Love story: How a meet-cute led to a throuple romance

"I love you" hasn't been exchanged yet, but who knows? (ABC News: Lindsay Dunbar) Link copiedShareShare articleEli Sutherland is exploring the concept of love with a twist. They take us on a meet-cute journey at their local book club. Whether it's romantic, platonic, heartbreaking or surprising, our Love Stories series is about love in all its forms. Share yours with us. Everyone is bisexual, polyamorous, and has a crush on me. Or at least, that's my default assumption and the pick-up line that led to my triad with Rhea and Leo (not their real names). It's similar to a standard two-person relationship (or dyad), just with one extra. It's a form of polyamory, which falls under the umbrella of ethical non-monogamy. But let's go back six months and six hours to when the three of us first met. I arrived a few minutes late to the queer book club, this month held at The W Club, a women's sports bar in Melbourne, on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri people. Eli met Leo and Rhea at their local book club. (ABC News: Lindsay Dunbar) Baroque carpets, dark wooden chairs and tables, and what sounded like either a hen's night in the middle of the day or a grand final celebration going on upstairs. Making my way into the side room, I spotted some familiar faces. After catching up with people I already knew and saying hello to a few others I hadn't met yet, two absolute babes walked in. Leo wore black skinny jeans, a relaxed tee and Blundstones. Her long silvery blonde hair was a perfectly nonchalant mess. Rhea was the same height as Leo in heels, with shoulder-length dark brown hair and distracting red lipstick. By that point, all the seats near me had been taken. Rhea and Leo sat at the opposite end of the long table, clasping hands. Throughout the discussion about the book (Darcy Green's After the Siren, a thoroughly enjoyable gay AFL romance) they mentioned being friends with the author from playing ice hockey together. Talk shifted from books to sports more generally, seats shuffled around, and I was face-to-face with this wildly attractive lesbian couple. "Have we met before?" Rhea asked. "I feel like I know you from somewhere." "I don't think so. I'm terrible with names but have a pretty good recall for faces. And you're two of the most beautiful people I've ever seen. I'd remember you." A look passed between Leo and Rhea, and I thought I clocked a blush. "Well, maybe we follow each other on Instagram," Rhea said. "What's your handle?" She added me (we didn't have any mutuals) shortly before I left the bar and messaged me before I'd even reached the train station. "Want to come watch a hockey game with us tonight?" I couldn't tell if they were just being friendly, if this was a date or a random hook-up, but I didn't really care. The thing about being polyamorous for more than a decade is that I've become pretty good with unknowns, murky waters and discomfort. Walking into new situations is always a little daunting, but I asked myself, what's the worst that could happen? They could be uninterested in me romantically and I make two new friends instead. I could live with that. They were already there when I arrived, saving a seat for me in the upstairs bar looking out over the rink. The bright white from the ice below illuminated their faces as they explained the rules to me. Eli met up with Rhea and Leo at a hockey game. (ABC News: Lindsay Dunbar) "There are a lot of dirty sounding terms in hockey," Leo said. "Like that part of the ice in front of the goalie, that's the slot." "But the best part about hockey is all the babes," Rhea told me. "We have hockey crushes on so many other players." "That checks out," I replied. "I just assume that everyone is bisexual, polyamorous, and has a crush on me." Rhea and Leo exchanged the same charged look I noticed earlier at book club. It was on. We started a group chat, messaging every day. We went on dates, chatting about our individual and shared boundaries. Navigating things like labels (what does their identity as lesbians mean for my non-binary trans-ness, and vice versa?) and couple privilege (does one of them get veto power to kick me out of the relationship if they feel jealous?) brought up some spicy feelings, but nothing we haven't been able to handle yet. One of the sweetest things about our blossoming relationship is talking about our other crushes (like my high-key crush on another hockey player in the league). We get to fumble through difficult conversations, giggle through awkward intimate moments, and be cheerleaders for each other's wants and desires. Some people have known Rhea and Leo as a dyad couple for three and a half years, so it can be a shock to imagine something different — to see them with someone else. Alternative relationship structures are becoming more understood, talked about, and mainstream. From novels such as Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao, non-fiction texts such as More Than Two by Franklin Veaux and Eve

Love story: How a meet-cute led to a throuple romance

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Love story: How a meet-cute led to a throuple romance

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