Lifesaver | Nick & Charlie

Change of Plans

Charlie Spring

"W-What do you mean?"

There was this perceptive look on his face, eyebrows raised and eyes narrowed. His chest rose with sigh, arms crossing over it in a way that defined his bicep muscles.

The reaction told me all that I needed to know: I was utterly screwed.

"First of all, you're a terrible liar. Second of all, your bag is way too packed for just a weekend. And third of all, you're way too panicked." A lump appeared in my throat and suddenly I was way too scared to make eye contact with him. "Charlie, look, I know we don't necessarily know each other, but you can talk to me. I just want to make sure you don't do something you regret." The lump in my throat decreased a little, and I genuinely wanted to believe that he actually cared. "Just tell me what's going on, and I can help."

Here we go again.

I was so sick of people thinking they could help. If I couldn't help myself, being the one in the situation, how would they be any better at it?

"I'm fine, really," I sighed, feeling squeamish under his intense gaze. "I'm just a little stressed. It's just because I haven't seen my grandparents in ages. I'm worried about how things are going to go down–"

"You're still lying," Nick called out, tone disappointed. "Charlie, please, just tell me." His hand instinctively reached out to caress my arm, squeezing gently in encouragement.

The blush that spread across my cheeks was embarrassing and sickening. I tried to forget it, but my mind kept wandering to the feeling of his touch on my arm until it fell away. I shouldn't be feeling this way at all – not toward a straight guy.

"I just need to get away for a while," I confessed, yanking my thoughts away from that place. "Everything's fine."

"Do you at least have a place to stay?" Lying again seemed implausible and unlikely to work, so I remained quiet. "Seriously?" he whisper-yelled, genuine concern in his voice.

"I'm sorry?" Apologising seemed right somehow, but also so wrong because I wasn't sure what I was even apologising for.

With the shake of his head, his eyes turned sympathetic. "No, don't say that. You don't have anything to be sorry about." My mouth opened to apologise again, but Nick intervened, "What did I just say?" I slammed my mouth closed. "Alright..." he mumbled, more to himself than me, lost in thought. "I'll ask my mum if you can stay with my grandparents with us."

I jumped to stand in his way when he moved to leave. "No. Please, don't. I'm fine. I'll figure it out by myself," I frantically reassured him, but it was fruitless, because he managed to duck past me - rugby skills, I supposed.

In a surprisingly fast use of reaction time, I grabbed onto his wrist just before he could leave properly. I opened my mouth to convince him out of whatever he was planning, but he intercepted me.

"Charlie, no. I'm not letting you just sleep anywhere tonight. It's not safe. I'm going to make sure you're okay, and right now that means staying with us. If you're not going to look after yourself, then I will for you."

His words stunned me into silence, completely stunned at the amount of care and distress he was showing toward me.

The frozen and silent state of me gave him the chance to leave the room, leaving me with no other choice than to follow since my bag was still with them and everything. When we retook our seats, I glued my eyes to the floor, too embarrassed to look at either of them.