Page 30 of Overdue Feelings
“I used to think about you every time I saw a friendship bracelet. Still do, honestly. Or when I hear a Brandy song... or see a girl wearing braids.”
I swallowed hard.
“You reading one of your notes,” I whispered.
“Nah, I’m saying the shit out loud now. I love you, Creek Delaney. That never died.”
“I love you too.” I leaned in, and our lips connected. He exhaled against my mouth like he’d been holding that breath for a while. We lingered there for a moment just gazing into each other’s eyes. The ride dipped back down, and we exited hand in hand laughing. I don’t know how he found us, but Zae was waiting near the gate holding a bag of kettle corn and a bottle of peach soda. My favorites.
“Can I steal her from you for a minute?” I glanced at Ares, who nodded.
“I gotta go close down the nurse’s station. I’ll come by tonight,” he said.
“Okay,” I replied, and then I grabbed Zae’s hand and allowed him to lead me down the lakefront to whatever he had planned.
We walked in silence most of the way, hand in hand. I knew exactly where we were going once we crossed over to the other side of the lake. By the time we reached the clearing, my suspicions were confirmed. A soft flicker of lanterns glowing low on the grass illuminated the rest of the way. I smiled. Zae had laid out a thick blanket right where our old clubhouse used to sit. The clubhouse itself was long gone. It had been demolished during a storm years ago, but this still remained our spot. He led me over to the blanket and picnic basket, right in front of the tree stump where we’d all carved our names.
I sat down with a big smile on my face. I could still feel every single memory I had made here. My first time falling, late nights playing hide and seek, the night I gave everything to Ares, the night Zae had nervously asked me to be his girlfriend. They had all happened here.
“It’s beautiful,” I said.
“I couldn’t miss the chance. Remember we used to come here after every carnival?”
“I remember.”
“You remember the way I was pacing back and forth the last time we were here?”
“I thought you were going to pass out before you even said yes. You almost dropped the ring pop.” I nodded, remembering his official girlfriend proposal.
“But you said yes anyway.”
“I was already yours.” I stared into his eyes. “You just made it official.”
Zae sat down beside me, kicked off his sneakers, and popped open a bottle of champagne from the picnic basket. He handed me one of the glasses and filled it halfway.
“To us,” he said, and I clinked my glass against his.
“To us,” I repeated. We sipped in silence for a moment. The breeze from the lake rolled in soft and slow, making the flames from the lanterns dance.
“I know this poly shit is new,” he said after a while. “New for us. New for you. I just want you to know I’m good.”
I turned to him. My eyes locked in on his, and I exhaled a deep breath. Man was I glad he’d said that. Having both Zae and Ares was the most amazing experience in my life, but I didn’t want to continue to do it if it would hurt Zae.
“You sure? Because I don’t want you doing this because you think you have to.”
“C, I meant what I said. I knew you loved him before you did. And I never tried to compete with that. What we have? That’s solid. That’s ours. I’m not afraid of sharing you, because I know what we have. What we’ve built together.” His words touched my heart, and I leaned into him, head on his shoulder, allowing his words to really soak in.
“It still scares me,” I admitted. “Not the love. The uncertainty. The idea that I can love more than one person at a time.”
He reached for my hand again, locking our fingers. “It’s okay to be scared. Hell, I am too. But if we’re being honest, we’ve beena trio our whole damn lives. Only thing different now is we’re both giving you dick.”
My mouth dropped open. “Zae!” I elbowed him, laughing despite myself.
He shrugged, grinning. “What? That’s the truth.”
“Yeah… I guess it is,” I said, still smiling. “So how do we navigate this?”
“We figure this shit out together,” he said before kissing my forehead and pulling something out of the pocket of his shorts. “I got you something.”
