Cole’s feelings when I introduced him as my friend. I may have really screwed up, but Tara’s says—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. Holy crap, when you have a relationship problem, it’s crash and burn, isn’t it?”
Dalton took a deep breath, then slowly exhaled. “It really is complicated this time.”
“Okay, well one thing at a time, then. Cole is the hot Paul Bunyan type who was with you today?”
“Yes.”
“And he’s more than just friends, or even friends with benefits.”
Dalton nodded. “Yes, I have serious feelings for him. I get all tied in knots when I’m around him, and God help me when he touches me.”
“Okay, hot to trot for the muscle dude. Got it. So who is this second person, Tara?”