Nick & Charlie (TV WORLD)

Chapter Twenty One

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE. 

[THE NEXT DAY]

Nick:
After leaving Charlie's last night, I came home to just Mum in the house. David had gone out with some friends so I was able to express myself to her about him without worrying that he was going to start more problems. She assured me that if his behavior continues this way today, that she would tell him to stay at a hotel for the week. I bet he already called my Dad too, because that's what David does, creates problems. My dad and I's relationship isn't exactly great but I wanted to tell him on my own terms. My train of thought is broken when I see Charlie standing in front of the school, waving. I smile and walk over.

"Hi," he says.

I pull him into a hug.

"Hi."

He pulls away, kisses me quick and smiles.

"Have you seen David since your fight?"

I shake my head.

"No, I guess he got home after I had already went to bed. Honestly I just hope he keeps to himself for the rest of the week."
"Me too," Charlie says as we start walking into school.

The rest of the day was normal. When the bell rings to go home, I'm more anxious than I am excited. Home is the last place I wanted to be; it wasn't even home to me right now. I close my locker and see Charlie grabbing his books from his. I smile; that's my home. I walk over to him and kiss him.

"What was that for? Mr. PDA over here," he teases.
"I just love you, that's all."

He smiles at me and closes his locker.

"Not that I'm complaining, and I love you too but, is there something else going on?"
"I just love that I can be thinking about something that will put me in a bad mood but as soon as I see your face, all that bad goes away," I say with a shrug.

He smiles as his face turns a light red shade.

"Don't want to go home?" He asks.
"Not at all."
"Well, lets go to my house then," he says as he takes my hang and we walk out of the school.

I text Mum to let her know where I'm going.

Nick: Going to go to Charlie's to do homework.
Mum: You boys can come here to do it if you want.
Nick: Yeah, like I want David to meet Charlie. I'm sorry Mum, but I just can't deal with him. I'll be home later. I love you.

We get to Charlie's house and start to do our homework.

"Do you think David's ever going to come around?" He asks.

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I doubt it. I mean, look how he treated his own brother. I just can't wait until Sunday."
"I still can't believe he said those things to you."
"God forbid I have a boyfriend," I say jokingly.

Tori appears in the walkway, sipping her lemonade, as usual.

"Who has a problem with you and Charlie dating?"

I look at Charlie and then back at her. Tori and I haven't spoken much since Charlie's gotten back at the end of the summer.

"My brother."

She looks at Charlie.

"Did he say something to you?"
"No. But he told Nick he's gay multiple times even after being corrected. Oh, and then told him having a boyfriend makes him a sissy."

Her eyes meet mine.

"Do you want me to kill him?"

Charlie laughs.

"Charlie asked me the same thing," I say with a chuckle. "It's okay, he's leaving Sunday anyway."
"Okay, you know where to find me if you change your mind," she says. "And Charlie, if he says anything to you, you're family so I won't give you the option, I will just kill him."

She looks at us both seriously, sips her lemonade and walks upstairs.

"Your sister is terrifying but in the best possible way," I say.

Charlie:
I wish I could make Nick feel better. It's a sucky situation to be in when there's really nothing you can do to fix the problem. I know he says that me just being there is enough but I just wish there was more that I could do. Nick has been able to literally make everything better for me. A problem that was completely unfixable, at least to me, was easily fixed once I let Nick all the way in. But this is different. Half of me wants to talk to David myself, the other half wants to tell Nick's Mum to have him stay at a hotel. And to be honest, the tiniest part of me wants to send Tori over there to knock some sense into that idiot. But for now, I'll trust Nick when he says that I make it better just by being with him. We finish our homework and he sighs.

"I better get home before dinner."
"You can stay here if you want."
"No, it's okay. I know Mum wants me to come home."
"Do you want me to come?"
"Definitely do not want to subject you to that."

And then, all of a sudden, it clicks. Now, is eating dinner with a homophobe how I want to spend my night? Not in the slightest. But Nick needs me and I want to be there for him. 

"I'm coming," I say.

He looks at me and I can see his eyes light up.

"Charlie, you really don't have ---"
"Nick, I'm coming," I say as I place my hand on his. "You're always there for me and I want to do the same for you."
"I don't want you to have to deal with that. You've been through enough."
"There's going to be people like this everywhere we go for the rest of our lives. We need to face them. I'm going to be okay no matter what he says or does, okay? I want to do this."

He wraps his arms around me and buries his head into my neck.

"Thank you. Having you there means everything."

Nick calls his Mum and tells him I'm coming for dinner; he says it's to make sure she made enough food but I know he told her so she could tell David to be on his best behavior. I let my parents know that I'm eating at Nick's and we start to walk to his house.

"I can't believe you're willing to do this for me."
"I'd do anything for you," I say.
"This isn't just anything so really, thank you," he says as he intertwines our fingers.

We get to the front door and he turns and faces me.

"Are you ready?" He asks.
"Are you? Also, are we ruling out PDA completely here? Should I not hold your hand or ---"

He cuts me off by kissing me as I wrap my arms around him.

"I'm not hiding this relationship from anyone, especially him."

I smile.

"Should we have Tori on standby?" I joke.

He opens the door and chuckles.

"Yeah, maybe," he says as we walk in.