Off To Uni! (Written after Nick & Charlie by Alice Osmen)

Chapter Eight

CHAPTER EIGHT:

Charlie:
We check out of the hotel and get on the train.

"Your Mum is going to pick us up at the train station?" I ask.
"Yeah. Wanted to spend the day with her since I'm leaving tomorrow. Are you joining us?"

As much as I want to spend every second with Nick, I know his Mum must want some time with him as well.

"No, you spend some time with her, plus I think I'm going to hang out with Tao, Elle & Aled. We're still going to Tara's tonight right?"

We are having a small goodbye party for Nick, Tara, Darcy and Elle since they all leave tomorrow.

"Of course," Nick says as he squeezes my hand.

We get back into town and Nick's Mum is waiting for us with Nellie in the parking lot of the train station. Once I get home, I run up to my room and pull out the memory book. Nick and I got so lost in the moment last night that I didn't give it to him. I figured I'd just wrap it up and give it to him when we head over to Tara's later. I mean, there's about 500 memories in there that I didn't tape up to the hotel, so I think he'll really like it.

"Had a nice time?" Tori says as she stands in my doorway.

I jump, as always.

"TORI! JESUS," I say with a small laugh.
"How was Paris? Was it fun? Did you two get married?!" I hear Oliver asking as he runs up next to Tori.

I shake my head but smile.

"Yes Tori, we had a nice time. No Oliver, we did not get married."
"BUT WOULDN'T IT HAVE BEEN SO AWESOME IF YOU DID?!" He asks.

Tori disappears as Oliver runs up and sits next to me on the bed.

"Maybe one day," I say with a knowing smile. For sure one day.

Oliver sees the stack of pictures that Nick had given to me and starts flipping through them.

"Are you going to miss him when he leaves? When is he going?"
I sigh. "Yes, I'm going to miss him. He leaves tomorrow. But, not to worry! He has a car and will be visiting."
"Do you think I can come up with you one time to see him?"
"I'm sure he'd love that," I say with a smile as I ruffle his hair.

Once Oliver leaves my room, I finish getting ready and start heading to Tao's. We've all been off doing our own thing these past couple of weeks. With Elle and Nick leaving for Uni, we've sort of been off in our own couple bubbles and thought it would be nice to get the original group back together before heading over to Tara's. I reach Tao's door and hear footsteps behind me.

"CHARLIE!!" Elle screams as she runs up and hugs me.

In that moment, I realize that I've been so focused on Nick leaving, I almost forgot that one of my best friends is leaving too. I wrap my arms around her and squeeze her tightly.

"I have a feeling I'm going to be a blubbering idiot today," I say, still hugging her.

I then feel someone else joining in on the hug; Aled.

"WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITHOUT YOU?!" He exclaims.

Just then, Tao opens the door and stares at all three of us.

"You guys going to hang out outside all day?" He asks sarcastically.
"No we're actually just telling Elle how once she leaves you're going to be completely unbearable and we're never going to forgive her for leaving us to deal with you by ourselves all year," I say with a smirk.

Tao rolls his eyes but joins in on the hug. God, I am going to miss this so much. We all go inside and up to Tao's room. Everyone is in conversation but I am just so focused on soaking in the last day all four of us will be together, for awhile anyways. These three people right here have been my home for years; with the new addition of Nick as of two years ago. But even before Nick, they were home.