After the crazy bachelorette night, when the club had emptied and only the sound of brooms sweeping confetti filled the air, Jade sat backstage, watching Zeth emerge from the locker room, putting on a black shirt that squeezed his perfect body like a glove. He smiled softly at her, his eyes gleaming as they met hers.
"Did you have fun?" he asked.
"Yes, Zeth." Jade nodded.
"Are you happy?"
"Very." Jade smiled slightly, nodding again.
"That's good."
Jade was beyond happy. She was ecstatic because she had spent time with her new boyfriend. She was happy because she had let go of all inhibitions. She was happy because she had experienced something new.
"I'm glad to hear that too," Finn said, sitting in a folding chair like a movie director, dressed in a turquoise blue hoodie, black shorts and flip flops, "I think tonight was good for all of us."
"Hey, guys," Draco emerged from the locker room, combing his hair, dressed in goth boots and faux leather vest, "Could you tell Alex when he gets out of the shower that I'll meet him in the alley?"
"Alex's not out of the shower yet?" Finn asked.
"Nope. He was sweating a lot, and you know how that works. Things got steamy."
"Does Alex always do stupid things in public showers or what?!" Zeth yelled.
"Huh?" Draco raised an eyebrow.
"When Alex is done with his 'business' I'll tell him to meet you back there," Finn said. Draco nodded and ran like a little boy out the back door. "God. Alex has no respect for anything or anyone."
"You guys are so chaotic," Jade said.
"You better get used to it." Zeth said, tightening the bandages on his forearms and hands. "I would like to take you to our place, Jade. You better pay attention to the road because you'll be going there often. You will get express training with Instructor Schwarzenkatze on Monday, and you can start working on Tuesday," Zeth said, taking out his phone, texting quickly, "Can you tell Erich you are coming?"
"He lets me do whatever I want," Jade shrugged. "I guess he doesn't care if I get kidnapped."
"Erich's a great guy. I think he's just letting you live your life," Frank said, holding a towel in one hand and body wash in the other as he pushed open the door of the locker room, "I hope that body oil washes off quickly."
"Is Everett still in there?" Finn asked, with his hair still a little wet after his shower.
"Body oil isn't easy to wash off a seven-feet-tall body," Zeth said. "So... You're staying, right, Seamons?"
"Of course," Finn nodded heartily, looking into the front camera of his phone, staring at himself. "I was thinking about dyeing my hair rainbow. It would look fine. What do you think?"
"Well, all I know is that I won a bet," Zeth inspected his nails. "As always, I was right!"
"You were betting?" Finn asked, and Zeth nodded while still looking at his nails.
"You can't hate me, Seamons," Zeth turned with a slight mischievous smile and a raised eyebrow. "I think that's enough, don't you think? It's time to talk about the elephant that has never left the room."
"What elephant?" Finn frowned.
"You and I both know that you love me."
Finn gulped.
"H-How did you know I like you? Draco told you, right? That bloody Animaniac is going to pay dearly for it!" Finn threw his hands up.
"He didn't," Zeth chuckled, "But I'm good at reading people."
"So Finn is gay? He won't be a part of the poly relationship?" Jade asked. Wow! One less thing to worry about! Honestly, the thought of having six boyfriends made her feel so overwhelmed - five was not much better, but six was a little bit too much. She wanted a friend. A friend with whom she could talk about everything and did not have a crush on her.
Finn was what she was looking for.
"I didn't say that. I do like women," Finn said.
"We can give it a try, you and I, Finn," Zeth said.
Wait. A. Minute.
Was Zeth flirting with Finn?
What about Jade?
What was she?! A potato?!
"So you're going to date me? And our girl..." Finn gulped.
"Our girl?" Zeth wiggled his eyebrows.
"Fine! I have a huge crush on her too!" Finn replied, "I love her as much as I..."
"As much as you love me?"
"Maybe. Stop interrupting me, Zeth!"
"Good. That's what a poly relationship is all about," Zeth replied. "Now you and our girl will have a little bit of me. You're welcome."
Jade froze. Did she really hear those words come out of Zeth's mouth? She did! The way Zeth phrased it, though, sounded very serious.
She knew that Zeth wasn't straight, but this?!
Was he asking Finn out?
The truth was that the idea of sharing Zeth bothered her a bit.
It could turn her friendship, or relationship with Finn, into a competition.
Zeth then pulled out his phone and started talking non-stop about business with someone. Finn opened a hair editing app and started trying out one look after another. Jade was getting bored. No one was paying attention to her now. Weren't the guys supposed to be admiring her for being so brave tonight?
Five minutes, ten minutes. Nothing. Not a single compliment, not a glance, nothing from them.
There was a loud bang in the locker room.
"Everything okay?" Zeth shouted.
"Frank! Everett! You okay?" Finn shouted as well, his face worried.
"All good here! I dropped the shampoo bottle while I was getting out of the shower!" Frank shouted from inside the locker room, with a towel wrapped around his waist and water droplets sliding down his well-built physique. Coming out of the shower area, Frank entered the small hallway of lockers. There was a bench in the centre, long like in the locker rooms at school. Everett was sitting on it, pouting.
"Hey, Big Guy. Why so sad?"
"It's nothing, Frank," Everett replied, rising to his feet. He dropped his towel and stood completely naked in front of his locker. His white, purple, and blue hair was still dripping wet across his forehead. "Frank, can I ask for advice? I'm talking about advice regarding women."
"Are you seriously asking me?" Frank chuckled, dropping his towel as well, "Everett, my whole life has been one-night-stands, and my only girlfriend? It was an explosive romance. Literally."
"Yeah, but I think you're one who knows most about romance. You're most traditional." Everett glanced over his shoulder, his eyes quickly flicking to the metal plates on Frank's back, buzzing and soaked, gleaming.
"If you say so. I still don't think I'm an expert."
"Well, Finn isn't best person to talk about romance either," Everett said, chuckling a little. "And out of all of us, you are most friendly with humans."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Frank whispered, pulling up his neon green boxers and black shorts over his bionic legs. He tried very hard not to turn to see Everett, because the last time he did, he discovered insecurities that he didn't know existed.
It wasn't as if he was afraid of seeing other men naked, after all, the boys in the band had already seen each other that way a thousand and one times already, but Draco once had the bright idea of having a 'competition' and although Frank tied with Finn on second place, he never again felt very comfortable seeing Everett without clothes on.
"Frank, I want to talk about something complex," Everett said, turning to face him, still without clothes on. Full frontal.
"Oh, sure," Frank blushed, "Everett, could you... Put some underwear on first?"
"Sure. But I will talk anyway. It easy for you to talk to humans so..." Everett took a white tank top with blue and purple stripes from his locker and white sweatpants, dropping them on the bench. "How do you do it?"
"I just... I don't know. I think being sociable is something that you are born with. But that's more Draco or Alex or Zeth's style. I'm too socially awkward. Where did you get the idea that I'm the friendliest to humans? That would be Alex!"
"Alex is flirtatious, not social," Everett replied, "Zeth is perfect, and Draco is disastrous." He grabbed a pair of blue boxers from his locker. "Sometimes I think I'm too socially stupid to understand human relationships. And now I'm in dilemma because I doubt sincerity of my own feelings. You can look now, I already put on boxers."
"Thanks." When Frank turned around, Everett was laughing a little, "What?"
"You're still thinking about competition," Everett crossed his arms, smirking, "I won."
"You and Zeth tied."
"But I won."
"You'll never let me forget it," Frank sighed, "Second place isn't bad, you know? Finn and I are very proud of it."
"Barracuda Seamons!" Everett laughed loud, "I did get reference."
"Weren't we talking about romance?" Frank asked.
"I'm still talking about it," Everett raised an eyebrow and Frank blushed.
"Weren't you going to ask something?" Frank interrupted, "About romance and not bromance?"
"Yes."
"Good! So, you like Jade?" Frank wiggled his eyebrows, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Jade?" Everett asked with a low voice, "Wait. You think she wants to mate with me?"
"Obviously. Who else could you be talking about?" Frank laughed as he put on a green tank top and a black studded vest.
"I thought... Forget it," Everett sighed.
"Every girl has a crush on us" Frank sat down on the bench and looked up at Everett, "Like it or not. You are one of the favourites in fact."
"That's because they don't know me," Everett crossed his arms, "Only woman who really knows me is..." He widened his eyes and blushed. No. Frank was the least likely person to know about this, so Everett decided not to say anything, "Forget it. I can't say it out loud, not to you. You're right, I should have talked to Finn about it. I don't know how this poly relationship will work."
"I mean, we're all supposed to be able to date whoever we love, as long as it's in the same group and if there's someone new, we're supposed to talk about adding this new person but, that's the part that doesn't sound right to me."
"I understand nothing," Everett grunted.
"Me neither. I'm more traditional, I like dating just one person at a time, buying gifts and chocolates," Frank laughed, "And you already beat me to that! That bracelet you bought for Jade is beautiful!"
"But I bought that because I thought that's part of modelling job," Everett said, "Was that misinterpreted?"
"It was romantic."
"Back home, fighting to death with other Yeti was romantic."
"Maybe you should clarify that? That you only bought it for the video?" Frank asked, "But I don't understand, you like her but you don't like her?"
Everett could no longer bear this pain in his chest.
"Frank, I'm in love," Everett interrupted him, "I am in love with..."
"You already said it, in love with Jade."
"Not Jade," Everett whispered, "But I'm worried that if you find out who I desperately love, you'll be mad at me and we won't be friends anymore."
"You're talking about Evie," Frank said and Everett blushed, "I know, Big Guy. I know you love her and that's okay! I have no problem with that."
"T-Thanks, Frank."
"Wait... Does she know you love her? Have you already told her how you feel about her?" Frank asked.
"She knows, I told her night we met Jade, but I'm not sure if she thought it was dream because she fell asleep in my truck and woke up asking if it was real." Everett blinked rapidly.
"Really?" Frank asked and Everett nodded, "And you two... You know."
"No, there was no anything. Just confession on my part." Everett looked down, "And I don't know if she's as in love with me as I am with her. But I suspect she loves all of us."
"Then go for it," Frank shifted his shoulders. "Poly is sharing love with the people you love, not fighting over it. If you and I love the same girl, it's okay, we'd both be dating her without any secrets. Secrets are what kill relationships, Big Guy. So I'm fine with that."
"Really?"
"Why not?" Frank put a hand on Everett's shoulder, smiling warmly, "Listen. Take her on a date and tell her how you feel again, and this time make sure she knows it's not a dream, okay?"
"I've never been on date." Everett said, "I don't know how that ritual works."
"Hey, what if you ask Jade to help you with that?" Frank wiggled his eyebrows, "You can ask her to explain to you what girls want on dates, you know, a test date!"
"That's good idea," Everett smiled, "That way I'll know what to do and what not to do on real date, right?"
"Exactly," Frank winked, "I'll give you some advice. Always be honest, girls like to know they're standing on solid ground. Don't lie and don't pretend to be someone you're not. Trust me, they appreciate that."
"Does being honest work for you?" Everett asked and Frank nodded, "Then why don't you have girlfriend?"
"Because I'm not interested in romance anymore, or well, I wasn't." Frank shrugged, "The girls I've dated and I? We were honest about what we wanted from the start. And if you don't know how to be honest, you can always write what you feel in a poem. Evie and I started out like that, with a silly poem I wrote for her. Write a test poem and show it to Jade and if she thinks it's romantic, Evie will love it!"
"You're good advisor," Everett said, patting Frank on the head, "Thanks, buddy. I'll do as you say."
"Hey, that's what we're friends for." Frank smiled, but then his bionic eye buzzed and lit up, "Shit!" His bionic hand suddenly trembled, opened and closed on its own, and sparked, "I... I have a bit of a problem here!" Everett wasn't paying attention, and just stared into space as Frank struggled with his bionic hand, which was slapping him and pulling his hair. "Everett! Help! It hurts! Ouch! Everett! My hand is squeezing my... Ouch! Fuck my dream of having kids I guess.... Everett! Help me!"
"Asking Jade to go on test date with me sounds simple," Everett whispered, ignoring how Frank's hand spanked him repeatedly, "Maybe I can write test poem. And buy test chocolates? Or maybe forge test ice sword! Or test ice sculpture! Oh! I'm so nervous!"
He had never been attracted to any girl in his entire life, and suddenly, Evie appeared, and he found himself looking into her beautiful brown eyes every time he saw her.
From the moment he saw Evie, some sort of fire melted his frozen heart, and he was unable to stop thinking about her.
How could a simple sight cause such a complicated thing?
He wanted nothing more than to kiss her, and he hated that feeling of being too afraid to try because Frank would hate him.
But now he knew Frank wouldn't.
Everett could let himself fall in love with Evie now.
All he could think about was touching her smooth skin, taking her sweet, small body between his arms.
Everett loved her with the intensity of a thousand suns in summer!
"And if poly relationship happens I'll never have to hide my love for her again! Finally!" Everett said and grabbed a furry vest from his locker, still unaware that Frank's hand was slamming his locker door into his face over and over again.