That morning Evy felt conflicted. She was eager to show off her new hair, but at the same time felt a knot in her stomach about how she should ask Liv about the whole ordeal with Evan and Jamie. Liv was already waiting at the usual spot.

“Oh your hair! See, I told you it would look great!” She hugged her friend, and when she let go, she saw the look on Evy’s face.

“What’s wrong, Evy? Did something happen?”

Evy looked at Liv, searching for a hint of ill intentions. There was none.

“I saw you this weekend. With Evan. And Jamie.”

“Oh.”

A frown covered Evy’s face. With a slight hesistation, she asked: “Are you cheating on them?”

“What?! No!”

“I saw you kissing Evan! And the next day you kissed Jamie! Don’t tell me that’s not cheating!”

Liv pinched her nose and shook her head. She groaned.

“Really, it’s not what you think. I’m dating both. They both know.” She looked at the girl with her pretty pink hair. “I should have told you earlier, I’m really sorry.”

“Huh?” Evy felt confused. “How?”

“Evan, Jamie and I are in a... polyamorous relationship.”

“Like, you all three date each other?”

Liv nodded. “You’re not mad, are you? You don’t think I’m insane?”

“No, I’m not mad, I’m just… surprised I guess. And you’re not insane, just weird in a good way.”

A small chuckle escaped from the goth girl. “Haha, I take it as a compliment. Come, let’s get going. I’ll text Evan and Jamie that lunch is in the club room. I think we owe you some explanations.”

The weather had turned cold and the trees were shedding their colorful leaves. Some people had already decorated their lawns for Halloween.

“You know, usually I don’t like keeping secrets,” Liv started after a short while, “But this is not something everyone takes well. So we three decided to keep it to ourselves, but I trust you, Evy.”

Evy looked at her friend, catching a glimpse of her smile. It must be pretty tough having to carry a secret like this, but she was glad Liv trusted her enough to tell her.

“It’s okay, I understand. Thanks for telling me.”

Liv gave a small nod. The secret was finally out.

* * * *

Tea was steaming in the pretty teacups and Jamie broke out their secret stash of candy.

“Jamie, put that back. You should be eating your lunch, not candy right now,” Liv said. She received a devilish grin from the boy.

“You just want to keep them for yourself, don’t you? Just one doesn’t hurt anyone.” He flicked a lollipop towards the goth girl and then passed two others to Evy and Evan.

Liv sighed. “Fine.” She settled down next to Evan, leaning her head on his shoulder and unwrapped the candy and popped it in her mouth.

“So, how... did you end up dating each other?” It felt a bit awkward to ask, but Liv had promised she would explain. And to be honest, Evy was also kinda curious. She had heard of polygamy before ofcourse, but never had come across people who were in such a relationship.

Evan was the first to explain: “When we met Liv, Jamie and I were already a couple. At that time she was dating a girl who in the end turned out to be pretty crazy, almost like a stalker. Some… not so nice things happened, so we helped her file a police report and made sure the girl could never contact Liv again.” He looked at Liv, checking her expression, and then continued. “We became pretty close after that. Eventually she confessed her feelings to us, how she thought of us as more than friends, even though she knew it was probably a love that would never be reciprocated. To her surprise, we felt the same.”

Jamie nodded. “It was something we had discussed before, pretty early on, though we never expected for it to happen. But there she was. Love is an unpredictable, limitless thing.” He sat down on the other end of Evan, lacing their fingers together.

“And sometimes you need to be brave to love,” Liv added, “If I hadn’t confessed, I probably wouldn’t be here with them.”

Evy watched the trio as they now more confidently displayed their small gestures of love for each other, relaxed and relieved that the secret was out. They looked pretty cute like that. In love. A feeling that she couldn’t quite define welled up, not sure what to do with it, so she just let it be. Sometimes things were better left for later to figure out.

They finished up their lunch and tea, and headed for their next classes. It was an odd ordeal, but Evy was glad Liv at least wasn’t cheating. The boys didn’t deserve that, nobody did. And if this was what made them happy, so be it.