Moment in the Sun

1. Surprise

Nick POV:

My heart is racing. To calm myself, I glance out the window at the landscape speeding by. It's starting to look familiar which means it won't be long before I'm back in my hometown. It feels like forever since I've been home because study and exams took up so much of the last two months of my life. And it's been pure torture that I haven't been able to see my boyfriend, Charlie, for most of that time. He's in sixth form at Truham and has been busy with his own exams which means our communication has been mostly texting and the occasional late-night facetime, both of us usually near delirious from a lack of sleep.

But it's summer now and I'm headed home for the next three months and plan to spend most of that time with Charlie. He's still in school today, the last day before the summer break but he has no idea that I'm coming home today. He thinks I'm arriving on Sunday but I couldn't bear to be away from him for any longer than necessary so I planned to surprise him. His friends Tao and Isaac are in on the plan and have somehow managed to keep the secret, although Tao admitted to nearly slipping up last week.

The next stop is Truham Station...

The crackly voice of the intercom jolts me out of my thoughts and I jump up to grab my bag off the overhead shelf. Luckily I've been able to organize to store most of my belongings at Uni for the summer so I only had to bring home the things I'll be needing for the next few months.

As the train comes to a halt, my heart picks up the pace again. Only another hour before I see Charlie. My mum is on the platform, waving excitedly when she sees me and I smile. I missed her a lot too, especially during the stresses of the last few weeks.

"Nicky! How are you?" I cringe a little at her nickname for me but hug her anyway.

"I'm good. Happy to be home, I missed you." I tell her honestly. She pulls back and raises an eyebrow at me knowingly.

"You missed Charlie, you mean?"

"No! Well, of course, I did. But I missed you too, mum. I really did." She smiles at me and ruffles my hair the way she used to when I was little.

"I know. Just remember to spend some time with your old mum while you're here."

"I will," I promise, following her towards the car. I notice straight away that she's brought my car. There had been nowhere for me to keep my car at Uni since I hadn't known I was supposed to organize a parking space beforehand, so I'd had to leave it at home. Now I'll be able to drive whenever I felt like it. I make a mental note to look into organizing a parking space for the next semester.

Mum throws me the keys and I happily slide into the driver's seat, starting up the car and pulling out into traffic. Mum bombards me with questions the whole way home, most of which I answer as best I can. Some stories from Uni are not for her ears.

By the time we pull into our driveway, I only have fifteen minutes before I have to leave to surprise Charlie. My phone buzzes in my pocket, right on cue, with a text from Tao.

Tao Xu: School's nearly done. Are you in town yet?

Nick Nelson: Yeah, just at my house. Leaving soon

I hurry up the stairs to drop off my things in my room and quickly wash some travel grime off my face.

"I'm going to see Charlie! I'll be back later!" I call to my mum as I run back down the stairs.

"Okay, have fun." She calls back from the kitchen. 

It takes me longer than I'd planned to get to the school so students are starting to pour out of the gates already. I hope Tao and Isaac are successfully distracting Charlie. I park the car and get out, sending a message to Tao as I make my way to the picnic table outside the gate, our pre-planned meeting point.