started doing somersaults.
“Not just physically either,” he went on. “But in every single other way.”
“W-What other ways?” I breathed.
He shrugged. “It’d be just like it was when you were dating us, only there would be three of us instead of one. You’d be our girlfriend. Our shared girlfriend.”
The words sent a flash of heat through me, from head to toe. Despite the cold rain I was suddenly warm all over.
“So you’d take turns having me?” I asked, wondering out loud. My brain felt totally detached from my heart. It was asking all the logical questions I somehow needed answers to.
“No,” Adrian stepped in. “I don’t want ‘turns’ at all.” He looked at the others. “Do you?”
Warren and Luke both shook their heads.
“Fuck turns. Fuck splitting you up on certain days or nights, or worrying about schedules — if that’s what you’re thinking, I don’t want any part of it.”
“That’s not what I was thinking at all,” I said quickly.
“Good,” he grunted. “Because what we’ve been doing these last few days? That’s exactly how I want it. Friendship, companionship, and yeah, sex.”
“Lots of sex,” Luke chimed in.
“An emotional attachment to go with the physical one,” Warren added. “Just like we have.”
“Just like we’ve always had,” Adrian took over. “When you think about it, we’ve always been this close. You and Warren at first, then you and Luke. You and me eventually, once they were gone. The point is, we’ve all relied on each other as friends, and we’ve all relied on you as lovers.”
He paused to reach out and take my hand. His touch was gentle. Meaningful.
“This is nothing more than an extension of the relationships we already had with you, and still have with each other. Only now we can have everything, together, all at once. One of us doesn’t need to lose you to someone else. By doing it this way, none of us ever need to lose you at all.”
I tried to speak, but everything was too dry. I had to swallow three times just to get my tongue unstuck from the roof of my mouth.
“We love you, Kayla,” said Warren. “We’ve told you that. So if you’re willing to stay…”
“I am.”
The words dropped with surprising ease from my lips. I knew I meant them, I knew I wanted to say them. I just didn’t know whether I’d have the courage.
“Really?” Luke asked hopefully.
I nodded again, and this time everything was blurry. And that’s because my eyes were already full of tears.
“I called in for another week,” I said, “thinking maybe we could give this a shot. That after a week I might know. That after a week, we could see if something this crazy could actually work.”
The guys remained silent for a moment, until Luke spoke up.
“But?”
“But nothing,” I shrugged, smiling happily. Tears streamed down both sides of my face. “I realize now that I already know. That I love all of you the same as you love me, only maybe I have three times as much love, because there are three of you and only one of me.”
“So you really want to do this?” Warren asked hopefully.
“Have three awesome boyfriends instead of none?” I blurted, alternating between laughing and crying. “Uh… yeah!” I flung myself into their arms. “Yes yes yes!”
They hugged me harder, showering me with kisses. Somebody squeezed me. I squeezed someone back.
“That’s three times you said yes,” Luke advised, his throat growing thick with emotion. “Remember that.”
It was Warren who pulled me clear of the others. His face was beaming. His arms felt so utterly perfect, wrapped tightly around me.
“You’re staying for real?” he asked, just to make sure. “What about Big Sur?”
“There’s nothing for me down there,” I told him. “California’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But it’s lonely, it’s artificial, and it’s just not… home.”
The truth had been staring me in the face the whole time, I just needed a push. Something to get me back. A reason to be up here again, where things could be familiar. Where I could finally see a future again, without being haunted by the past.
Most of all, I wanted their friendship, their companionship, their love. I craved these things without realizing how much I missed them. Specifically how much I missed Warren, and Luke, and Adrian.
And if even half of what they promised was true I would never be lonely again.
“So now that all the cards are on the table,” I said, looking up at them, “spit it out.”
“Spit what out?” Luke asked hesitantly.
“Tell