Hall Pass: Part 13 (Patreon)

Happy new year guys! Been a busy time with family stuff but I'm finally getting time to write. So here's the latest in the story.

The comments, the questions, the speculation, it all kept rolling in. I knew Luca was in the public eye but I was taken aback by how much people actually seemed to care about his personal life — and how fucking nosey they were about it, too. It was like everybody in the world thought they had a right to know who he spent his time with. And by extension that meant everybody thought they had to know exactly how Bradley and I were involved in it.

At first we’d all been in agreement that the best thing to do would be to say nothing, to firmly stick to the line that it was nobody else’s business. But Luca’s publicist had strongly advised against it: he’d said that the longer he left an information vacuum the more full it would get of speculation and accusation. The clock was ticking and Luca had to say something.

“We need to just say we’re open,” Bradley said. “That’s the truth, right?”

Weirdly, though, I’d never thought about it that way. In the version of ourselves I held in my mind we were still a monogamous couple, who’d just happened to stumble into a situation no monogamous couple ever realistically expects to. I wondered if we should just tell people that Luca was Bradley’s hall pass — surely that was something people would understand? But it sounded ridiculous when I said it out loud, and the reaction on Bradley and Luca’s faces confirmed it.

We sat there silently, at an impasse, me panic spiralling and the other two thinking who knows what, before Bradley finally broke the silence. “I don’t understand,” he said. “What’s so bad about saying we’re in an open relationship? Lots of people do it. I think it’s probably more common than being monogamous these days.”

“It’s just so awkward,” I argued. “Our families will know, and that’ll always be in the back of their minds when we see them. And all our friends — what if our friends start thinking you’re available?” 

I couldn’t deny that the thought of our friends hitting on Bradley didn’t get my heart beating a little bit faster. I tried not to think about it unless it started to get me turned on. Now was not the time for reckless fantasies, I had to think clearly about the real-life consequences. Something I hadn’t done enough up to this point, obviously.

“Is that worse than everyone we know thinking I’ve been cheating on you? Or that I’ve dumped you for Luca?” Bradley asked. “At least this way you won’t have even more people messaging to see if you’re okay.”

I knew he was right, of course. It just seemed like such a big step, announcing it to the whole world like that.

I sighed. “Okay,” I said. “So now what?”

❄︎ ❄︎ ❄︎

We followed the plan laid out by Luca’s publicist. First, he helped Luca write a short social media post explaining that yes, Luca had been on dates with a married man, but that Bradley was in an open relationship. Then the three of us went out for brunch so we could get casual, non-sexual photos of the three of us hanging out to show there was nothing secret or awkward going on. That bit was a hard ask for me, because as far as I was concerned this was awkward as hell, but I did my best to just smile and do my best impression of chill for the photos. Luca posted a couple on his socials, as did Bradley. 

Sitting there in the cafe I could feel eyes on me. I told myself I was just being paranoid — Luca was famous but I wasn’t a household name. And besides, even if people recognised him it wasn’t as though they’d all be following his every move and aware of the update he just posted about Bradley. Still, I felt like the three of us, and our relationship, was on display. And the feeling was more of a rush than I’d expected it to be.

The mix of emotions was honestly exhausting though. By the time we got back to our own hotel room, without Luca, I was grateful to have Bradley to myself. It was the first time in twenty-four hours -- maybe the longest twenty-four hours of my life — that I felt like if I really tried I could pretend none of this was happening. 

“I’m sorry I put you through all this,” Bradley said to me when we collapsed onto the bed. “I had no idea things we going to get so intense. And so… public.”

I shrugged. “I guess we can’t change it now. We just have to ride it out.

I nestled into Bradley’s shoulder, deeply exhaled his scent, and let it slowly out, finally letting myself relax. “I’m glad to have you to myself again though and forget about him for a while.”

Before I even knew it I was asleep, I guess tired out by emotional exhaustion and the disrupted sleep of the previous night. I guess Bradley was tired out too, but probably for a different reason, because when I woke up I was still nestled in his arm and he was out like a light too.