2 A Love Triangle?

Max and Haru were not looking to become a throuple. In fact, they wanted to remain each other's primary partner, but open their relationship to dating other people too. It had not occurred to them that they might both fall for another person, much less that they would end up falling for the same person.

After their dinner together, Max and Haru had some parameters to figure out before they dove into a potentially explosive situation. Though the two of them had discussed how to handle jealousy of the people they would be dating, they had not anticipated that they would experience jealousy of each other.

Haru thought that he would feel conflicted about sharing Max with someone else, but surprisingly he found that the thought of sharing Max was easy—Ava was the one he did not want to share. On the other hand, Max was open to sharing Ava, but was more concerned that she would like Haru more. It was a minefield to navigate.

After several awkward, extensive conversations, they decided to each try pursuing and dating Ava independently from each other. Maybe they would revisit the throuple idea in the future. Thus began one hell of a wild ride for Ava.

One week passed. Max and Haru were each texting Ava separately. Despite her efforts to keep their conversations friendly and benign, both men were getting increasingly flirty in their exchanges.

Haru made the first move. This was why she was sitting in a trendy restaurant for wine and tapas on a Thursday. She spotted him as soon as he entered the restaurant, he was easily the most attractive man in the room. Honestly, it was part of the reason why she sat next to him at the bar last time—she was just a moth to his flame.

Ava stood to give him a friendly hug, but Haru enveloped her in his muscular embrace and held on for a moment too long. He smelled amazing. She could feel his breath on her hair as he breathed in her scent—it seemed he was reacting just as much to her as she was to him.

The conversation flowed just as freely and easily as it did before. Their conversation over plates of Spanish tapas spanned details about their families, friends, and life experience. They discovered a shared adventurousness for food, and a special love for spicy food. Their experiences were similar, growing up biracial and beautiful—they felt that they did not fully belong to either identity of their heritage, but the positive attention toward their beauty sometimes bordered on fetishization. As their meal was winding down, they lingered over their last glass of Rioja wine.

"So, tell me about you and Max. What's going on there?" Ava asked, feeling brave with a pleasant buzz.

Haru took a deep breath and sighed, "It's complicated, I don't even know where to start."

"Start by explaining why both of you are sending me flirty texts every day. What's going on? Or do you enjoy confusing straight women for fun?" Ava sassed.

Haru chuckled. "Well, Max and I have been on and off for a while," he said thoughtfully as he swirled his glass. "We click and we clash. We're addicted to each other, to the passion and drama, but it's exhausting too. That's why we decided to open our relationship, to see if it would make us more functional with other people in the mix."

"Wow. How has that been working out?" Ava asked in astonishment.

"It's too early to tell. I mean, we've both been on dates with other people, casually hooked up here and there. So far, jealousy hasn't really been an issue, but that's also because neither of us have met anyone that we share intense chemistry with," Haru elaborated. "It's so intense between us, that it feels a bit flat and boring with anyone else."

"Well, I hope I'm not boring you," Ava quipped.

"No way, this is the best date I've been on with someone other than Max," Haru stated enthusiastically.

"Oh, is this a date?" Ava teased.

Haru's playful gaze suddenly changed, and the atmosphere between them immediately heated up. Ava held his intense eye contact, refusing to look away even as she felt her heart rate speed up. Haru leaned forward while still holding her gaze, she looked down when he entered kissing distance. His breath tickled her neck as his lips hovered near her ears, he said softly, "In case I wasn't clear enough, I want you. This is a date."

Ava felt her heartbeat leap as her breath hitched. Haru's hands were gently playing with her hair, and his soft strokes were starting to drive her crazy. She leaned toward him, almost melting into the circle of his arms, when suddenly the heat moved away. "Let's get the check," Haru said as he sat upright.

Ava felt dazed from the abrupt change.