Really Cute People

By: Markus Harwood-Jones

Charlie Dee is disillusioned, disengaged, and disinterested in any/all concepts of community or family. After all, they’ve been burned before, both by their bio family and the queer collective they’d sunk so much into before it crashed and burned. When they’re asked to take a work trip outside the city to conduct a site-visit at a small-town community centre, it feels like additional work with no additional pay but is also an excuse to get out of town—and out of their own head.

That dream is shattered when Charlie opens the door to their supposedly private AirBnB: There’s a bird on the loose, circling the living room as it’s chased by a cat who is chased by a small child. When the girl’s parents, Hayden and Buffy, appear, trying to corral the situation, they only manage to add to the chaos. Inconveniently, a massive snowstorm rolls in, forcing everyone to shelter in place, and turning an overnight trip into a weeklong affair.

Charmed by this unfiltered—if forced—look at a loving, healthy, family, Charlie begins to develop feelings for both Hayden and Buffy. And they both seem to be flirting back. At first Charlie is wracked with guilt, certain that they’ve become a homewrecker. When they find out Hayden and Buffy are polyamorous and interested in dating Charlie, this is somehow even worse... will the reality that their romantic tension could transform into a real, loving relationship send Charlie running back to Toronto? Or will they take a chance on happiness within a romantic triad?