Lifesaver | Nick & Charlie

Home Visit

Nick Nelson

Charlie had lied to me in form class days ago, and I was concerned as to why. Either the visitor at their house was entirely a fib, or he didn't enjoy it in the slightest. There was just something in his tone that compelled the distrusting part of me to come out. I'd be an idiot to not see that something was wrong.

But he did lie, and it wasn't my right to pressure him for answers or force him into talking to me about big issues. So, our form class conversations became short small talk without much depth.

It was running into him in the hallway two days later, witnessing his entirely panicked expression and the way he bolted without a proper conversation, that only confirmed my theory that something was genuinely wrong.

All I could do, though, was hope that he'd reconciled with his friends and was talking to someone about whatever was going on with him.

I naturally shoved it to the back of my mind. Overthinking about someone I didn't really know was a recipe for disaster.

"Nick? Where are you going, Lad?" Sal asked, walking in the opposite direction to the exit. "We've got practice, remember?"

"Shit," I whispered, totally having not remembered. I was becoming a mess. I spun around to head to the field.

Sal ran along up ahead with Omar, jogging to the field, buzzing with energy. I, however, felt the complete opposite. Unlike the usual version of me, I was genuinely excited to go home, and I wasn't at all hyped for practice.

The hallways had fizzled out until I was all alone, certain I'd be late to practice, but I was walking slowly on purpose. Could I skip practice today? My heart was just not in it for reasons I couldn't explain. Running around on a field for an hour or so was the last thing I wanted to do while functioning on zero energy.

Not wanting to witness another 'being in a team means being there for the team' speech from Coach, I decided to suffer through it. Running late, I took a shortcut through the music block.

There were muffled voices coming from somewhere, but a lot of private music lessons were held in the afternoon, so I didn't think anything of it. It wasn't until I was walking close to the room that I noticed two people making out.

Risky, was my first thought. The second was, Holy shit, is that Charlie?

It was. It undoubtedly was him.

I didn't even know he had a boyfriend, much less Ben Hope of all people. It also felt like it was nothing like him to be making out - like that - on school grounds with the door open.

Then again, what did I know? I've known him for just over a week. It's always the quiet ones, right?

Watching them fully make out was weird and uncomfortable, so I started to walk away. It was almost out of earshot when something I heard had me freezing in place.

"Stop, please."

Once it fully clicked what I'd heard, my body was working for itself, spinning around and burst through the door.

Charlie's eyes were squeezed closed, and zero part of him appeared to be enjoying or eager for the kiss. Ben, on the other hand, had him trapped against the wall, pinned down, and was forcing himself onto him.

My reluctance toward fighting flew out the window as I ripped him off of Charlie, shoving him away as I protectively stood in front of him.

"He told you to stop," I declared, shoving him further away when Ben moved the tiniest bit closer. Rage was pumping through my veins, and I wanted nothing more than to punch him in the face. I didn't, though, because I was conscious it would make things worse.